Name: Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership
Date Approved: 25/01/2018
Total Amount Awarded: £9700.00
Amount Awarded by Fund:
£2600.00 by Charles Russell Speechlys Community Fund
£7100.00 by Guildford Philanthropy
Project Summary: Level 3 Training workshop (cycle mechanics) for disadvantaged people in Surrey.
Primary Beneficiary: People with low skill levels
Primary Age Group: Young Adults (19 – 25)
The grant was spent on three areas:
1. Train our bicycle workshop supervisor to Level 3
2. Create a new level 3 workshop at our facility
3. Renovate our ‘break room’ for our volunteers and learners
Our first priority was to get the Workshop Supervisor and Head Mechanic the appropriate qualification, which he successfully achieved. He is now able to deliver accredited Level 3 training in the new workshop.
Next on the list was to create a new workshop, which was completed over the summer break. The new workshop is fit for purpose and has all the tools and work stations required for teaching Level 3. We have also recruited a new cohort of learners who started at the beginning of the academic year in September 2019.
The third part of the grant was to refurbish our ‘break room’ in order to provide a clean, comfortable and usable space for our volunteers and learners to take breaks and have their lunch in.
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We have almost completed the registration process with a new awarding body – IMI Awards – as our former awarding body – The City & Guilds – do not offer a level 3 cycle mechanics qualification.
We are very proud of the new workshop and even more proud of the outstanding contribution made by volunteers at the project who donated the necessary refurbishment work (which required specific skills and experience) on a voluntary basis.
This voluntary effort included:
1. Installing three security windows
2. Installing benching and building worktops
3. Installing new LED lighting
We are very fortunate to have a builder and an electrician on our amazing team of volunteers.
We are now also able to service suspension systems, suspension forks and hydraulic braking systems in the new workshop and are looking forward to shortly advertising and promoting this new opportunity for customers of the Project. This will increase our service and repair income with immediate effect.
The Bike Project has been operating for seven years and has engaged with over 200 local members of the community. We have offered accredited learning opportunities, thus increasing people’s employability, for the past 4 years, typically recruiting candidates from the local JobCentre. Since September 2018 we have shifted our focus to mainly offering accredited cycle mechanics training to younger people. This has been for two reasons – first: the ‘demand’ from local schools and colleges to offer alternative learning provision and, second, because the supply of job-seekers from the local JobCentres has pretty much dried up.
The new Level 3 workshop gives us the ability to progress the young people even further than we have been able to in the past. Previously we were able to take then through a level 1 and a Level 2 cycle mechanics qualification. We can now progress them to a Level 3 diploma (effectively an A-Level). This is potentially quite an achievement for the young people we engage with as, without this opportunity, they may well have reached 16 years of age with no qualifications at all.
The second advantage of the L3 workshop and capability is that we can offer our existing volunteers the chance to progress to a higher level and thus reward them for the amazing contribution they have made to the project over the years. And, we will be able to offer paid-for Level 3 training, once the workshop is more established, which will provide more income to sustain the project and provide more outcomes for disadvantaged members of the local community. It’s a win-win situation.
The main part of the grant was used to train our bicycle workshop supervisor to Level 3 and to create a new level 3 workshop at our facility. The workshop is now being used to deliver a Level 3 qualification to a new cohort of young people and volunteers as well allowing us to provide a Level 3 servicing facility. It has allowed us to generate more business for the enterprise which allows us to sustain and increase our social purpose, take on more trainees, train them to a higher level and make them more employable.
The grant application highlighted the following benefits and outcomes:
• Provide a new progression route for existing and previous bike project trainees
• Widen its offer for candidates from other projects and organisations
• Achieve an increased number of training outcomes generally
• Offer a higher level of qualification available at the Project
• Realise the ability to build & service more bikes to a higher level, thus increasing the sustainability and providing more opportunities for local people
• Expand and start delivering ‘paid for’ training which will subsidise the ‘free’ engagements we provide to disadvantaged members of the Surrey community
• Imagine the possibility of training employees or apprentices of local bike shops and becoming a local (to Surrey) centre of excellence in supporting all aspects of cycling for the community
We have started to deliver these outcomes and will use income generated from the higher level servicing offer to fund more outcomes for disadvantaged members of the community and volunteers.
A young person was referred to the project in January 2018, as a ‘last chance’, having been excluded from a special behavioural and emotional needs school. There were many issues around his attitude and behaviour that meant he couldn’t be in a classroom. He had also been removed from two work experience placements with local small businesses because of the behaviour he demonstrated. At first, it wasn’t easy working with him but once we had established a code of conduct and understood his wider situation, we were able to engage with him. In fact, he became a model example of why we created the formal ‘alternative learning provision’ for Year 10 and year 11 pupils excluded from mainstream school. He ended up staying with us for 18 months, progressing through a Level 1 and Level 2 cycle mechanics qualification which allowed him to secure a place on a motor mechanics course at Farnborough Tech this September. Without the intervention of the Bike Project it is most likely that he would never have achieved any qualifications and would certainly not have gone to College. We watched him grow up, mature and turn his life around while he was here.
Thank you so much for your support!
Surrey Lifelong Learning Partnership
