Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, visited Derwentside College. The college is a further education institution specialising in vocational education and is based in Consett. It offers courses such as Engineering, Beauty Therapy, Construction and Business and Finance. Apprenticeships are offered for all the courses and the college works closely with local businesses who hire apprentices, to ensure that all their students have access to training. They also work closely with local jobcentres to help those out of work train and get back into the workplace. Nationally, they have been rated as in the top 10% of colleges and their apprenticeships are outstanding, with apprentices frequently offered full-time employment, the chance to work internationally and many of their apprentices and students achieve top marks across their assessments.
Richard met with some of the senior management team to discuss the work the college is currently doing and was also shown around the facilities. You can read more about Derwentside College and the work they do here.
Commenting, Richard said ‘It was fantastic to visit Derwentside College. It is absolutely amazing to have such a great vocational education provider in North West Durham. They’re one of the biggest providers of apprenticeships in the whole country and work with employers across the constituency to give young people and people currently not working the best opportunities – to have such a high-achieving and nationally recognised college in the constituency is really amazing. They’re truly inspiring and the work that they do really does change lives. I want to thank the staff for showing me around and for all the hard work that they do. I am looking forward to working closely with them to support education in North West Durham and can’t wait to visit again soon.’
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