Lakes College have announced that they have recently been awarded the highly sought-after ‘Best People Strategy Award’ at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Supply Chain Awards.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) Supply Chain Awards took place as part of Europe’s largest nuclear and decommissioning conference which is aimed at attracting new businesses to the nuclear decommissioning sector and connecting those already working in the supply chain.
The college was praised by the judging panel for the way in which it works with businesses to provide a variety of vocational educational options, successfully satisfying both the needs of local employers also allowing students to develop skills and qualifications for future employment.
The college is undertaking a skills development cycle which focusses on the development cycle of delivery staff, curriculum, students and employment. It involves upskilling the college’s team to create an innovative curriculum designed to develop students making them workplace ready and therefore enhance employers’ skill base within the nuclear industry.
The outstanding results of the development programme include validated degree programmes, which in turn attract industry practitioners to support the college, and allow employers within the nuclear industry further opportunities to upskill or sector jump due to apprenticeship levy. Lakes College is home to the National College for Nuclear northern hub and working in partnership, offers bridging programmes to meet the needs of non-traditional entrants into the nuclear industry, for example individuals who may not have the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) entry requirements.
The curriculum has been devised in partnership with professional institutes enabling successful students to apply for registration with the Engineering or Science Council. The ongoing success continues with student numbers doubling in the National College for Nuclear’s second delivery year.
Lakes College is one of the only two End Point Assessment Centres in the country for Level 5 Nuclear Technical Standards. This enables the college to act as an End Point Assessor for the UK’s national nuclear industry and complete the skills cycle. For apprentices at the college this means they can be certain that the individuals delivering programmes for them are acting as End Point Assessors for nationwide nuclear apprentices. This is fantastic for both Lakes College and the National College for Nuclear.
