Telford College logo, white text stating Telford College with blue partly closed circle icon.

Flying the flag for the Marches Education Partnership

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Telford College represented the Marches Education Partnership at the annual Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust education conference, held at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

As part of the event, the rebranded SaTH education team celebrated the new education offer within the Trust – and recognised the achievements of those in their current workforce.

This included the recruitment of health care support workers and the induction training the Trust is now receiving as part of the Social and Health Care Partnership Training Academy at Telford College.

The Marches Education Partnership is a collaboration of education and training organisations, working together on an ambitious new skills-boosting project to provide valuable support for the health and social care sector across the Marches.

This partnership includes Telford College, Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College, Shrewsbury Colleges Group, and SBC Training.

The work done by NHS and social care staff in the fight against Covid-19 has earned great praise – but also put services under tremendous strain.

The partners say they are committed to working together to ease the burden by launching a series of initiatives over the course of the next 18 months which are designed to help recruit and retain staff.

A mobile training unit, equipped with virtual and augmented reality technology, will soon be touring the Marches area delivering technology-led and practical training.

It will be equipped with virtual reality headsets, simulated at-work training facilities, an immersive cave, and other training software which is being developed specifically for the partnership.

Kirsty Evans, director of the further education directorate at the Government’s Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), visited Telford College earlier this month to see the equipment in action, and meet the partners.

She said: “It is brilliant to see the impact that the Strategic Development Fund is having, enabling the cutting-edge application of technology to enhance the delivery of learning.

“It is an impressive example of what can be achieved when colleges and training providers work together, in collaboration with employers.

“Even though this project is still in its early stages, it is clear to see that this partnership is already making a real difference.”