Fenland Council in bid to improve the district's English and maths skills

By Tom Jackson A COUNCIL is set to take a skills programme out into the community in its attempt to improve residents every-day abilities in English and maths. The Skills for Life scheme could be rolled out by Fenland District Council to combat low atta

By Tom Jackson

A COUNCIL is set to take a skills programme out into the community in its attempt to improve residents' every-day abilities in English and maths.

The Skills for Life scheme could be rolled out by Fenland District Council to combat low attainment levels in the subjects.

A report to the council's staff committee said the scheme could be taken out to communities after more than 100 staff gained extra skills.

Shari Khan, the council's change and development manager, told the committee: "We are conscious that these actions will form part of our longer-term work with the communities that we serve.

"We are also aware of a commitment from partners to work with us in finding solutions to address some of the traditionally low skill levels we have in Fenland.

"Most importantly, this work links in directly to our corporate objective of raising educational attainment levels in the community."

Skills for Life courses help develop every-day skills such as reading, writing and numeracy.

According to the report close to 100 staff have undertaken full assessment, and nearly 60 more staff gained a qualification in literacy or numeracy.

A further 22 staff are currently working towards the qualification and 12 staff are on a waiting list.

The council is now hoping to target the public and businesses through a number of media including leaflets, skills conferences, the TV network in the four one-stop shops and the Fenland Eye page in this newspaper.