Studley High School awarded grant
Studley High School has been awarded a £37,800 Skills Challenge grant to enable pupils aged 14-16 to experience direct bespoke interactions with a range of local employers where hands on experiences will promote the opportunities available in the engineering sector. As a result, pupils will understand the various routes from Level 1 and 2 qualifications through to degree level and beyond within the sector. They will find out about the career opportunities available within the local area and their potential for further career development.
This is the fourth award of the Skills Challenge grant introduced in April 2017. Avon Valley School, HORIBA MIRA and Leamington Spa Gaming business, You42, were awarded grants in September. Ten more applications are currently under consideration.
Apprenticeship information for schools
In April 2017, the way apprenticeships are funded changed as part of a series of wider reforms to the apprenticeship system in England. Employers with a pay bill of more than £3m are now required to pay into the apprenticeship levy, funds which are then made available to recoup by investing in apprenticeship training for employees.
Available funding can be used to meet the cost of apprenticeship training and assessment against an approved apprenticeship framework or standard, delivered by an apprenticeship training provider. This can be for both existing employees as well as new starters. The training provider must be on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP), and for schools who pay into the overall Warwickshire County Council levy contributions, they must also be a contracted provider with the Council.
What types of apprenticeship can be used by schools?
There are numerous types of apprenticeship already available to use for roles in schools, these include:
- Teaching Assistant
- PE in School Sports
- Early Years Educator
- Business Administration
- Leadership & Management
- IT
- Team Leader
- Facilities Management
- Customer Service
- Marketing
New school specific apprenticeship standards are also currently being created, such as a degree level QTS Teaching Apprenticeship and School Business Management. It is anticipated that these standards will be available for delivery in 2018, though that is yet to be confirmed.
Which training providers are contracted to deliver for WCC schools?
Following a recent and ongoing tendering process, Warwickshire County Council is contracted with several apprenticeship training providers. Those that are able to deliver schools apprenticeships include:
Aspire Sports - https://www.aspire-sports.co.uk/employ-apprentice
Aurelia Training - http://aureliatraining.com/apprenticeships.html
Coventry City College - http://www.coventrycollege.ac.uk/apprenticeships-2/
Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber Training - http://www.cw-chambertraining.co.uk/apprenticeships/
Heart of England Training - https://www.hoet.co.uk/apprenticeships/
Intec Business Colleges - https://www.getoncourse.net/employers/qualifications.aspx
National Schools Training - https://www.nationalschoolstraining.co.uk/
North Warwickshire & South Leicestershire College - http://www.nwhc.ac.uk/apprenticeships/
SCCU - http://www.sccu.uk.com/apprenticeships/
Warwickshire College - https://www.wcg.ac.uk/page/153/apprenticeships
If you are a WCC maintained school and you are approached by a training provider that is not contracted to deliver apprenticeships for WCC, that doesn’t mean you cannot work with them – get the provider to speak to the Apprenticeship Hub and they will enable them to go through the contracting process and join WCC’s list of contracted providers.
Schools/academies that are not part of WCC are free to engage with any training provider to deliver apprenticeships for them, providing they are on the RoATP. If you are unsure whether a provider is on the RoATP or not, you can check that on the Government website: https://roatp.apprenticeships.sfa.bis.gov.uk/download
How do I pay levy funds to my chosen training provider?
All apprenticeship levy funds are paid through the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS). The process is very simple for WCC maintained schools; inform the Apprenticeship Hub! The Hub manages the WCC levy account through the DAS and will set up payments for apprenticeships to the training provider on your behalf. We will simply need a few details about the apprentice in order to do this, which can either be provided by the school or the provider.
Currently there is no cap on how much levy funding WCC maintained schools can spend – that may change in the future, depending on demand, but for now you can spend more than you pay in. WCC wishes to maximise levy funds as much as possible and encourage schools to recoup what they have paid to the levy and benefit from apprenticeships.
Schools/academies that are not part of WCC but are levy payers will need to register on the DAS in order to pay for apprenticeship training. Non-levy paying schools will pay for apprenticeships through a different funding system called co-investment, where the government pays 90% of the training costs to the training provider and the employer pays the remaining 10%. Training providers will support any school with the co-investment process where required.
Can I spend levy funds on non-apprenticeship training?
No. Levy funds cannot be spent on anything but apprenticeship training and assessment costs, the training delivered must be as part of an accredited apprenticeship framework/standard delivered by a training provider on the RoATP. New apprenticeship standards include an end point assessment that the apprentice must pass to complete their apprenticeship, and 20% of the cost of the apprenticeship is held back for that to be delivered by an End Point Assessment Organisation.
Levy funds cannot be used for apprentice’s salary costs, travel costs or costs associated with recruiting and/or managing the apprentice. You will receive a reimbursement of £1,000 however if you recruit an apprentice aged 16 – 18, or a 19 – 24 year old who has a Local Authority Education and Healthcare Plan. There is also additional government funding available for additional learning support and English and Maths training if the apprentice requires this.
Further help, advice and support
The Apprenticeship Hub at Warwickshire County Council will be happy to support you and your school with advice and information about apprenticeships and the apprenticeship levy. We can help you to choose a training provider, promote your apprenticeship vacancies, and for those schools that are part of the WCC levy, enable you to pay for apprenticeship training through the Digital Apprenticeship Service.
To contact the Apprenticeship Hub, call 01926 418040 or email apprentice@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Quarterly Labour Market report available
The fourth Quarterly Labour Market report from the Economy and Skills Group at Warwickshire County Council is now available to read online.
The bulletin considers themes such as the latest employment and unemployment data, economic activity and real-time demand in the labour market for the July-September 2017 quarter (Q3). It also contains a summary of the latest business news from Warwickshire and the wider Coventry and Warwickshire LEP area.
This quarterly piece is aimed at giving partners, businesses and other interested stakeholders important labour market information to provide greater transparency on local economic fluctuations. In each edition, we shall present up-to-date figures with the addition of other relevant annual data. This issue will include: Industry Performance, which compares the latest business and employment trends by sector across Warwickshire.
NEW to this bulletin is our 'Special Article'. This section will focus on how the north and south of Warwickshire are working together to create sustainable economic growth and a stronger labour market.
Please visit the following link which will take you straight to the website:
http://labourmarketbulletin-warks.tfemagazine.co.uk/november-2017/
We always welcome any feedback or ideas to improve future publications and ensure that we can continue to capture interesting news. Please could you also pass this on to other colleagues that you think may find this interesting/useful, and we are happy to add people to future distribution lists. Alternatively, if you do want to receive future editions, please also let us know by email at nataliemaposa@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Skills Conference 2018
Our 4th annual conference for Headteachers and business leaders will take place on 7th March 2018, 8-10am, at the National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre, Stoneleigh.
The main theme will be how business can work more closely with education providers to meet the Skills challenges Brexit will bring. The event will also celebrate the success achieved by schools, colleges and young people funded by Skills for Employment grants.
More detail and information on how to book will appear in the next edition of Heads Up.
Free Employability Game
Unlock Employability was developed by Totem Learning with a grant from Skills for Employment. It’s a serious, 3D game suitable for use with pupils from years 8 -13 as there are different levels of achievement. Set on a mysterious tropical island, learners must work together in teams of 4 to solve puzzles and be selected for their dream job. Players identify their strengths and weaknesses in key employability areas such as communication, teamwork, professionalism, leadership, problem-solving and drive and determination.
6 schools can play it for free from November until April 2018 with no obligation to buy a licence thereafter. For more information contact skillsforemployment@warwickshire.gov.uk