Engage, Inspire and Achieve

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1 Engage, Inspire and Achieve have experienced yet another challenging but successful 12 months and continue to achieve our outcomes and make an impact on the communities that we serve. Over the past 12 months, we have: Succeeded in gaining the largest Talent Match contract in Leeds and we have achieved 100% of our contracted starts to December 2014 with 4 young people gaining employment. Delivered 100% of our Adult and Community Learning contract which included the delivery of 60 courses that benefitted and upskilled 433 unemployed new learners across the city with particular focus on delivery in the most disadvantaged areas. Spring Newsletter 2015 Latest News: We are delighted to welcome our newest member of staff, Yvonne Dean to the team. Yvonne joined us in February 2015 as part of our Projects Team. She is currently delivering Inspire and Achieve from our Adult and Community Learning programme. are also pleased to welcome Marianela Gonzalez who has joined us on placement from Spain, participating in the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme. Marianela will be with us 2 days a week until May learning general business and administration tasks and improving her English. Tom Murray, our former CEO has now taken up the position as Chairman. His first board meeting in his new position was in March, where he was officially welcomed back. Supported 220 volunteers who gave up their time to support 800 primary school children with their reading and literacy skills. Secured a new contract with PATH Yorkshire to deliver the English Integration Pathway (EIP) project. This is our second contract funded through the European Integration Fund following on from the success of English Integration and Work (EIW). Following our Matrix re-assessment in March, we were pleased to receive official notification that we have successfully maintained the Matrix standard. The conclusion of the report states: have again demonstrated an excellent approach to applying IAG in terms of the service it provides to clients. Its continuing commitment to maintaining development of good practice through external standards is to be commended. Congratulations to Belle Paterson and her partner on the recent arrival of their baby boy. We were extremely pleased to be able to congratulate our Project Manager Sarah, who recently got married in Thailand. We are pleased to welcome Mansys UK Ltd to. They have taken over the contract for our IT support services from April 15 and we are looking forward to working in partnership to improve our systems and services.

2 Adult & Community Learning: Community Learning has got off to a great start this year. Since September 2014, the team have been busy delivering a variety of courses including Inspire and Achieve, ESOL, Digital Inclusion, Family Finance, Occupational tasters in Hospitality, Retail and Customer Service, Steps 2 Work and New Opportunities our confidence building programme. We are looking forward to Term 3 to continue the delivery in both existing and new venues, and are once again on course to deliver 100% of our contracts. For further information or if you would like to host any of our courses, please contact Sarah Wigglesworth on or sarah@learningpartnerships.org.uk A number of learners have attended a Goals course delivered by Leeds Federated Housing Association. Goals is a 2 day confidence building course which includes positive thinking, resilience, relationships, fears and anxieties and steps to getting the career you want. Activity day at Jackrabbits Pottery in Oakwood: Learners from Community Learning programme enjoyed a day out painting pottery at Jackrabbit s pottery in February. I think it s safe to say that all involved had a great day. Talent Match: Talent Match is the Big Lottery funded programme that is managed in Leeds City Region by Your Consortium. It offers intensive 1:1 support to year olds who have been unemployed or NEET for 12 months or more. has the largest contract in Leeds and we are delighted that all is going extremely well with delivery. We achieved our target of 31 new starts in December and consequently have received an increase in our contracted numbers. We are now on target to achieve a further 65 starts from April to December Some of our Talent Match learners recently attended an Emergency First Aid at Work Course. Elaine Rushworth from Effective Safety Training, made First Aid entertaining and interesting and all the young people enjoyed it, whilst achieving a 3 year certificate. Christopher Nutton one of our young people on Talent Match was featured in the Yorkshire Evening Post giving his views and experience of being unemployed: Christopher Nutton, aged 24, was the first to sign up for Talent Match in June 2014 after 5 years looking for work. Christopher has some difficulty with reading and lacked confidence in his ability to complete an application form or perform in an interview. Christopher wanted to do outdoor gardening/ labouring work and to improve his team-working skills and his ability to follow written and verbal instructions. Since starting on Talent Match Christopher has attended a variety of workshops to move him closer to paid employment and completed a community gardening course run by Hyde Park Source. As a result of his hard work on that course it was arranged that he could do two days a week work experience with the provider. Due to Christopher s reliability and positive attitude (he has never missed an appointment and is always polite, pleasant and keen) Jenny Harris (his Key Worker) decided to approach Hyde Park Source to see if they would be interested in taking Christopher on a job creation, which creates paid employment for 6 months. They jumped at the chance and were delighted to help. Christopher said: It s a relief. I d got to the stage where I wanted to give up - but I didn t. It s been depressing. I was applying for 10 jobs a week but never heard anything back.

3 Farewell to our Targeted Support programme: This is Christopher, during his work experience at the Hyde Park Source, Leeds. He added: I hadn t got enough experience or background. But Talent Match got me something to do, some experience of work and put something on my CV. It s very exciting to have my first proper job. We are sorry to see the end of Targeted Support, our DWP funded programme for unemployed year olds. Unfortunately, the funding finished on March 31 st The programme has been a huge success with 63% of starts on the programme achieving employment. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the programme that all helped to make it such a success including DWP and JCP work coaches, Leeds City College, all our great employers, LP staff and most of all the young people involved. Christopher started his new job on 3 rd March 2015 and is also celebrating the birth of his first child, born in February. ESOL: For the English Integration Pathway (EIP) project (contracted until June 2015) we are well on the way to achieving our programme targets (of 72 registered learners and 60 ESOL qualifications). So far we have registered 82 starts and 45 learners have already gained qualifications. The remaining few courses are already fully booked, proving that demand for quality ESOL courses is increasingly sought after. This project and its actions were made possible due to co-financing by the European Fund for the integration of Third Party Nationals. Learners have consistently praised our courses for the help and support they receive by teachers and staff for helping them to not only improve their English language, but also integration skills. Here is what some of our business partners and young people have said: We have been introduced to good candidates and have made budgets available to take them on in a more permanent capacity, which is a testament to those who have come through. We will happily continue to work with if the calibre of the young people is as high. The Targeted Support scheme has not only helped me to develop my skills and confidence as a person but has also put me in full time employment, I can t really have asked for more than that. I just wanted to let you know that he is doing great! We are looking to increase his contract in the next few weeks to full time and this month he won 'Nandoca of the month' nominated by a manager and then voted in by the rest of the team. He has become a real asset to the team. One of our ESOL learners said: I am very happy and confident and I go anywhere freely now and can talk English with every person The whole experience has improved my confidence and I have now learnt a different aspect of joinery along with many other skills. I appreciate the opportunity that Taylor Wimpey have given me and would like to thank them and for all their support.

4 Let s Read Literacy Programme: The Let s Read Programme has welcomed 4 new schools on board so far this year; Armley, St Bartholomew s, Harehills and Brudenell Primaries. 21 new volunteers are now supporting children who attend these schools. Additional volunteers will be joining them after the April training session. We are delighted to have 136 reading volunteers who support over 500 children across 21 primary schools. Encouraging a love of reading and providing valuable individual support helps the children to become confident and able readers, to access the education they deserve and to achieve their potential. Our volunteers give an hour a week of their time and do an amazing job, together, their skills, knowledge and life experiences support the children in achieving positive outcomes and improving life chances and choices. The programme would not be possible without them so a very big THANK YOU to them all! Octagenarian Margaret Wilson, who is one of the Let s Read Volunteers at White Laith Primary School says: Seeing a child's face light up because of a helping hand you have given is its own reward. When you see how great the need is in this digital, electronic age to ensure that young people connect with learning to read, a skill which opens so many doors to their future it gives you all the more motivation to do all you can to help. The children are delightful and for me, the one to one element is a lovely way to encounter teaching again - a truly worthwhile adventure to be involved in. It is a real pleasure to be involved and I like to think my time and input helps the children make progress in their reading. For more information, please contact gail@learningpartnerships.org.uk The Leeds City Council Domestic Violence Unit recently delivered a 2-day training course on Domestic Violence for the JESS staff. All the Cluster schools sent their DV lead practitioner to the course and the photograph shows them receiving their certificates. The JESS Cluster had a massive Christmas present delivery for our vulnerable families. We delivered 11 bicycles donated by The Works; 15 individually chosen presents from a group of benefactors and over 120 presents donated by Radio Aire Cash for Kids. None of our families went without presents! We also distributed a large number of Food Bank Vouchers. A group of 8 teenagers attended an after-school group during the Autumn term run by the JESS Cluster Family Support Team. Their project was to make a story in a story-board format, on Monday 15 th December at Hillside, the group put on two showings of their finished piece of work to a range of audience members including office workers at Hillside, school representatives and parents. 2 <Way> Street supports local Children s Centre with a Family Fun Day Event: This event was organised by our volunteers from 2 Way Street in partnership with Shakespeare Children s Centre. It was a family fun event for parents with young children aged 0-4 years and lots of activities were organised to help local residents integrate in to the Burmantofts Community. There was also information provided to help attendees to find out about local opportunities including child care provision, education, employment support and ESOL opportunities for new arrivals into this country. 14 volunteers planned the event from start to completion and showed exceptional hosting skills on the day. Many of these volunteers are keen continue to support the children s centre and a fantastic day was had by all. JESS Cluster: The JESS Cluster schools are very aware of the impact that Domestic Violence in the home has on children s ability to concentrate and to learn. They are currently working to respond to this issue by nominating a member of staff in each school to be the lead on Domestic Violence. These members of staff attend termly networking meetings to discuss current levels of need, learn about new processes that are being introduced and share good practice.

5 Do you want to help change the lives of young people in Leeds? We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers aged 18+ to help deliver Leeds City Council s National Citizen Service (NCS) programme during June, July and August The NCS is an exciting once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for 16 and 17 year old s, consisting of five phases over approximately 4 weeks including an induction, 2 x 5 day /4night away from home residential at centres in Lancashire and Leeds, a social action phase planned and led by young people and a graduation event to celebrate all of the hard work. This is an amazing way to gain experience of working with young people, alongside experienced workers, and a chance to give something back to communities across Leeds. You ll learn and gain so much in a short time, and will receive full training through Leeds City Council, also out of pocket expenses. You ll be the key link to young people taking part, supporting them every step of the way from initial nerves, through to triumphing with their own social action projects. Commitment can be flexible, we d love to meet you and see what you can offer! Experience of working with young people is desirable but not essential if applicants demonstrate suitable skills. To request an application pack or if you require any additional information. Please contact Liz on liz@learningpartnerships.org.uk or call/text would like to say a big thank you to Leeds Building Society for a 1000 grant we recently received. This money has been used to purchase much needed netbooks which will be used by learners on our community learning programme delivered in Harehills and surrounding areas. are very excited to have received a grant from Lloyds Bank Foundation. The funding is for up to 3 years and will support us with some core costs. It came as excellent news and gives extra stability to help us achieve our aims and objectives during this difficult economic climate. As an extra bonus we were also pleased to find out about Enhance, further support that Lloyds Bank Foundation offer throughout the grant. We are now members of NCVO and are looking forward to being paired with a Mentor from Lloyds Bank who can support us across a number of areas to help to continuously improve in our work. have been chosen by TSB Leeds branch as their charity partner for 2015: Cath O Grady Senior Executive Business Development and Operations says: are delighted to be named Charity Partner for TSB's Leeds Branch. Support like this from businesses makes a massive difference for the charity not just in terms of funding but also in helping to raise our profile within the local community. We look forward to working together in partnership during For any more information on the courses or services we provide, please ring or visit our website: Or info@learningpartnerships.org.uk The Burton Business Park Hudson Road, Leeds, LS9 7DN Tel Registered Charity No Company Reg No