Caring for our local community

Our Care College was officially opened by Chairman of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership Employment and Skills Board, Pat Doody.

This new approach to care-sector training has been co-designed by major local and national care home providers to address the issue of crippling skills shortages in the Sector.

All students spend significant amounts of time in care environments to immerse them in the workplace and to instil in them the values needed to look after some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

The College, which was designed and supported by The Orders of St John Care Trust, Priory Adult Care, Home from Home Care, the Lincolnshire Care Association, Walnut Care and Wispington House, is already full with two groups of around 25 students each.

Lincoln College Group Managing Director for Education and Training Mark Locking said: “This is part of an ongoing transformation of our curriculum to ensure that our training reflects and is led by local employers, producing the highly skilled and productive workforce they need.

“This new college aims to recruit and nurture students with the right values needed to provide high levels of care locally. It will also shape them with not only the technical qualifications they need, but also industry experience and industry recognised qualifications that could historically only be gained once at work.

“This will ensure our students can add real value to care homes from day-one of their working lives.”

All Care College students will complete the industry-recognised Care Certificate on top of their technical qualification and an extended industry placement.

The Orders of St John Care Trust CEO Dan Hayes said: “The College has demonstrated an extraordinary level of employer engagement and willingness to innovate in order to meet our needs. I know I speak for all of the employers involved when I say we can’t wait to start supporting these learners into their future careers.”