Leading education provider for 16 to 18-year-olds opens in Sheffield
Training provider LifeSkills was set up 20 years ago – back in 2002.
Founder Spencer Fearn, who grew up in Sheffield, is co-owner and founder of the company and says more than 22,000 young people have benefited from their training courses – with over 87% achieving the qualifications they wanted and over 81% going on to either employment, further training or apprenticeships.
LifeSkills has centres throughout the UK, but the newest right here in Sheffield will be something not only close to Spencer’s heart, but close to the city centre, too!
It will offer courses in health and social care – a real skills-gap in the city – and in employability, while also arranging traineeships, which are job placements with local employers.
“When I was 16 years of age, the options were very limited,” Spencer explains. “There were no vocational or employability courses available that I could follow. My dream was to set up a training company that catered for learners like me, who were not engaged by the school system, and which could help young people create a brighter future for themselves.
“It’s my company and Sheffield is where I’m from, so I want to help people in the place where I was born. What we can offer as a professional organisation is training that meets their individual needs to get them on the path to employment.”
What’s LifeSkills all about
LifeSkills was formed to help create a brighter future for the young people they work with. Its three core values that the business is built on are:
- To promote and deliver a culture of care for everyone
- Support, listen and respect each other
- Be open, honest and do what we say we will
They have training centres in Basildon, Lowestoft, and Rotherham and in Leeds, run by sister company, Progressions UK. LifeSkills is an Ofsted-graded ‘good’ learning provider and voted as the 26th best small company to work for in the UK.
LifeSkills is about equipping learners with the skills they need in the modern world to get the jobs they want – and the statistics from last year speak for themselves.
82% of learners went on to a job, apprenticeship or further / higher education programme.
87% of learners achieved a qualification
94% of learners surveyed would recommend LifeSkills to their friends
93% of learners surveyed were happy with the support LifeSkills provides
92% of learners believe their views are listened to
How does it work
For starters the learning is free – funding comes from the Government, and there are meal vouchers and travel payments available. Students don’t sign up at a particular time of year – you start at any time and courses can last for one to two years depending on the requirements of each individual.
The courses are 16 hours per week, so you can fit in part-time work or caring responsibilities around those hours.
It’s not a traditional ‘college’ environment. Qualifications – usually at level 1 and level 2 (which is equivalent to a GCSE) - are taught with other core subjects, such as maths and English, incorporated into that training.
The employability courses teach more about how to land a job – those skills needed to make yourself employable. Whilst the traineeship aspect is work placement in your chosen field – it might be health and social care, but it might be an office or a garage – it’s all dependent on your desires and ambitions.
Students come from a variety of backgrounds – some may have left school with no qualifications, others may have qualifications but have been unable to find employment.
“There’s a real problem with youth unemployment in Sheffield,” Spencer explained. “We are here to offer guidance and develop knowledge and skills. And the way we design the courses is around individuals’ needs. We are not here to say, ‘You must do this’; we are saying, ‘What do you want to do?’
Find out more
The centre at Churchill House, Meetinghouse Lane, Sheffield, S1 2DP, opens its doors on July 15 with Hallam FM Liesl Soards officially opening the centre. Prospective parents of student’s carers, youth workers or anyone wanting to find out more is welcome along.
But if you’ve missed that, take a look on the Lifeskills website here or call on 0800 622 6536 and get in touch for a chat.