The Right Ingredients for a Successful Partnership

Barnsley College and Fosters Bakery formalised their working relations with an official partnership signing event on Tuesday 14th September.

The event took place at Millers Restaurant in Barnsley College’s Old Mill Lane site. It brought together representatives from organisations that have supported the College and Fosters Bakery to witness their commitment to Apprenticeship and Train to Gain schemes.

This is the first private sector, food and drink manufacturing partnership the College has been involved in. Both organisations have worked together since 2007 to provide training for a total of 63 existing staff and Apprentices at Fosters.
Since work began between the two organisations, Fosters has decreased absenteeism and created a happier, well-motivated workforce. Every employee at Fosters Bakery has at least a Level 2 qualification and the Bakery is making worldwide sales of over £10m a year; this could not have happened without the skills and training provided by the College.
 
The event celebrated the success of the partnership to date, recognising the achievements of individual learners who have already benefitted from the schemes. Two Fosters Apprentices, Sam Hall and Ricky Davis, were presented with certificates of achievement by College Principal Colin Booth and Fosters Director John Foster.

Guests also had the opportunity to look around plans for Barnsley College’s multi-million pound new build project which is due for completion in Summer 2011. The Catering department is a key example of the state-of-the-art learning facilities that this building will comprise. Some of the sponsors and manufacturers of the industry standard catering equipment and kitchens attended the event and were pleased to meet with people their work will have the greatest impact on; businesses and learners such as those from Fosters who will benefit from enhanced teaching and training facilities.

John Foster said at the event, “Yorkshire is the epicentre for English food and drink manufacturing. Barnsley helps sustain this accolade as the leading producer of baked goods; with this partnership the College and Fosters hope not only sustain this level of production but see it flourish.  However, ensuring an increase in the number of people entering and staying in the food and drink manufacturing industry required a more defined partnership agreement.” Both organisations are now confident this is in place.