Printing in three dimensions might sound like magic. But at a pioneering primary school in Bury, pupils as young as seven are learning how to do it.
Companies across Greater Manchester are increasingly using 3D printing, which is why this skill is said to be 'critical' for the next generation. Rachel Ellison, who is the computing lead at St. Joseph and St. Bede R.C. Primary School, said that learning these skills at a young age could be life-changing.
Last year, she signed up for a free 3D printing course, fully funded by Greater Manchester's Skills for Growth programme. "It blew my mind," she recalled.
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Since then, she has set up an afterschool club where children in Year 3 and 4 make key rings and counters using the 3D printers provided by the course. Immediately oversubscribed, Rachel and her colleague Sinead now hope that the skills learnt at the club can be taught as part of the school's curriculum.
"We just want them to be excited to do something and give them the cutting edge to do it well," Rachel explained. "And the children absolutely love it."
Rachel is just one of more than 10,000 people in Greater Manchester who have taken part in these courses which aim to fill skills gap in the local jobs market. Since the programme launched in 2020, 11 training providers have been commissioned to deliver training in skills needed by a range of sectors including digital, construction, manufacturing, logistics and blue light services.
For some, it has meant a move away from the manufacturing sector. Ibraheem Ahmad, 33, from Oldham, completed a digital course called "Get hired as a UX Professional" with Serco and the Coders Guild. This training landed him a new role as a Business Analyst in a tech company with a starting salary of £40,000.
Daniel Webb, 32, from Manchester who works as a health care assistant at Abbeydale Nursing Home based in Eccles completed a course about learning disabilities with Ashley Hunter Training Academy and Acorn training through the Skills for Growth programme. "The Learning Disabilities Level 3 course has given me the knowledge that I needed to apply for jobs in the future.
"Support from the training provider has been great and made learning enjoyable and I really enjoyed researching the history of disabilities which has also improved my digital skills. I would highly recommend this programme to people who want to upskill and progress their career further."
The three-year programme which launched at the start of the Covid pandemic, has been granted funding through the European Social Fund. It comes as local leaders in Greater Manchester are given more control over further education under a new devolution deal agreed with the government earlier this month.
The trailblazer deal frees up funding for colleges and businesses to work together and create courses which match the needs of the local economy. Using these powers, Mayor Andy Burnham now wants to create the UK's first integrated technical education system, offering a clear alternative to A-Levels.
Marking the milestone reached by the Skills for Growth programme, he said: "Having local control over funding for training programmes such as Skills for Growth, gives the city-region power to ensure our employment and skills system is matching the needs of our businesses with talent they can hire locally. The Skills for Growth programme has played a huge part in the creation of new opportunities, bridging skills shortages, and building our economy, but we can do more by making our region the first in the UK to have a fully integrated system of technical education."
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