In May 2007, The Isle of Wight College was graded by Ofsted as ‘outstanding’, it holds the coveted Beacon Status and is an Action for Business Accredited College. It is therefore wholly committed to supporting the skills and training needs of the Island community, voluntary sector and businesses. This makes it ideally-placed to contribute to Eco Island – and enthusiastic about doing so.
Eco island touches a range of the College’s priority areas of provision and the College therefore will be able to contribute across the whole range of Eco Island priorities.
There are a number of overarching principles which the College will adopt, which are aligned with Eco Island. The College’s forthcoming new building will act as an environmental beacon, acting as an exemplar of environmentally-friendly, resource-efficient construction and encouraging a sense of pride and belonging in learners and the wider community. The College also supports recycling partnerships and engages some of its learners in this work.
The College has a key role to play in underpinning social sustainability on the Island, through its programmes for learners with disabilities. These programmes assist learners to live independent lives and acquire new life and work skills, enabling them to play fuller, more active roles in their local communities. Further community contribution is supported through the College’s work with offenders, either in custody or in the community, improving life and work skills to lower re-offending rates and improve ex-offenders’ lifestyle choices.
The College’s key focus is on education and training, to improve learners’ life choices and opportunities. The ongoing pursuit of learning excellence and high levels of academic aspiration and achievement will make a major contribution to the Thriving and Inspiring Island themes. By working with partners both on and off the Island, the College will identify and then respond to skills needs and work to match skills training with the growing needs of the developing Island economy. Business will play a key role in this work, supporting employees to learn and develop in the workplace, building workplace communities which are as strong and proud of achievement as the local communities in which they sit.
This contribution to creating sustainable communities will be further developed through the College’s work with parents in disadvantaged areas, homeless young people and support for a range of community events, offering learners the change to contribute their learning back into their communities.
The Isle of Wight College has played a part in developing the Eco Island vision, values, priorities and strategy, through its role on the Island Strategic Partnership. Eco Island offers a range of exciting opportunities for the Island’s development and the Isle of Wight College looks forward to playing a key part in that development and success.
More information about the Isle of Wight College can be found on the college website, which can be found by clicking here.
