Principal’s Update

Youth Work Apprenticeship

During this week we had a visit from the Chief Officer Rob Sainsbury. Rob was introduced to the Level 3 (year 1) Youth Work Apprentice Programme, which was developed by the college in partnership with Jersey Youth Service.

The programme was developed to address the island-wide shortage of skilled workers within the Youth Service at this level. This programme also allows for those early in their career to get a fundamental knowledge of the sector and hopefully progress to Level 4 through to Degree whilst earning and gaining the knowledge and skillset to transition to senior youth worker positions.

Social Recovery Programme

Since April 2022, the College (led by Carol Tyrer, Jo Gueno, Steve Holly and Carrie Sandeman) has supported a cross GoJ initiative (12 programmes) to reduce the health and economic impact of the pandemic: the pandemic itself served to reveal and magnify pre-existing social and economic challenges and inequality across the community.

The programme has been an exemplar across GoJ due to the agile and diligent approach of all those involved. The initial programmes concentrated on Deepened Health and Economical Inequalities (including Not in Employment Education or Training) and Child and Family Wellbeing.

The proposal was for 4 curriculum terms delivering training to circa 200 learners. We in fact delivered training to 700+ learners over a 5-term period, this included setting up a community hub through parental engagement in school settings, providing third sector support to deliver education within the community, and supporting employers by upskilling the workforce (Construction, Hospitality, Retail).

Alongside this we were able to deliver key skills (English, Maths and Digital) through our partnership with the town library. Subsequently we enhanced accessibility to islanders and had the agility to support those most in need including Ukrainian Refugees and adults with additional needs.

Thank you to all who have supported and embedded our core values within this programme, it highlights the value the college brings to our community.

SLT – Skills Update

During this week’s SLT, Stuart Penn gave an update on the new structure within Skills Jersey and the teams that will be working in collaboration with Highlands College to continue to reduce the skills gap across Jersey. The core working teams within Skills Jersey include Career Guidance, Skills Mentors and Skills Intelligence and Development.

The approach is still a work in progress however, the main changes include:

• Mentoring – this will be a referral process, depending on need and requirements.
• Apprentice funding model and process for application, priority etc.
• Greater focus on employer/skills development – including business/sector targeted conferences.

Jersey Overseas Aid Support

The College over many years has supported Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA) by equipping their volunteers with the skills required to help communities and make the world a better place to live. JOA’s mission is to translate the generosity, skills, and compassion of the people of Jersey into effective assistance for the world’s most vulnerable people.

This year Pat Kelly and Michael McCarthy are continuing to support this and will be running a Brick & Block & Carpentry Workshop for the volunteers traveling to Nepal in April 24. The workshop will give the volunteers skills and knowledge and an understanding of base level requirements to keep them safe whilst working in unfamiliar settings.

Alongside this the college is in discussion with JOA to see if we could sponsor a volunteer programme in 2025 looking at Construction, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) for both staff and students. The trips are varied and JOA are always looking for volunteers and to support bursaries. This could be an excellent opportunity for all involved, we will keep you abreast of development.