We were pleased to welcome Councillor Helen Hayden from Leeds City Council to officially open Leeds City College’s new Leeds Dock campus.
Initially offering around 250 places to learners, Leeds Dock campus will help meet the growing demand for skilled health and social care professionals across the region, while making some of the college’s more popular courses accessible to even more students.
Cllr Hayden said: “It’s fantastic to see investment into new education facilities that will help more young people access high-quality education and training here in Leeds.
“This new campus is a welcome addition, creating more opportunities for students to gain the knowledge, skills and experience they need to build rewarding careers, while helping to meet the needs of local employers.”
Investing in opportunities for young people
Leeds City College, part of Luminate Education Group, received an £8 million Government grant to support the expansion of post-16 education provision across Leeds.
The investment aims to create more opportunities for young people to access education and training, while helping to address the increasing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Diana Bird, Executive Principal at Leeds City College, said: “It’s wonderful to officially open our Leeds Dock campus. Health and social care professionals play such an important role in our communities, and we’re proud to be creating more opportunities for young people to pursue a career in the sector.”
Bill Jones, CEO of Luminate Education Group, added: “Investing in high-quality education facilities provides our young people with the best learning environment possible.
“The opening of Leeds Dock campus reflects our commitment to expanding access to education and training, ensuring more young people have the opportunity to develop their skills and progress into employment.”
Supporting the future of health and social care
The opening marks another step in the college’s commitment to providing high-quality, career-focused education that responds to the needs of students, employers and the wider community.
It also supports wider government ambitions to strengthen technical and vocational education and aligns with the West Yorkshire Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP), which identifies health and social care as a priority sector for tackling skills shortages and supporting regional economic growth.
Julie Hyde has been appointed as our group’s new Chair of the Board of Governors.
Julie joined Luminate Education Group as a co-opted member of the Leeds City College Board in 2022, joining the Group Board as a governor in 2024.
She succeeds our previous Chair, John Toon – who ended his tenure at the end of July 2026 – in the role. John will remain with the group as a co-opted member, and continue to contribute to certain board meetings and committees.
The Board of Governors ensures that the group is financially secure, well managed and delivers high-quality education.
Julie said: “It is a privilege to take up the position of Chair of the Luminate Education Group Board of Governors.
“I look forward to supporting the group’s continued success in delivering exceptional education, ensuring strong governance and responding to the opportunities and challenges facing the education and skills sectors. I am particularly passionate about widening opportunities for learners and ensuring that education remains closely connected to the needs of employers and communities.
“I am especially looking forward to spending time with colleagues and governors across the organisation, deepening my understanding of the breadth of its provision and helping shape the group’s future direction.
“By working collaboratively, we can make a positive civic impact and contribute to the region’s continued development.”
A distinguished career in education and business
Julie has built a distinguished professional career in education, skills and childcare and is Director of External and Regulatory Affairs at NCFE, one of the UK’s leading educational charities and awarding organisations.
She brings extensive leadership experience to her role as Chair, along with a strong commercial background in senior sales and account management.
Julie joined CACHE (the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education) in 2010 and, following its integration into NCFE in 2015, led services to support its nationally recognised qualifications and ensure they met the needs of employers, providers and learners.
One of her many successes included the Save Our Early Years campaign, which helped secure government recognition of Functional Skills as alternatives to GCSE maths and English for entry to employment, as a Level 3 Early Years Educator.
Julie also has governance experience across early years, special educational needs, adult care and further education. Passionate about good governance, collaboration and public service, she is committed to keeping education and skills provision connected to the needs of learners, employers and communities.
Julie lives in West Yorkshire and enjoys time with her family and singing with a women’s choir and small ensemble.
Leeds City College welcomed Hilary Benn MP to its Printworks campus as part of T Levels Week, with students sharing how their studies are helping them build the skills, confidence and experience needed for their future careers.
During the visit, Mr Benn toured the campus and met with students to hear first-hand about their experiences of studying T Levels, including their industry placements and ambitions for the future.
The visit was an opportunity to showcase how T Levels are helping students take their next steps towards employment or further study, while supporting the skills needs of employers across Leeds and the wider region.
Building skills and confidence for the future
Speaking about his visit, Mr Benn said: “I really enjoyed meeting the students and hearing first-hand about the difference T Levels have made to their lives and the opportunities they’ve opened up for them.
“What really stood out was their confidence, the way in which they spoke and their sense of direction for the future. It’s clear just how much they’ve gained from studying a T Level at Leeds City College.
“We’ve got an important job to do in raising awareness of T Levels and helping more people understand the opportunities they offer.”
Equivalent to three A levels, T Levels are two-year qualifications that combine classroom learning with an industry placement.
Designed in collaboration with employers, they give students the opportunity to develop practical skills, gain valuable workplace experience and prepare for their chosen careers.
Creating opportunities through industry experience
T Levels continue to grow in popularity across Luminate Education Group, with enrolments increasing from 149 students in 2021/22 to 653 in 2026/27.
Gemma Simmons-Blench, Deputy CEO of Luminate Education Group, said: “T Levels play a vital role in addressing skills needs across Leeds and the wider region, and we couldn’t be prouder of our students and everything they’re achieving.
“Employer partnerships are at the heart of making T Levels a success. Our students are gaining invaluable industry experience, developing practical skills and building the confidence they need to take their next steps into employment or further study.”
The visit took place during T Levels Week, a national celebration recognising the achievements of T Level students and highlighting the opportunities these qualifications offer young people and employers.
We are working with Leeds Beckett University to increase opportunities and aspirations for students and support the future skills needs of the Leeds City Region.
This strategic alliance, which supports some 50,000 learners, meets the government’s ambition for greater alignment between further and higher education. It will focus on making educational routes clearer, expanding flexible learning opportunities, engaging further with employers to co-design courses and enhancing apprenticeships into skilled employment.
CEO Bill Jones said: “By collaborating with Leeds Beckett University we can respond to local and regional skills priorities, through the development of new courses and routes that meet the needs of employers.
“For students this means more accessible and flexible ways to gain these in-demand skills throughout their education. Our alliance will bring together our shared commitment to opening up access to education and removing any barriers to learning.”
Peter Slee, Vice Chancellor at Leeds Beckett University, added: “This alliance builds on existing strong relationships between our university and Luminate Education Group.
“Working with businesses and employers on a future skilled workforce will bring benefits to people in Leeds – another example of the city’s anchor institutions working together to make a positive contribution to the local and regional economy. We look forward to working with the growing number of partners and stakeholders who are committed to making this collective impact.”
This partnership between two Leeds Anchor Network organisations will be dedicated to promoting social mobility and inclusive growth across the Leeds City Region, while equipping learners with the high-level skills that are in strong demand from local businesses.
For too long, academic and technical education have been treated as separate routes. Yet we should not expect young people to choose between them at an early age. That divide does not reflect what young people need or what employers value.
The Government’s proposals to expand technical education for 14- to 16-year-olds are a step in the right direction. Giving young people access to high-quality vocational learning can widen opportunities and connect education more effectively to the needs of the workforce.
But we should be more ambitious.
Rather than creating a stronger technical route alongside an academic route, we should use this opportunity to rethink the architecture of education itself, creating an integrated tertiary system in which academic knowledge, technical capability, vocational learning and practical experience combine.
Schools, colleges, universities and employers are often incentivised to operate in isolation. Building an ecosystem with a shared ambition will allow for seamless progression between education, training and employment, with strong regional accountability.
We also need to challenge long-standing assumptions. Technical education should not be seen as the only option for practical learners, or those who have not thrived in mainstream education. Equally, those who pursue an academic route should not miss out on practical opportunities.
Employers increasingly need people who can combine different types of skills. Engineers need mathematical and theoretical knowledge, health professionals need academic knowledge and practical competence, and designers need theory, creativity and technical capability. Modern work is increasingly interdisciplinary, yet our education system still asks young people to make artificially binary choices.
Skills England’s 2026 Annual Skills Report shows that more than a quarter of job vacancies are hard to fill due to skill shortages. This highlights the importance of developing the transferable skills that enable young people to succeed in the workplace – from communication and teamwork to problem-solving and adaptability.
It also underlines the need for an education system built around the workforce of the future, where academic, technical, vocational and occupational learning are complementary. The ambition should be about progression, not just pathways, where young people can move between these routes without being labelled or trapped by a choice they made at 14 or 16.
The new V Levels policy by Skills England is encouraging as it creates greater scope for learners to blend academic and vocational learning, allowing combinations of qualifications that better reflect individual interests. We now have the opportunity to embed that principle across the wider education landscape, so qualifications become components of one system.
We need clear, mapped progression routes to higher apprenticeships, university and employment, ensuring that every stage of learning connects meaningfully.
Nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEET), highlighting the need for education providers and employers to work together to smooth the transition from education to the workplace.
At Leeds City College, our 14+ Academies, which offer a direct-entry option for young people in Years 10 and 11, provide an opportunity to build connections early by creating an environment where real-world and employability skills sit alongside academic learning.
Universities must be part of the conversation too, working closely with FE providers to widen access and remove barriers to learning. Our strategic alliance with Leeds Beckett University, alongside our own HE provision at University Centre Leeds and Leeds Conservatoire, is based on that ambition: retaining our distinctive identities and strengths while deliberately designing provision, progression and collaboration so that learners experience a coherent educational journey rather than institutional silos.
This matters because skills needs vary across different areas. A successful tertiary system should reflect local economies and communities, with employers helping shape the provision and local businesses and institutions all working together to help young people progress.
The economy doesn’t need more technical education at the expense of academic education. It needs people with the right blend of knowledge and skills.
We should stop asking which route a young person is on and start asking whether the system is giving them the tools they require to progress. If we get this right, the reforms could help accelerate the building of an integrated tertiary skills ecosystem that our young people, employers and region need.
Luminate Education Group has received a positive Ofsted report for its Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provision under the new inspection framework, meeting the Strong standard for Inclusion and Expected standard across all other evaluation areas.
Member of the group, University Centre Leeds, is the training provider for the ITE courses that are on offer. Trainees are either following an apprenticeship, the Professional Graduate Certificate in Education or the Certificate in Education. It is one of the largest FE ITE providers in the region, servicing several colleges and external training providers, with over 100 trainees.
The Ofsted report noted: “Trainees grow in confidence as a result of their training. They develop an assured and commanding presence in their classrooms. They balance this skilfully with the nurturing approach required for effective learning.”
The highly inclusive culture, where trainees are often encouraged to talk about their support needs and the adjustments they need to help them succeed in their studies and in their teaching, was highlighted.
Becky Fores, Dean of Higher Education at University Centre Leeds said: “At Luminate Education Group we pride ourselves on having an inclusive culture. Our teacher education provision is so ambitious, and it was wonderful to see the report reflect that. The inspection really helped to demonstrate that our provision within teacher education supports our trainees and the preparedness to go into the classroom through achieving high standards and being able to adapt their training through the development of the feedback that they receive.”
