£500,000 training centre opens (From The Northern Echo)

£500,000 training centre opens

3:59pm Wednesday 24th February 2010

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A NEW £500,000 vocational training centre has opened at a north Durham school.

Students, parents, teachers, staff and governors at Durham Community Business College (DCBC) attended the official opening on the school site, in Ushaw Moor, near Durham, on Wednesday.

The centre was created out of a redundant gym. It provides facilities for training of bricklaying, plastering, painting, decorating and plumbing.

There is also an ICT suite with 30 computers suitable for digital animation and Internet access.

The centre will cater for youngsters from five secondary schools during the day and offer adult courses on evenings.

The facility was paid for by DCBC, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DSCF) and regional development agency One North East. The refurbishment was carried out by the Esh Group.

DCBC chief executive Anne Lakey said: “Esh Group has done a tremendous job, working to a bespoke design brief to create a multi-use resource that enhances the training available to all young people in the area and for adults from the community.”

Centre manager Ted Hogkiss said: “Having such a magnificent centre right in the middle of Ushaw Moor is fantastic.

“Learners are very keen to study here. They recognise what a great place it is and how good the facilities are.”

Esh Group director Michael Hogan, who attended Wednesday’s ceremony with colleague Jack Lumsden, said: “Jack and I are delighted to have been invited here today to mark this important occasion.

“We’re both very proud to see the result of our company’s work and we thank the college for having the vision to have set out to create this superb facility.

“We are local and we are passionate about supporting people in the area and their communities.

“We urge everyone to come and make the very best use of the centre. Our wish is that you buckle down, work hard and become the very best you can be.”

DCBC, formerly Deerness Comprehensive School, is now part of the Durham Federation, with Fyndoune Community College, in Sacriston.

It recently received almost £1.5m from the Big Lottery Fund for a new four-court sports hall. Last year, its students won the annual Future Business Magnates contest.

For more information on the college, call 0191-373-0336.

via £500,000 training centre opens (From The Northern Echo).

Federation triumphs in schools business battle (From Durham Times)

PUPILS from the Durham Federation school have clinching victory in an annual business contest.

The youngsters’ idea to turn driftwood and other items recovered from beaches into works of art – dubbed Earth in a Box – earned them first place in Future Business Magnates 2008-09.

The Durham Federation team rose from third place before last Thursday’s sixth and final contest challenge to pip Framwellgate School Durham.

Its success was announced at an awards ceremony at Ramside Hall Hotel, near Durham.

Dave Turnbull, chairman of the judges, said: “Having been involved for four years, I can say the innovation is improving and standards are improving year on year. It gets closer and closer and it’s very competitive.

“The passion that the kids have is brilliant. It’s good for the economy, bearing in mind we’re in a financial slump. What these youngsters are proposing – given the right marketing, some of these ideas could really take off.”

Framwellgate School, whose pupils created holders for mobile phones known as Soxy Phones, were leading the competition going into the final challenge, which saw contestants give 20-minute presentations to captains of industry.

Mr Turnbull, community safety manager for Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It’s been very difficult to pick a winner. They’ve all come up with very different marketable products and they’ve learned a lot.

“The Durham Federation project was great because every single gift was different.

It has a unique selling point. And all the gear for the project – given it’s collected through the right process – is free.”

Future Business Magnates, now in its fourth year, sees young people tackle six challenges related to setting up a business.

School teams are partnered with a business mentor.

This year’s contest has featured schools from Durham, Chester-le-Street, Easington and Northern Ireland.

Durham Federation is a partnership between Durham Community Business College in Ushaw Moor and Fyndoune Community College in Sacriston.

Its business mentor was Bramwells Jewellers, in the Prince Bishops shopping centre, Durham.

Belmont School finished third with a project titled Tidy Tops – mesh lids for open-top green recycling boxes to keep tins and cans from being blown away.

via Federation triumphs in schools business battle (From Durham Times).

Anger over Esh Winning school closure plans

PARENTS and governors of one of the region’s greenest schools have vowed to fight council closure plans.

Friends of Esh Winning Primary School reacted with fury today after Durham County Council voted to relocate the school to a new site on the village green, at a cost of £7.3m.

They say leaving the current site, among woodland and wildlife, would jeopardise the school’s hard-earned green credentials.

The school’s garden won a prize at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and its green-fingered approach has attracted praise from several Government ministers.