Press releases

Ham and High article July 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Original press release September 2014

We have invested £250k to secure the services of a specialist training provider, the Film and Video Workshop, to deliver cutting-edge computer coding and programming skills to our secondary school students.

Alongside this exciting initiative for students, the Council has also partnered with University College London’s computer science department to deliver a series of skills improvement modules for our secondary school teachers. This will see them gain Continued Professional Development training from a world recognised learning institute.

This innovative partnership is part of our pioneering work to provide our young people with a range of opportunities to develop their ICT skills and qualifications. Last year Camden became the first local authority to introduce computer coding clubs in all its maintained primary schools.

The project will help make digital education more appealing to our young people and inspire them to make the shift from consuming digital technologies to creating and building their own.  We also want employers to know that young people in Camden are equipped with cutting edge skills to make them competitive in the market place.

It is currently estimated that the IT workforce is expected to grow twice as fast as the overall UK workforce over the next decade, with technology now an integral part of virtually every business in the UK.  Those businesses are heavily dependent on cutting edge technologies and IT skills.  Camden has a strong local economy and we need to do all we can to continue to attract businesses, jobs and investment to the borough. This is well evidenced in the thriving creative and knowledge sectors around Kings Cross Quarter and the Francis Crick Centre, shorty due to open in Somers Town.

Through this project we are continuing to lead the way in engaging students in computer technology, supporting them to develop highly desirable skills in a fast growing sector and investing in long term economic benefits for the borough.

This is part of our wider strategic objectives, as articulated in the Camden Plan, to create the conditions for and harness the benefits of economic growth, and make Camden a place where everyone has a chance to succeed and nobody gets left behind.