Students at Lakes College are set to benefit from over £600,000 of investment to improve facilities and support learning across the campus.
The funding will be used for a range of practical upgrades, including essential roof repairs, improvements to classrooms and welfare facilities, enhancements to the external environment, and new technology to strengthen digital learning.
This investment will help ensure that students and staff have the facilities they need day to day – with more modern spaces that support both teaching and learning.
Lakes College is one of 175 colleges that will benefit from the government’s £307 million investment in further education colleges this year, which is part of an overall £1.7 billion investment committed by the government to modernise colleges by the end of this Parliament.
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith said:
“The young people at Lakes College are the engineers, bricklayers and designers of the future, and they and the dedicated staff teaching them deserve the best possible environment to learn and succeed.
“This £307 million investment will repair and modernise facilities across all 175 colleges in England, giving young people the spaces they need to build the skills they need for good careers, helping to drive economic growth.”
Josh MacAlister, Minister for Children and MP for Whitehaven and Workington, said:
“I’m delighted to have worked with the government to secure vital investment for Lakes College – the heart of further education in West Cumbria.
“I’m already working with the college on its investment plans and drive to create more opportunities for more young people across West Cumbria to get the education they need to achieve their full potential.”
It follows the government’s announcement of £570 million to increase capacity in colleges to train the next generation of skilled workers.
More widely, Labour’s ambitious Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set out plans to unlock opportunity for young people and drive growth for the country by improving the quality of further education. This includes the introduction of structured professional development for further education teachers and an expectation that colleges deliver at least 100 hours of face-to-face English and maths teaching for those who haven’t passed those GCSEs.
The government has also announced the creation of V levels as a brand new vocational pathway to provide clearer, stronger options for young people, allowing them to mix and match academic and vocational subjects and setting them up for the jobs of tomorrow.
Josh MacAlister MP 