A senior civil servant brushed up on his industry skills during a fact-finding tour of Reaseheath College in Nantwich.
David Russell, director of “Closing the Gap” in the Department for Education, visited Reaseheath because of its reputation for skills development and engagement with industry.
He toured the college’s £7.3million food centre and commercial farm, which includes a dairy parlour and welfare friendly commercial pig unit.
During his visit, Mr Russell joined students being introduced to technology such as how to programme and drive tractors fitted with Global Positioning Systems (GPS).
He also toured the college’s new agricultural engineering academy and motor vehicle workshops and inspected a state- of- the- art food engineering centre.
The £3.6m project, developed with the National Skills Academy for Food, combines training in engineering, food manufacturing and farming and is aimed at engineers of large scale milk processing plants in factories across the country.
Mr Russell said: “My visit was truly inspiring.
“I was impressed with everything I saw: the industry-standard facilities, the engagement of the students, the enthusiasm of the staff and the vision and energy of Reaseheath’s Principal and team.
“Above all, it was extremely encouraging and inspiring to see a college which is delivering the Government’s vision for the sector.
“Reaseheath is not only responsive to the needs of industry but is totally in partnership at all levels, from course design through teaching partnerships to the layout of facilities.
“It shows what can be done by an institution focussed on excellence and completely orientated towards successful employment outcomes and the skills needs of industry. And as if that wasn’t enough, I got to drive a tractor too!”
(Pic above: Mr Russell tries out a GPS fitted tractor with agriculture students Rebecca Harper, Sam Ellis and Sam Turner)
(Pic below: Mr Russell at Reaseheath’s dairy parlour with Vice Principal Dave Kynaston and head of Agriculture Martyn East)
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