Salford City College Group is thrilled to announce that we have once again been shortlisted as finalists in the 2023 Educate North Awards. 

We have been recognised and shortlisted in the following categories: 

  • Community Engagement Award
  • Employer Engagement Award
  • Mental Health and Wellbeing Award
  • Social Mobility Award

This is a recognition of the outstanding effort made by our students and staff. 

The Educate North Awards is a prestigious awards event. We look forward to celebrating our nominations on 27th April 2023, recognising and sharing best practices and excellence in the education sector in the North.

You can read more about the initiatives we have been shortlisted for below. 

Community Engagement Award

Community Engagement Award – Further Education & Higher Education Sector

Our Adult and Community Education offer at the College encourages adults from across the region, with low-level skills to engage in learning to improve their wellbeing, develop individual skills and to progress into further training, volunteering and/or sustainable employment. 

Partnership working is the key to our adult and community offer.  Our eight partners have different specialisms and deliver programmes throughout the year.

The Broughton Trust - a long-established agency based with very good knowledge of the 3rd sector network. Its offer centers on basic skills, employability and ESOL skills. 

Corinth Training - specialise in ICT courses using the Salford Gateway network, housing providers and voluntary sector venues to deliver an inclusive and accessible programme primarily on learners outside the digital society.

CSIN - works with a small group of adults unlikely to access mainstream provision due to support needs. Courses include Understanding PTSD or Complex Child Behaviour. 

DIY Theatre Company - works with adults who have substantial support needs. Courses include creative art skills alongside the development of essential transferrable skills. Learners are encouraged to progress to other programmes, to volunteer or employment.

FIT Ltd - recruits learners from a wide range of backgrounds who all have additional support needs, lack confidence and discipline. Learners enrol onto short ‘Get Back to Work courses. 

START in Salford - works with ‘at risk’ adults referred because of mental health issues. Their creative art and craft related programmes encourage self-belief and a positive mental attitude. 

Tefirah Trust - works with Higher Broughton Jewish Community to provide additional skills aligned to local employment opportunitiesThe learners would not access other community venues. 

Wai Yin Society - provides courses in areas with limited provision and innovative ESOL courses designed to aid integration of non-UK citizens into their local communities.

Employer Engagement Award

Our Industry Partners initiative is about ensuring long term, strategic relationships between the College and employers, based on talent development, career progression and creating high-quality, long-term opportunities for our students.

Our 10,000 students per year are the future talent for many local, regional and national organsiations. By working together with employers, strategically, to enhance, develop and improve all aspects of our provision, we can be certain that our students are leaving the College Group best prepared, with the skills, knowledge and behaviours they need to thrive in the workplace.

Our annual SCC Cycle (Strategic and Continuous Curriculum) is an integral and critical annual process of curriculum development, ensuring that in all considerations, the needs of our industry partners, and the wider business and industry community are heard and included. Industry partners, through informal dialogue, formal Employer Curriculum Boards and by hosting our staff on industry CPD placements, inform and shape all that is outstanding about the broad range of provision we offer across the SCC Group. 

Mental Health & Wellbeing Award

#WELLSTUDENT is a fully inclusive, pro-active approach to developing a reflective, resilient and healthy community of students and staff across the SCC group.  It takes a holistic look at wellbeing to ensure that individual mental health and wellbeing needs are met through a tailored package of education, identification and intervention.  

#WELLSTUDENT is part of the college’s wider mental health and wellbeing strategy, and equips young people with habits and knowledge to plan for fluctuations in mental health and wellbeing, it develops individuals who become empowered to improve health prospects and outcomes within and beyond college:

What it means to be a #WELLSTUDENT

A #WELLSTUDENT proactively seeks opportunities to maintain and improve their health by regularly participating in a range of activities at college.  Information about activities and resources are available via the Wellbeing Portal and are advertised throughout the centres.  

A #WELLSTUDENT recognises the need to invest in good physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health at all times to develop resilience and to minimise poor health in the future.  

A #WELLSTUDENT promotes the SCC wellbeing agenda through engagement with events in college and beyond helping us to develop a community of healthy young people in Salford and Greater Manchester.’  

The #WELLSTUDENT package is supplemented by a carefully planned, collegewide tutorial programme designed to further develop student emotional literacy, resilience and engagement including use of the Fika software and weekly wellbeing publications such as podcasts, reading materials and workouts. 

Social Mobility Award

The Future Scientists Programme aims to increase the diversity of students progressing to science-related courses at undergraduate level with a particular focus on increasing the number of applications to Russell Group Universities.

The initiative provides equal access and wider opportunity by accepting a wider range of applications to the Level 3 Science courses, beyond the standard college entry requirements as below: 

  1. Applications are welcome from students who are refugees or asylum seekers with complete or incomplete overseas qualifications who may have been rejected from other providers 
  • Applications are welcome from students from deprived backgrounds who demonstrate equivalent ability, and they may be given a reduced grade offer to join the course. 

The programme involves the establishment of an educational and pastoral culture and opportunities that inspire a diverse student population with disadvantaged backgrounds and low prior attainment. Students are taught by ethnically and gender diverse expert teachers with higher degrees and PhDs. With a safe and secure environment in which to thrive, students develop ambitious aspirations to pursue prestigious science courses in Higher Education. They earn outstanding grades, gain self-confidence and the knowledge and skills for further study.