April Newsletter, Pathway Group is Pathway Groups Internal Newsletter. It will keep you up-to-date with all the news from the organisation across all training centres and offices. For more information e:mail: info@pathwaygroup.co.uk opr call:0121 707 0550

1. NewsletterApril 2014
Race for Life
Join us in supporting Jessica Brown who is running in
the Race for Life in May in her efforts to raise
awareness for Cancer.
To make a donation visit the link:
http://www.justgiving.com/jessicabrown1
Jess says:
“I’m running the race for life as the fight against
Cancer is something that is close to my heart; as my
Nan lost her life at the age of forty-five & my Aunty has
beat Cancer twice.
I would like to raise money to help reduce the amount
of people who sadly lost the fight against cancer. Any
donations to help me raise money for this cause would
be greatly appreciated. “
Welcome from Safaraz
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our new newsletter layout. I hope you
like it & please let us know what you think. We are
hoping to produce the newsletter every few months
to keep you up-to-date with all the goings on at
Pathway Group.
We are always on the lookout for new information
so if you would like to make a contribution to the
newsletter please contact: Natalie Graves or Barry
Knights. We are also currently looking for
volunteers to write a short piece talking about their
job, what you do, success stories etc. Let us know if
you are interested in doing this!
Kind Regards,
Safaraz Ali
New Starts
Paul Taylor joined us in March as Internal Quality
Assurance & a Team Manager of Assessors & IQA.
Natalie Graves joined us in February as our new
Marketing & Design Co-ordinator.
Leavers
Paul Everard sadly left us in March but we
wish him all the best!
Birthdays
Eby Hussain 01/02
Louise Disdell 23/02
Seema Lal 09/03
Jess Brown 15/03
Peter Langley 16/03

2. North Herts College Inspection.
You might recall at the turn of the year we were
visited by a couple of inspectors from North Herts
College, who carried out an OFSTED style inspection
of Pathway services and systems. You will be
delighted to hear that with a few exceptions we
came out as borderline grade 2/3 which is better
than we expected.
We still have some recommendations to put in place
& are developing a longer term quality strategy to
improve our position. This is extremely important
for Pathway especially with the government’s
proposed changes to apprenticeships frameworks &
funding looming large on the horizon.
This involves all of us so please ensure that you
keep your eyes and ears open to ways you can con-
tribute.
Tyseley News
Reshuffle in Tyseley
As you may be aware the Tyseley office has
undergone a reshuffle. The aim is to improve
communication across the college departments &
most effectively utilise the office area. The move
should help members of staff to liaise with other
departments within the college to create a flexible
and dynamic ethos. We have reintroduced a “hot
desk area” to accommodate for our associates &
would request that these hot desks are kept free of
personalised documents/ items.
There are now ample cabinets for storage. Please
speak to Ahsan Husain if you require storage space
for documents/items. We also now have Meeting
Room 2 available that can accommodate meetings
for up to 7 people, booking as per meeting Room 1.
As always please bear in mind Pathways’ Clean Desk
policy & ensure the office is kept clean & Tidy. On
many occasions our affiliates walk through the office
and therefore we should ensure the office is
presentable & inviting.
Walsall News
Many of you based a Tyseley may not be aware of
what happens in our other offices.
We have two centres in Walsall, Tameway Tower, a
large office block at the top end of Walsall. Here we
run our Work Programme Contract & employ fifteen
staff, looking after over one thousand clients.
At Chata House (aka The Pathway Centre), located in
Lichfield Street, we currently run the Workless
Families Contract. (There are a further six people
based there looking after three hundred plus clients.)
The Work Programme clients are normally mandat-
ed from the Job Centre, after a period of two years
unemployment. Our job is to get that client into
sustained employment for a minimum six month
period. It is only after this we can claim an outcome
& income.
The Workless Family Project is a voluntary referral
process and is aimed at families within the Borough
at Walsall, that are not only out of work but may
well also have a serious barrier to employment.
Both projects offer training and one to one support
to help people get back into the employment
Both contracts in Walsall have now joined up
thinking.
All clients have access to the following courses
(& more):
 Raising Aspirations
 Employability
 Debt Management
 CV Writing
 Interview Techniques
 Sector Skills based course
Job Clubs are organised at both centres, with a range
of clients, looking for specific sectors or general
work.
Both contracts working closer together & pooling
the recourses available, we can help out clients more
efficiently & to increase their potential in achieving
employment.
News & Updates

3. Quality
‘Quality’ Dictionary Definition:
“Of the highest or finest standard”.
Under the watchful eye of Shabir, a new quality policy
has been developed for the delivery of Pathway
services. Please make sure that you read this as soon
as you can.
The highest quality has to be applied to all of the work
we do at Pathway if we are to achieve our objective of
an outstanding OFSTED grade.
More importantly this means we are delivering the
best service possible to our clients, employers &
learners alike. And we can all contribute to this by
taking some simple actions:
 Have I checked my work for errors?
(Including spell check) & made any necessary
corrections?
 Have I met my deadlines (& kept my manager
informed where there is some doubt)?
 Have I taken any follow up actions identified?
 Have I kept others informed or passed on work
to the next stage in a timely manner
& last but not least:
 Is there anything I can do to help my colleagues?
Please try to follow these simple rules and see if we
can all make a difference.
Smart Assessor Training
This was rolled out to IVs week commencing 31/3/14
and to a cross section of assessors the following week
7/4/14.
Please contact Steve if you have any questions.
A Day in the life of HR
Sophia tells us what working in HR involves.
“My job in a nutshell is to ensure the smooth running of
the HR department. I make sure all documents & files
are up-to-date &easily accessible.
I deal with many other tasks from new starters, leavers,
references, contracts, queries.
I also help out finance including creating invoices,
posting invoices on the finance system, annual leave,
sickness & payroll.
Its not just a desk job, its about talking to people &
answering any queries they may have. I am here not
only for the business but for the employees as well, my
door is always open & if you need any help, advice or
support then please feel free to approach me.”
Sophia Harley, HR & Finance Assistant
Contracts Update
I’m sure you will all be delighted to know that Pathway
has been successful in winning several new contracts,
well done to everyone involved! This includes Fran who
works behind the scenes on writing the bids that result
in us winning the work!
New contracts include: Calderdale, QCFs nationwide;
Manchester City College, this is an SSW contract
specific to the Manchester LEP area, The D2N2 SSW in
the Derbyshire and Nottingham LEP area, New College
Nottingham QCF delivery nationwide, North Herts
College QCF delivery East Anglia.
Will all client facing staff please ensure that you are
aware of the specific offerings including funding,
available under each contract and all admin staff
ensure that the correct codes are used when allocating
learners to contracts.
News & Updates

4. Careers Events
There is only one event coming up but it is a big one! Birmingham MET are holding the Birmingham
Made Me show on Friday 9th
May at the MET campus & Millennium Point. We will be promoting both
Vacancies & Apprenticeships opportunities. We are expecting a big turnout so staff will be needed for the
day to help staff the stand. (Names to Barry please).
A total of ten Careers road-shows were attended from the end of February to the middle of March with
several Hundred potential candidates spoken to. As the procession of show moved around the West
Midlands seemingly visiting all of the major football grounds from West Brom & Aston Villa in the
premiership to Walsall & Wolverhampton in the lower leagues, the calibre of young people varied like the
standard of the football teams. Some (younger attendees) were only interested in grabbing as many
freebies as they could while others were better prepared & asked more meaningful questions.
Unfortunately the overwhelming majority were still at school so no actual signups were made. However
we did collect lots of contact details so as the apprenticeship vacancies come in we should be able to
identify suitable candidates and match them with the employers.
If you are interested in helping out at the next round of events please see Barry.
News & Updates

5. 24 Plus Loans
Last year saw the withdrawal of government funding
for anyone aged 24 plus who wanted to undertake a
training course at Level 3 or above including advanced
and higher level apprenticeships. However all is not
lost!
Anyone wishing to improve their qualifications can now
access an Advanced Learning loan (very similar to a
student loan) to cover the cost of NVQ level 3 and 4
training courses.
The application process is straightforward but there are
some forms that need to be completed. Most courses
require the learner to be in employment but there are
exceptions like: ‘Certificate in starting your own
Business’ & ‘Technical Certificates’ in Customer Service,
Contact Centre Operations, The Principles of Business
Administration, or preparing to work in Adult Health &
Social Care.
The good news is that you don’t need to make any
repayments until you are earning more than £21,000 a
year and even then repayments won’t start until after
April 2016 and are made via the Tax & National
Insurance system.
If the learner goes on to Higher Education as a result
of their course they won’t need to pay back the loan
at all!
If you are interested or know of anyone or any
employers who want to train their staff but cant get
the necessary funding support this could be just what
they need.
Talk to Lubna for more information.
Traineeships
Employers repeatedly complain the majority of young
people applying for jobs are not prepared for the world
of work. They point to the lack of soft skills like;
working as part of a team, punctuality, good
communication, attitude to work & experience.
However young people tell us they didn’t get the job
because they had no experience of working in a team,
& didn’t show the right attitude to work etc. It’s a catch
twenty-two situation.
Traineeships give young people the opportunity to
develop those skills important to employers in a real
working environment. At the same time, the employer
gets the chance to see what the potential worker is
capable of and help them to hone their skills to an
acceptable level.
There is no commitment to a permanent job by the
employer and no wage costs to pay,
(but a contribution towards travel & meal costs would
be appreciated).
The Employer involvement would be to provide a work
experience placement that meets national best practice
standards, for up to Six weeks, & to have an input to
the trainee’s development plan.
Pathway will be on hand to support employer & the
learner through that process with information, advice
& guidance available at all stages.
Pathway will also provide the learner with relevant up
front training to develop those skills mentioned above,
as well as English and Maths to a functional level.
If specific skills are identified in the training plan, we
can also include a vocational qualification
appropriate to the sector so the learner can begin to
develop their occupational skills in the workplace.
To find out more go to:
http://www.pathwaygroup.co.uk/Traineeship-54-
c.html
News & Updates

6. Meeting room 1
Reception
Meeting room 2
Assessor Ahsan H
Kevin L Roxsar B Assessor Assessor
Photocopi-
er
Lubna P Assessor Assessor Assessor
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
1
Hot Desk
1
Hot Desk
1
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
2
Hot Desk
1
Hot Desk
1
Hot Desk
1
Raheel K Richard B Mohammed Arfan Mohammed Arif
Shaheed Hira T Farhan Z
Hot Desk 1 Users; Hot Desk 2 Users;
Barry Knights Emma Bills
Steve Johnston Jonathon Tyson Ahmed
Umar
Lynn Drinkald Kelly Shannon
Natalie Graves Paul Taylor
Sajad Ali
Shabir Saddiq

7. Name Extension
Director’s Room
Safaraz Ali 127
Alan Hill 126
Reception
Jenny Grimes 100
Accounts/HR
Osman Sadique 113
Sophia Harley 122
Smruti Sanadi 121
Pathway College
Shaheed Ladak 117
Raheel Khan 104
Richard Bradley 112
Hira Tabasum 110
Farhan Zaidi (Fuz) 101
Mohammed Arfan 132
Programme Delivery Team
Lubna Parveen 102
Ahsan Husain 115
Roxsar Begum 103
Kevin Ly 120
Employer Engagement / Marketing
Barry Knights 118
Natalie Graves 131
Quality Team
Sajad Ali/Emma Bills 107
Paul Taylor 106
Kelly Shannon/Jonathon Tyson 109
125
335
Foundation Learning / NEETs
Haleema Farid 136
Nicole Walters 116
Aqsa Akbar 340
Pathway2Work
Paul Haines 114
Admin 134
Pathway2Work Reception 133
Baljit Purewal 123
Hyacinth Shirley 333
Pathway2Work Walsall 01922 897170
Chatha House/Pathway Centre Walsall 01922 870050

8. Something to
do in your
lunch break!