STOP PRESS!! - LSC SE Region Marketing and Communications Annual ConferenceWe will be holding our inaugural conference for training providers and partners on 7th November at Sandown Racecourse in Esher, Surrey. Details including guest speakers will be announced shortly, but please put the date in your diary now!
Welcome to the first edition of the LSC SE Region Marketing and Communications E-Zine. This is a monthly email update which includes information on marketing and communications activity, market research and other useful information for training providers and partners across the SE region. Skills Campaign updateGeneral updateThe launch of the Train to Gain and the consumer advertising have now both taken place. Advertising will continue over the summer, including a focus on regional and ethnic press. PR and marketing work is still on-going. We will be working in September to look at how we continue to inspire as many people and employers as possible to increase their skills. The number of calls to the phone line and visits to the website are still high and very encouraging. The more organisations that get involved by incorporating the advertising into their advertising, using the strapline or images on their websites or putting up posters for staff, learners and potential learners, the more powerfully the message will be spread. Posters availableIf you would like posters for your staff, potential learners and members of the public to put up in and around your offices, college or workplace, then please go onto the Campaign Resources Site. The posters can act as a great marketing tool as the range include some with space for your own contact details. The Campaign Resources Site can be accessed at: www.lsc.gov.uk/campaignresources. Once you have registered a password will be sent to you within 24 hours. The site will give you all the information you need to enable you to incorporate the Skills Campaign into your organisation's marketing and communication activities. We will continually update and add new materials as they become available, so please refer to this site for the very latest information. WebsiteWe have just completed phase two of the website which concentrated on increasing the information for young people and adults. We are now starting phase three of web development and this will concentrate on the stakeholder and employers side. The website can be found at: www.lsc.gov.uk/inourhands Hardest working handsThe LSC worked with The Mirror to find The Nation’s Hardest Working Hands. With the "Our future" messaging being used throughout, the partnership was created to appeal to the key target audience, and to create enthusiasm about skills. The winner of the competition was Karen Butcher from Birmingham. Her win was announced in The Mirror on Wednesday 15th August. Using her hands and skills every day as a dedicated staff nurse and caring grandmother, Karen’s story is an inspiration to anyone looking to take on a new skill. Karen is a ward sister at Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham and her nomination highlighted exactly what it means to put your skills to the best possible use. Karen is a well known and respected figure at her hospital and spends all of her spare time looking after her grandchild. The objective of the competition was to inspire people to gain new skills through the positive stories of those that already work hard at their skills; we felt Karen's story best fitted this objective. Above all other nominations, we felt that Karen's story would be the most compelling and inspiring to people reading the winner's story and considering taking on a new skill. Her passion and commitment to her skills have obviously reaped great rewards through the admiration and respect she gets from her patients, colleagues and family, as well as the overall satisfaction from her day to day job. Click here to read Karen's story CalendarsSkills campaign calenders running from July 07 to June 08 are available free of charge. If you did not receive your Skills Campaign calendar, or need any extra, please let us know and we will do our best to supply you with one. Email us at skillscampaign@lsc.gov.uk. Skills Campaign Youth Radio advertisingThe following SE regional radio stations are carrying Skills campaign advertising for w/c 27th Aug, 10th Sep and 24th Sep:
The rationale for station choice is that the strongest stations within budget were picked. In addition these stations are the most effective for the 15 - 19 youth target audience. Train to GainNational, regional and Skills South East Brokerage marketing campaigns can be viewed at http://www.traintogainprovidersse.org.uk in the Marketing Section. In addition we took a late opportunity to sponsor the camera facing signage boards for 10 games for the following cricket matches:
Roadshows planned for OctoberTrain to Gain branded Smart cars with a field marketing team will be visiting business parks during October. The team’s full schedule giving details and when and where they are visiting will be posted on the train to gain providers website shortly. The next Train to Gain Marketing Forum for Consortium leads is on 26th Sept at the LSC office in Surrey. For further information about Train to Gain marketing contact Mandip Bilkhu at mandip.bilkhu@lsc.gov.uk ApprenticeshipsNational and regional LSC marketing plans for Apprenticeships can be viewed here For regular updates on national apprenticeship news you can subscribe to the Apprenticeships e-newletters. Click here for further details Leitch. What do schools, colleges, training providers, universities have to do?We’ve had the Report, got the targets and now the Government has set out its plan for implementing Leitch, but what do schools, colleges/training providers, and universities actually have to do? Click here for the latest Policy Watch report from Edexcel News release from Asset SkillsAsset Skills is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the places where we live and work, covering the areas of property, cleaning services, housing and facilities management. The Asset Skills website is at www.assetskills.org Over the past two years the role of the housing professional has changed considerably. The recommendations which were borne out of the Egan report show a need for more transferable and generic skills, as well being able to respond to the increased pressures faced by housing providers such as;
To reflect this first changing environment Asset Skill has been working with a number of housing professionals to develop a new set of National Occupational Standards (NOS). The NOS will then be used to develop a more streamlined and defined NVQ career pathway route which will encompass the needs of the industry. For further information on the qualification framework and to become involved to express your views contact Asset Skills Head of Standards and Qualifications Penny Dawson on 01604 233336 or via pdawson@assetskills.org Value of Learning CampaignThe campaign consists of a series of media executions with the aim of inspiring and engaging adults across the region to develop their skills and learn throughout their life. It makes the case for learners and employers to contribute more to the cost of their learning by showcasing the enormous range of financial, personal and social benefits that people receive from learning and acquiring skills. The first piece of activity took place on Wednesday 29th August with the launch of a research report entitled 'Attitudes to Learning.' This will be followed by regionally focused radio interviews conducted by the Skills Minister, David Lammy. This story uses research to highlight the differences in adults’ attitudes to learning across England, highlighting for example, which region has the keenest learners, and which region places the most importance on learning. The learndirect telephone number will be quoted during the radio day interviews and we anticipate that media coverage will consequently appear in your regions. The second piece of activity will launch on Tuesday 16th October (2.30-3.30pm at the College of North East London) with the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, Bill Rammell, and is entitled: The Perfect Gift The Perfect Gift is a new and unique initiative which allows people to make a contribution towards the cost of a course as a gift for friends or family. This initiative involves partnering with a college in all nine LSC regions
across England to help deliver the programme More details on planned media activity will follow at a later date. Adult Learning Grant (ALG)We will be posting new artwork templates on the campaign resources website to include:
There is also a new leaflet planned for later in the year to bring it in line with Skills/ALG hands artwork, but not until stocks of current leaflets run down. Downloadable Prospectus Advert Prospectus advertisements have been posted on the campaign resources site. They include reference to the top pay band for ALG eligibility as research has suggested this is higher than people would expect and therefore a good thing. The messaging is also more specific to people who have already considered studying (as they’re looking at a prospectus) but might be put off by cost. Reminder: Prospectuses advertising full and part time LSC funded courses should have the LSC logo displayed. Download logo artwork at https://brand.lsc.gov.uk Adult Learner Accounts33 training providers are participating in the SE trials for Adult Learner
Accounts. National Learning Directory (NLD)The NLD has details of over 950,000 courses nationwide and provides a portal for over 100 different websites including learndirect and nexsteps. You can increase your chances of lead referrals from these sites by making
sure that your current full and part time training provision is uploaded
onto the NLD. This can be done in 3 ways, you can update the information
yourself, send in a copy of your prospectuses or complete and submit an Excel
course information template provided by the NLD. The LSC South East aims to provide its providers and partners with regular bulletins, similar in style to this one, to keep them up to date on marketing and communications activities in relation to the Skills Campaign and other campaigns. If you wish to unsubscribe to this service, {UNSUBSCRIBE "please click here to unsubscribe"}. If you would like to subscribe to this service then please contact Adam Sharp |
