Cherilyn Mackrory MP for Truro and Falmouth celebrates the ongoing success of Truro and Penwith College’s pioneering Business Partnership Pledge. The Pledge, which seeks to embolden students by working alongside businesses to gain high-level vocational qualifications and vital industry experience towards their chosen career, was showcased this week at the Principals Breakfast event.
The Business Partnership Pledge launched this year in conjunction with support from leading business support organisations, including the Federation of Small Businesses, Your Partnerships, and the Cornwall Chamber of Commerce. It is part of a strategy organised through the recently constructed Careers Hub in the college made possible by the Department for Education’s £1.375m investment.
Truro and Penwith college are working closely with a diverse range of local businesses to provide local students the opportunity to learn the necessary skills for the jobs available in the community. The emphasis is not on seasonal work, but on vocational training towards well-paid roles in professional environments including mining, engineering, nursing, and tech.
Part of the objective is to close the skills gap which has prevented many young people in Cornwall from taking the opportunities available here in the community. For many 16–18-year-olds in Cornwall, the barrier to success has been experience and opportunity. The Pledge offers both, with on-the-job training and experience, building confidence and allowing students to express their ambitions towards a lucrative career.
Truro and Penwith College have even opened a student-led restaurant on campus for members of the public to dine in, with all food prepared and served by students.
The Pledge will work alongside other vocational schemes in the community including the apprenticeship training programme currently being developed by the Royal Cornwall Hospital. This programme is committed to provide training for local people by encouraging and supporting them to undertake essential vocational roles such as midwifery, enabling the hospital to build its own professional team drawn from right here in the community.
Cherilyn says:
“Our children do not need to leave Cornwall to gain a fantastic education and a quality, highly skilled career. Truro and Penwith College is leading the way in not only giving our students a first-class education, but also the opportunity to get out there and find their own path to success.
The Business Partnership Pledge is exactly how we need to be thinking about our children’s education. It will build skills and confidence which mean that students from Cornwall will have every opportunity to reach for the high-level jobs they deserve. We need more initiatives like this, because not every career needs university, but every child deserves to succeed no matter their background.”