Abraham Guest Pupils To Benefit From 'Industry Ready' Experience At The New Northgate Academy

Northgate Managed Services and Abraham Guest High School launch National Level 3 Certificate in ICT for pupils. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) September 29, 2011 - Pupils from specialist sports and arts college, Abraham Guest High School, Wigan, are set to benefit from a new and innovative partnership with one of the UK's leading providers of education ICT services and solutions, Northgate Managed Services (Northgate) with the creation of a new ICT based course that aims to provide students with a unique mix of theory based learning and 'industry ready' experiences.

The 'Northgate Academy' builds on the strong relationship that exists between Northgate and the School. Northgate provided and now manages the technologies which facilitate true anytime, personalised learning for the school's 900 students.

The Academy will offer groups of year ten pupils, with an aptitude and enthusiasm for ICT, the opportunity to study for an OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) National Level 3 Certificate in ICT. The course comprises six modules and will be facilitated by staff from Abraham Guest and Northgate over a two year period.

Students will be given the chance to engage directly with Northgate by travelling to the company's Northern Ireland headquarters for a number of work based learning days. During their time at Northgate's Newtownabbey site, students will participate in specially designed workshops and be mentored by staff from departments such as Customer Services, Technical Services, Servicedesk Support, Sales, Marketing and HR.

Northgate is playing a key role in the curriculum for the course and has provided input into modules covering issues such as collaborative learning and problem solving. Northgate will provide the students with a practical case study for some of the topics explored and its staff will act as 'online mentors' for the students on an ad hoc basis.

Commenting on the new Northgate Academy, Paul Bousfield, Headteacher, Abraham Guest High School said, "Creating the Northgate Academy is a great development for the School. Having the ability to offer students the opportunity to attain such a high level qualification at Key Stage 4, in partnership with an industry leader such as Northgate, is not only fantastic, but also singles out the School as a forward thinking and progressive learning institute.

"Northgate's input and professionalism throughout this process has been second to none. The students that have already begun the course have all enjoyed their time in Northern Ireland and have learnt a lot from their Northgate mentors."

Chris Wiseman, Education Sales Director, Northgate Managed Services commented, "The 'Northgate Academy' is something that we're all very proud of. Being asked by a school to get involved, and indeed to actively shape the learning of its pupils is a tremendous honour for us and is certainly something that we feel very passionate about.

"Taking a hands-on approach offers us the opportunity to ensure that we provide the Abraham Guest students with skills required by the ICT industry. Over recent years and as a result of our own recruitment process we have identified a number of gaps in skills in young people wishing to pursue ICT based careers. This is something we wanted to address and getting the opportunity to do so using the Northgate brand is fantastic. We very much look forward to strengthening our relationship with Abraham Guest High School and to developing the 'Northgate Academy' further."

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