July 14, 2015 2.47 pm This story is over 104 months old

New £1m training and apprenticeship centre to open in Lincoln

Skills training: A new training facility in Lincoln is under construction, to retain more skilled students in the city.

Photo: Stuart Wilde

A brand new £1.1 million construction and motor vehicle training and apprenticeships centre will open in Lincoln in the next academic year.

The Priory Federation of Academies is opening the new purpose-built Keyworth Centre at The Priory City of Lincoln Academy, Skellingthorpe Road.

Building work is already underway and completion is set for December 2015, with an official opening scheduled for January 2016.

Specialist instructors will be at hand to deliver courses to up to 40 students aged 16, 17 and 18.

Carpentry and joining training will be available to the next generation of skilled workers. Photo: Stuart Wilde

Carpentry and joining training will be available to the next generation of skilled workers. Photo: Stuart Wilde

The initiative will help to address a local and national skills shortage and increase the choices available to young people as they prepare to leave school.

The academy ran a pilot construction course in a converted classroom during the current academic year. The four new workshops will teach specific units including plumbing, joinery, masonry, decorating, bricklaying and roofing.

Post-16 students will be involved in the training courses during 2015-16. Mr Reeve said it was likely the centre would become available in the future for adult education courses during evenings and weekends.

The second storey of the Keyworth Centre will house the administration arm of the Lincolnshire Teaching School Alliance, which places postgraduate trainee teachers in its 17 member schools.

The Centre is named after former pupil Leonard Keyworth, who was awarded the Victoria Cross 100 years ago during the First World War.

Mr Rob Reeve, The Priory Federation’s Director of Operations, said: “We have been planning this centre for the last two years and it is great to see it finally taking shape.

“We passionately believe in increasing the opportunities for our students, and the skills they will learn in the Keyworth Centre are in demand across Lincolnshire and the whole of the country.”