We are excited to have renewed our partnership with Harrogate Town AFC.

Our continued support for the club’s Player Pathway Programme will see us extending the work we are doing to help young footballers explore their options both on, and off, the pitch.

Since beginning our sponsorship of the programme and its Emerging Talent Centre in 2023, this collaboration has resulted in a number of initiatives designed to shine a light on educational and work opportunities.

Inspiring and empowering the next generation

Those have included careers talks featuring presentations from local industry experts including our Principal, Danny Wild, who has a background in elite sports coaching.

He said: “It has been a pleasure to support Harrogate Town AFC’s Player Pathway Programme, and we are really excited to renew the partnership.

“The club, like our college, is focused on inspiring and empowering the district’s young people and opening up opportunities for them to shine and fulfil their potential.

“We look forward to working closely together over the next two years, and to holding further careers sessions to showcase the range of options that are available to the club’s young players.”

Creating lifelong opportunities

Harrogate Town AFC Director of Youth Football, Josh Falkingham, said: “This partnership with Harrogate College continues to be an important part of our youth setup.

“It gives our players a chance to explore the wider opportunities that come from being involved in football, from education to future careers. The alignment in values between the club and college means we’re not only developing footballers, but well-rounded young people who are ready to succeed in the path they choose.”

The club’s Commercial Director, Jo Towler, added: “We’re thrilled to continue building on our relationship with the college.

“Their investment and enthusiasm have had a real impact on our youth pathway and community engagement. It’s partnerships like this that make a tangible difference, combining education and sport to create lifelong opportunities for local young people.”

Our partnership work with local businesses is set to be taken to the next level through the formation of Harrogate College Employer Board.

The new body was proposed at the latest meeting of the college’s Employers’ Network as a way to build on the work we are doing to ensure employers can influence key areas like our curriculum and skills training programmes.

The theme of the meeting, chaired by Principal Danny Wild, was Strengthening Business Relationships: Driving an Employer-Led Curriculum.

The discussions focused on three key areas: 

• Co-designing the 2024-25 curriculum, through working closely with local employers
• Evolving business relationship by creating deeper partnerships
• Introducing Harrogate College Employer Board

An exciting new chapter

Danny said: “We are excited to share details of this new chapter of collaboration with local businesses and are looking forward to working together to create an influential, employer-led education experience for students and industry alike.

“Throughout the meeting, employers provided valuable feedback on strengthening ties between the college and the business community, and expressed strong support for establishing the new board – seeing it as an opportunity to have a more significant influence on the college’s offerings and priorities.

“We will be drawing up and sharing a new action plan, based on these discussions, and inviting employers’ network members to offer further feedback to shape the next steps of this promising partnership.”

Harrogate College prides itself on working hand in hand with local businesses and organisations to provide the skills and training they need to ensure that our economy grows and thrives. Our newsletter is a handy way of keeping our partners informed of developments at the college.

To receive future Harrogate College Business Newsletters directly to your inbox click here

Dear partners, While we are proud to have Harrogate as our base we are a college that is committed to helping train people across North Yorkshire. So we are delighted to now be offering a selection of adult courses in Ripon, which should open up our training to more people across the district. We are also keen to share the benefits of networking more widely, and recently held a successful first Harrogate College Employers Network event in Ripon to meet more business owners there. Even more excitingly, the college is preparing to enter a brand new phase by redeveloping our campus to make it ‘future-proof’ and ready to keep providing the training our employers, and district, needs for decades to come. Elsewhere in this edition you can read about our success at the Harrogate Business Excellence Awards, a visit to the college by Mike Kaye from Energy Oasis, and some of the wonderful business opportunities our students have been benefitting from. I hope you enjoy the read. Danny Wild Principal Harrogate College A new era on the horizon In our fast-moving world the skills our employers need are always evolving – and that means we, as educators, need to stay ahead of the curve. That is why we have an exciting, £22m campus redevelopment lined up. This scheme, which will involve replacing our current main building with a new one kitted out with state-of-the-art facitliies, will help us to keep meeting the area’s skills needs for decades to come. The rebuild will also see a new renewable energy centre created on site to ensure our students  pick up the expertise required by the blossoming green technology sector. The project received planning permission earlier this year but unfortunately, due to a local businessman applying for a judicial review, North Yorkshire Council is now having to re-run the process. So we are currently lobbying the Department for Education to extend the time limit for the funding it had set aside for this project, to make sure the rebuild progresses for the benefit of our coummunity, its residents – of  all ages – and businesses. You can find out more here. ——– Branching out into Ripon We want as many of the district’s residents and businesses as possible to benefit from our courses and training. So we are excited to be starting to offer a selection of courses for adults in Ripon, from Ripon Community House. These got underway with our introduction of a Progression into Care course, plus a ‘skills bootcamp’ on social media marketing, in June. Further skills sessions and courses are set to follow and should e more accessible from this base not just to residents in Ripon, but also the neighbouring communities of Pateley Bridge and Boroughbridge. ——– Business award success! We were delighted to emerge victorious, once again, in this year’s Harrogate Business Excellence Awards. The college won the award for Employee Health & Wellbeing, to the delight of Principal Danny Wild – who thanked everyone who contributed to creating a ‘unurturing and inclusive environment where people feel they have a voice to shape our culture’. He added: “This achievement is a testament to our collective efforts and dedication.” ——– Stately home visit Our hospitality students enjoyed a recent visit to Carlton Towers – a stately home that specialises in laying on weddings, corporate and private events. The learners began their day by foraging in the estate’s expansive grounds for fresh, local ingredients while learning about the importance of sustainability and seasonality in cooking. They then got to use the collected ingredients and put their culinary skills to good use in the stately home’s historic kitchens, where they experimented with different flavours. ——– An energising talk We were pleased to welcome an expert guest speaker from one of our key partners in the local green energy industry. Mike Kaye, the founder and manager of Energy Oasis, came in to share valuable insights with our electrical students about the varied career opportunities in the sector. The students also learned how many of the skills they have been studying could be used in real-life applications during their future careers. ——– Cooking up a victory We were honoured to once more host the ‘cook-off’ for the Harrogate Hospitality & Tourism Awards. Some of the finest local chefs used our catering facilities to create a variety of main courses from a mystery box of ingredients. A panel of expert judges including celebrity chef Steph Moon then used the results to pick the winner, who was later  announced – at a glittering awards ceremony in June – as Iain Wilkinson, from Storehouse Kitchen. ——– . ——– Talking to Ripon’s employers Harrogate College recently hosted its first employer network event in Ripon. The event aimed to cultivate partnerships and strengthen ties between the college and local businesses, to provide a platform for collaboration.Principal Danny Wild used the opportunity to talk about the many benefits enjoyed by Harrogate College Employers’ Network members – including the ability to have a direct say in what training the college provides.He also emphasised the value of the college’s skills bootcamps, which have just started in Ripon, and how they are being tailored to align with the needs of local businesses. ——– Student Spotlight: Student’s creativity on display The work our talented MA Creative Practice students produce is often one of the highlights of the college year. Harrogate’s residents have been enjoying the final project by Mel Linsey, who has created an eye-catching hanging installation at Westminster Arcade, Harrogate. The work was on display throughout May.We hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of our newsletter – we’ll be back with more next time!

Work with us! We are a college that prides itself on collaborating with the district’s businesses and community groups. To find out more contact Business Engagement Advisor Susan Roberts, email: Susan.Roberts@harrogate.ac.uk .