December 2006 saw the launch of the new Havering Business Education Partnership (HBEP) website. Dave Butler, HBEP's Managing Director said, "Hopefully users of the site will find it much easier to navigate through the pages and find the information that is relevant to them. I would welcome comments about the site, or any other aspect of relating to HBEP from users of the site".
Working with our colleagues at the Redbridge and Newham EBPs, together with training providers from the East London Training Alliance (ELTA), we have secured funding over two years to provide a number of subsidised places on our Vocational Inclusion Programme (VIP). Year 11 students from a number of Havering schools have signed up to the programme where they attend a work placement one day per week and the local training provided for a second day.
HBEP's Vocational Inclusion Programme continues to grow in demand. Now in it's tenth year there are more schools and students on the programme than before. To meet the growing demand for high quality training provision, we have set up and opened our own Training Academy. Students at the academy are aged between 14 and 16.
In our first year we are delivering practical and function skills courses including:
As part of our continued developments, we have moved our main operations to newly refurbished offices in Rainham. Our new facilities will allow us to expand our provision for Havering schools.
As we will be be sharing accommodation with Havering Chamber of Commerce, Redbridge BEP and the Redbridge Chamber of Commerce we will be able to target our combined resources at maximising employer engagement and improving the quality of our programmes.
HBEP has launched a new community radio station called Link FM. Broadcasting on 92.2 FM and on the internet at www.linkfm.net, the station will provide training opportunities for teaching staff and work experience for students of all ages.
The station was first established in 1992 as a temporary station and now holds a full licence until 2012, when we hope to reapply.
