15th September 2011

This quarter’s summit will focus on workforce development and in particular, skills for the manufacturing and engineering sectors. It will also explore the links between further education and employers and how each can improve uptake of students/apprentices in the sector.

Young people have just made their choice of what to do next and we intend to cover how employers should engage with our next generational workforce.

• Does a degree hold the weight it used to?
• Are students with a degree better in a better position than those without?
• Is £20k + of debt a good idea?
• Are apprenticeships the way forward?

The Panel for 15/09/11:

Peter McCann - Principal, Kirklees College

Peter McCann was deputy principal at Leeds City College before he joined the college in June 2011.

Peter, 59, has lived in West Yorkshire for 20 years but originates from Bootle on Merseyside. Before embarking upon a career in further education, he worked in a number of occupations training originally in accountancy before undertaking voluntary service overseas through the British Aid programme, managing a hotel and hosting a radio show. As a mature student he was a psychology graduate of Liverpool University and is a qualified teacher.
Peter’s appointment comes at an important time for the college as it meets the challenges of the spending review and delivering a £74 million new build project.

On joining the college, Peter McCann said, “Kirklees College has made giant strides forward since the merger in 2008 and I look forward to joining the team to build on what has been achieved to date.

“I plan to listen and learn from everyone at the college including staff, students, governors and the wider community. I am passionate about releasing the magic in staff and realising the potential of everyone who contributes to college life.

“The new Huddersfield Centre and developments in north Kirklees present a fantastic opportunity for us to position ourselves as central to the labour market and skills agenda in West Yorkshire, responding to needs of the employers, schools and local communities.”

Adrian Lythgo - Chief Executive, Kirklees Council

Adrian was appointed Chief Executive of Kirklees Council in July 2010. He is passionate about Kirklees and proud to be Chief Executive in his own community. He is married with two children and lives in Kirklees. Adrian believes that the council should continue to celebrate the diversity of Kirklees in all its different aspects. Part of his initial focus is to meet as many people and staff as he can.

Prior to becoming Chief Executive, he was previously the council’s Director of Finance and Performance having joined the council in 2009. During this time, he has been responsible for the council’s change programmes and being the council’s statutory finance officer and performance lead.

Before joining Kirklees, Adrian was an Associate Partner at KPMG in Leeds where most recently he was responsible for the firm’s public sector assurance, advising business, providing services to local authorities, the NHS, universities and colleges.

He has had a broadly based career in the public sector, including at the Audit Commission where he was involved in the development of inspection and policy development in addition to statutory audit responsibilities for public sector clients.

John McNally – Head, Shelley College

John is the headteacher of Shelley College, which has recently become an academy (January 2010). The school is currently riding high, having seen an 11% increase in the number of students passing five GCSEs including English and Maths (now up to 75%). This is John’s second headship and he has worked in a number of high schools in West Yorkshire and ‘over the border’ in Wigan.

He started in education as a maths teachers but before this John worked in ICT, based in Hemel Hempstead and Leeds. He has to confess to being a Mancunian but did spend part of his childhood living in Dewsbury, his father’s home town. He has three children of various ages and besides being their personal taxi, he enjoys participating in and watching sport.

Ian Farquhar - Managing Director of Wind Energy, David Brown Engineering Ltd

Ian is Managing Director of Wind Energy. He is responsible for global growth and development of new build and aftermarket product and service offerings. Ian joined David Brown in 2003, and has transformed the performance of the UK business following its acquisition by Clyde Blowers.

Previously, Ian was responsible for the lean transformation of the David Brown group as Global Director of Operations and Supply Chain and joined David Brown after 13 years as an operations professional with Rolls-Royce plc.

Ian has an MSc Engineering Business Management from Warwick University and a BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering from University of Salford.

Susan Kenyon – Kirklees Studio School

Susan Kenyon is both the founder and a Director of Ask Insight, a full Service Research Agency which provides consumer and market insight, converting it into intelligence with integrity.

Ask Insight which was born in 2006, uses a blend of traditional with new research methods, having invested in the latest research technology. The Huddersfield based agency will once again be the official research partner for the second year running of ad:tech London 2011, conducting a post event evaluation using a tool Ask Insight has developed for large scale, intelligent event evaluations.

Susan has been involved in the new Kirklees Studio School since 2009 as a steering group member and played a key part in the £3.8m bidding process and the subsequent ERDF bid of £3m (subject to approval) using her knowledge and experience of the learning environment and European funding background.

The National Launch of Studio Schools took place in London on the 18th November 2010 to mark the opening of the first two schools, including our very own Studio School at the Nether Hall Learning Campus. The launch included a keynote address from the Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Education Lord Hill of Oareford and an employers’ perspective by David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce.

Susan commented: “I was delighted to be able to attend this key milestone launch event to support the on-going development of the Kirklees Studio School at the Nether Hall Learning Campus.

“Earlier this year we were commissioned by NLC to identify, research and map the Kirklees Creative & Digital Sector based businesses who welcomed the opportunity to be involved with the development of young people aged 14-19 as part of this exciting development”.

What is a Studio School?
A bold new type of state school that will equip young people with the skills and experiences they need to succeed in the local creative and media sector. Studio Schools are a new type of school model developed to better prepare young people for the working world. Five years in the making, Studio Schools are based on extensive research and best practice from around the world. They have been developed in partnership with the country’s leading educational agencies as well as businesses from across Britain.

What’s happening?
The project team, made up of key representatives from the Netherhall Learning Campus, the University of Huddersfield and Kirklees Council, have worked tirelessly to create an exciting and innovative school model which breaks new ground in the British education system. This provided an opportunity to develop new approaches to future employment by engaging business with education – a half-learning and half-business environment where Students can work together with creative, media and digital businesses on real-life projects.

How to get involved
Creative, media and digital businesses are being invited to attend an ‘Open for Business’ event at the new Studio School to find out how they can engage with students. The ‘Open for Business’ launch will take place on Friday 30th September 2011 at 9.30am at the Kirklees Studio School at Netherhall Learning Campus, Huddersfield. For further information on the Studio School and the ‘Open for Business‘ event please visit the ‘Get Creative in Kirklees’ website www.gcik.co.uk or email Helen@askinsight.co.uk or call 01484 437426