Prepare to Achieve

The Progress Group (TPG), has announced The Standing Tall Foundation as its nominated charity of the year.
CareersInc  ·  Charitable Giving  ·  Complete Training Solutions  ·  Corporate Social Responsibility  ·  Giving back  ·  Grey Matter Learning  ·  Innovative Alliance  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  Progress Schools  ·  The Progress Group
The Progress Group names The Standing Tall Foundation as its charity of the year

Leading education and training specialists, The Progress Group (TPG), has announced The Standing Tall Foundation as its nominated charity of the year. The news will see the two organisations bring together their combined knowledge to work simultaneously to drive forward social mobility across the UK.

It is no surprise that the Foundation was named TPG’s charity of the year. Both organisations work to provide education, training and support to individuals of all ages, helping them to secure positive outcomes whilst having a long-term impact on their lives.

The Standing Tall Foundation was founded in 2020, with a clear aim of supporting the health and wellbeing of individuals of all ages and backgrounds by giving them to access things such as educational programmes, mental health services, and drug and alcohol abuse rehabilitation support. The Foundation also works closely with ex-military personnel, supporting them to reintegrate back in to communities after serving in the armed forces.

The partnership has already got off to a storming success, with Complete Training Solution’s recently offering a number of sponsored placements for ex-military on one of their newest courses, Basic Safety Training, helping them to re-skill in order to peruse an alternative career after leaving the military.

Speaking on the partnership, The Progress Group’s CEO, Jayne Worthington, said;

‘’I am thrilled that The Standing Tall Foundation was voted as our charity of the year! At The Progress Group, we are committed to delivering on our promise to drive forward social mobility and provide individuals with a high-quality training and education, a mission shared by the Foundation.’

‘’We are always looking for new ways to build strong partnerships in the communities where we operate, just like the Foundation. Our shared values and commitment to raising aspirations and helping individuals to overcome barriers will undoubtedly help us have a positive impact on the lives of countless individuals over the coming year and beyond.’

‘’I am looking forward to working closely with the Foundation in the coming months to see how we can support each other and achieve our mission together.’’

John Tabern, CEO of The Standing Tall Foundation said:

“To use, forging long-term relationships with organisations such as The Progress Group are priceless, as for us to be able to achieve our vision, we need to work collaboratively with like minded organisations to share best practice and help connect our users to the services and support the need, either directly via the Foundation or via third parties.

“That’s one reason why we are so excited to be name as The Progress Group’s charity of the year, as their approach to this partnership goes beyond fundraising or donations to also include opportunities to share knowledge, skills and connections, for the benefits of our users and you can’t put a price on that.”

The Progress Group is a group of specialist education and training providers, supporting individuals from the age of 11 to 65. Made up of two divisions, the Group subsidiaries serve a wealth of industries from Renewable Energy to Health and Social Care to Alternative Education. As a collective, the Group has supported thousands of individuals to access high-quality and effective education and training that has helped them progress into positive destinations.

Prepare to Achieve CEO, Lee Evans, talks potential EPA changes in 2021
End-Point Assessment  ·  Innovative Alliance  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  Thought Leadership
Prepare to Achieve CEO, Lee Evans, talks potential EPA changes in 2021

National education and training specialists, The Progress Group, have recently acquired the multiple award-winning learntech provider, Grey Matter Learning. The provider, who is dedicated to the health and social care industry, is a leading eLearning provider, having recently been named “2021’s Most Outstanding eLearning Provider of the Year for Social Care Services in the United Kingdom” by CEO Monthly Magazine and “Leading Provider of Social Care eLearning 2020” by the Southern Enterprise Awards.

Grey Matter Learning is the latest addition to The Progress Group, which already includes five education and training providers. Collectively, the group works with individuals aged 8 – 60 across their national alternative education provision, careers education, advice and guidance, and adult skills training. Their skills training spans several sectors including renewable energy, construction, health, and social care, and warehousing and storage.

The addition of Grey Matter Learning will not only further enhance the existing delivery of the Group, but also help to further drive the company’s digital learning capabilities.

Talking of the acquisition, Group CEO Jayne Worthington said;

“We are delighted to welcome Grey Matter Learning and its team to The Progress Group. Grey Matter Learning is very well established as a provider of eLearning across the UK, and I am really looking forward to not only growing this business nationally, but also deploying some of its best practice and eLearning expertise across our Group. This will significantly enhance our existing eLearning provision, ultimately helping us to help more people.

“Similar to us, Grey Matter has a mission to improve lives through learning, and place people at the heart of their provision. This ethos and approach were the perfect fit for our Group, which has a clear purpose, to change lives through the power of education. When we first met the team at Grey Matter Learning, I instantly knew that they would be a brilliant fit for our Group, and that they would really bring another element of expertise to our existing provision.”

Sarah Knapp, Grey Matter Learning Managing Director and founder said;

“Everyone at Grey Matter Learning is hugely excited by the opportunities that working with The Progress Group will bring for the team, our clients and partners. Whilst we remain firmly committed to the social care sector, we have already been working on successful projects in other sectors. From an L&D background, it has always been my passion to create interesting and fun eLearning that holds the attention of the learner whilst inspiring desired results. It can be pretty challenging when dealing with such difficult subjects, particularly during such tough times.

Since launching our upgraded system, Click, a year ago, we have had incredible feedback and won 2 major awards. People simply love our content. I often wonder how many eLearning providers can confidently say that their learners are excited by the courses and are having fun competing with colleagues because they are enjoying their learning experiences. Just this week one of our local authority L&D Managers said: “The Click content was so rich and engaging that I changed my work plans in order to complete the course”. It is so heartwarming to know we are making a difference and I believe this new partnership can only bring greater innovation and more lives improved through learning.”

Grey Matter Learning, which was formed in 2006, works with multiple local authorities, many of whom for 14 years as well as social care providers. This includes AgeUK, Dimensions, Autism Together, Bluebird Care, Mencap, Camphill Village Trust, Milestones Trust, and the Guinness Partnership. Their eLearning platform, Click, has been shown to significantly boost a company’s productivity, providing £30 worth of increased productivity for every £1 invested in online training. It’s this impressive impact which has seen the company flourish over the last 14 years.

To find out more about The Progress Group, visit their website.

Prepare to Achieve wins Best Health and Social Care EPA Organisation 2020
Award winning  ·  End-Point Assessment  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  Skills agenda  ·  The Progress Group
Announcing, the winner of Best Health and Social Care EPA Organisation 2020

Prepare to Achieve, a specialist End-Point Assessment Organisation have been named Best Health and Social Care EPA Organisation 2020 – England by Corporate Vision Magazine. The annual awards recognises, congratulates and celebrates those institutions, organisations and agencies who – leading the way with education and training.

After what has already been a successful year for Prepare to Achieve who have enjoyed significant growth, and invested in the development of a new bespoke digital End-Point Assessment (EPA) platform, this award really is the icing on the cake!

Employers and training providers looking to work with Prepare to Achieve at the final stages of the apprenticeship programme, can be certain that as a business, Prepare to Achieve stand out from the crowd.  As industry leaders, they continue to keep one step ahead of their competition in order to deliver the best quality service for a simple EPA journey for everyone involved. The research team who made the final judgement on the winners of each category, took into consideration the online reputation, customer feedback, client dedication and innovation, all of which Prepare to Achieve illustrate through their company values and passion.

Lee Evans, CEO at Prepare to Achieve was delighted to receive the award, responding;

“As a specialist End-Point Assessment Organisation, we constantly have our eye on the end result and work hard to continually innovate our delivery. This approach helps to ensure that we provide an exceptional service to our apprentices and their employers and unwavering level of customer care.”

“Recognising the hard work of my team is something which I hold dear, but to have an external organisation recognise and award their hard work as well is even better!

The annual Education and Training Awards also recognised a number of education providers, Adult education institutions and Training centres. You can discover more of the award categories and winners on the Corporate Vision Magazine website.

Since being founded, Prepare to Achieve have continued to go from strength-the-strength. This was particularly evidenced during the recent lockdown when the specialist EPAO adapted their delivery quickly and seamlessly in order to continue to support their clients. This flexible approach resulted in over 150 apprentices via 39 employers being supported with throughout March-May alone. They now plan to build on their successes to-date by launching a new EPA platform and Apprentice Alumni in the coming moving, proving exactly why they deserve to be named Best Health and Social Care EPA Organisation.

Nurturing personal purpose at a time of change
Adult Education  ·  CareersInc  ·  Complete Training Solutions  ·  Innovative Alliance  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  Progress Schools  ·  Skills agenda  ·  The Progress Group
Nurturing personal purpose at a time of change

Changing lives through education and training is something that resonates with me personally and is a purpose that naturally runs throughout The Progress Group.

The world pressed pause for a while and we took the time to reflect, regroup and restructure. As a business, it’s given us the opportunity to focus on our shared values across our three distinct divisions, as we start a new chapter with our new brand and ambitions.

Having a clear purpose as an organisation is of course important – but at a time when many people are looking for new direction, reassurance and support, the significance of helping to nurture an individual’s sense of purpose is crucial too.

With rapidly rising unemployment, a skills gap threatening to widen and ‘new normal’ ways of living and working to navigate, our sector needs to be there to help people develop the skills and confidence to succeed and thrive.

Today is the UN’s World Youth Skills Day, which makes it more poignant that under 25s are being hit particularly hard in the current jobs market.  The government’s latest employment statistics shows the 16 to 24 age group were the only age group to show an annual decrease in employment – down by 25,000.

It’s a similar story when we look at those not in education, employment or training (NEETS), with official figures for early 2020 showing an increase to 771,000 young people across the UK.

This is before we see the full impact of Covid-19 on the jobs market as a whole, but what’s already clear is the need to keep levelling the skills playing field in our society.

The government’s announcement last week to support young people, particularly those on universal credit, is a step in the right direction.

A personal journey

I remember the moment aged 12 when I started on my own journey to finding my personal purpose and the self-belief I needed to achieve it. Growing up on a council estate in Birmingham – on the 17th floor of a tower block for the first seven years – I desperately wanted to achieve my dream of working in the media, but my teachers at the time dismissed the idea.

It wasn’t until a local arts worker called Harry took the time teach me to how to take photographs that I really started to value myself. Learning this new skill taught me how to think about the world around me, how people are shaped and the breadth of choice and opportunity out there. It gave me the confidence to go to college and polytechnic, and secure an internship at the BBC. Although I moved away from a media career, it gave me skills, as well as a passion for education and training, which has set me on the path to the role I’m in today.

I was lucky to have had support developing my direction and resolve at a young age. Every young person deserves this, so we need to be there for those who don’t – to help people build resilience and strength and provide empathy and understanding to nurture purpose at an individual level.

Where next?

Everyone has their own personal story, whether that’s a child who’s falling behind at school, someone who has lost their job, struggling to get into work or coming out of the justice system. Sometimes they need that extra helping hand of support.

Our teams have been busy keeping education and training services running throughout the pandemic, critically supporting both youth and adult learning. For many the future can often feel uncertain, even more so now than ever before.

But this challenging time brings with it the opportunity to do things differently and harness the changes and opportunities to support the next generation to find their own successful path for the future.

This is something me and the fantastic Progress Group team are committed to delivering on a daily basis – using the power of education and training to change lives.

Improving End-Point Assessment through bespoke digital technology
End-Point Assessment  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  The Progress Group
Improving End-Point Assessment through bespoke digital technology

Gone are the days of pen and paper, numerous emails and confusing filing systems. The final stage of the apprenticeship journey is now even more accessible for employers, training providers and apprentices.

Prepare to Achieve are taking advantage of new digital technologies to continue to provide a fuss-free service for the delivery of End-Point Assessment (EPA). The bespoke EPA platform has been specially designed for EPA to guide apprentices, employers and training providers through the entire EPA process.

Investing in the platform allows the necessary Gateway requirements to be documented in one place for easy access, in addition to assessment progress charts which allow employers, apprentices and training providers to stay on top of data.

Prepare to Achieve have been pleased to receive positive feedback from our partners about the use of technology, especially the generation of reports to track the progress of apprentices.

Lee Evans, CEO at Prepare to Achieve, said:

“The past few months have proven to us how important it is for employers, providers and apprentices to have easy access to resources and information online. The EPA platform has the features that assist us in providing the best service, and in turn, helping apprentices to complete their apprenticeship journey.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic begun, Prepare to Achieve have used their technology-led approach to EPA to support 39 employers and over 150 apprentices in the adult care sector through EPA.

high-demand-for-end-point-assessment-in-the-health-and-social-care-sector
End-Point Assessment  ·  Prepare to Achieve  ·  The Progress Group
High demand for End-Point Assessment in the Health and Social Care sector

After an unprecedented few months for the apprenticeship training sector, Prepare to Achieve have taken some time to reflect on what has been a successful few months for the specialist End-Point Assessment Organisation.

Between March-May, Prepare to Achieve have worked with 39 different health and social care employers, supporting over 100 of their apprentices through the End-Point Assessment (EPA) element of their apprenticeship standard. A number of factors have led them to achieving this success, including the development of their online EPA Platform, which provides a flexible and simple approach to the final stage of the apprenticeship programme.

As with many industries, the apprenticeship sector as a whole has taken a hit during the pandemic. Leading education charity, The Sutton Trust, reported that out of 156 employers surveyed, 61% were forced to suspend on-the-job learning, furlough recruits or make them redundant during lockdown. However, Prepare to Achieve’s speediness to embrace the changes and adjustments set out by the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) ensured that their support of employers, apprentices and training providers was not compromised. These adjustments saw the Adult Care Worker Level 2 and Lead Adult Care Worker Level 3 being adapted to allow for 100% online assessment.

This new way of assessing apprentices has benefited many businesses during the pandemic with providers able to support apprentices remotely to prepare for EPA.

An employer who recently chose Prepare to Achieve as their End-Point Assessment Organisation said:

“The process was so much easier from start to finish. We were able to work the assessments around our employees’ busy schedules, which worked better for us. Booking the assessments was all done online and was quick and easy, too.

“Our apprentice also said she felt more comfortable taking the assessment in a familiar setting, rather than having an Assessor physically in the same room as her. It was the first time we’d completed the whole EPA process online, and we’ll definitely continue to do it this way moving forwards.”

Lee Evans, CEO at Prepare to Achieve said,

“It’s been great that we’ve had such a good response to the online delivery of our EPA services. Over the past 3 months, we’ve had over 200 assessments completed online and we’ve had really positive feedback from both employers and apprentices about their experiences.”

Prepare to Achieve offer online EPA services for the Adult Care Worker Level 2 and Lead Adult Care Worker Level 3 apprenticeship standards. They hope to continue with this remote way of assessment moving forwards, to fully support employers through the End-Point Assessment journey.