College to open new skills centre in former Co- operative building

A NEW learning facility dedicated to higher skills and higher education is set to be opened in Dewsbury next month.

Kirklees College will be opening the Pioneer Higher Skills Centre, a specialist centre which marks a key milestone in the Dewsbury Blueprint.

The blueprint is a ten- year plan that aims to make the town centre a safe, attractive, family friendly place to live, work, visit or learn.

The specialist centre has been designed to increase the skills of local people by supporting them to gain qualifications, work skills and enhance their career prospects. The restoration and regeneration project of the former Co- operative building has been funded by Kirklees Council together with Kirklees College with further contributions from the Leeds City Region Growth Deal, delivered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority ( WYCA) and the Leeds LEP, The Heritage Lottery Fund and The Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative.

Phillipa Firth, assistant principal for adults and higher education at Kirklees College, said: “We are very excited to be delivering our Higher Education programmes from the newly restored Pioneer Higher Skills Centre.

We hope that this specialist centre will be a welcome addition to the local area and provide the people of Dewsbury and beyond with the opportunity to learn a new skill or start a new career at Kirklees College.”

The Pioneer Higher Skills Centre will offer a wide range of vocational courses taught by industry experienced tutors to provide learners with hands- on experience in their chosen career path.

The centre will offer full- time or part- time courses in: art and design, business, early years, ESOL ( English as a second language), computing, counselling, teaching and hair and beauty.