Partnership proves to be our strength

FINDING out . . . Peter Housden (right) shares views with Oldham Sixth Form College students (from left) Emily Gaskin, Bilal Majed and Reema Patel, along with Caroline Mager, executive director for the Policy and Strategic Intelligence, Learning and Skills Improvement Service

STUDENTS from Oldham Sixth Form College got the chance to quiz a senior Whitehall official when he made a fact-finding visit to the borough.

Peter Housden, permanent secretary for communities and Local Government, also toured University Campus Oldham and met education chiefs from both organisations.

He was on a mission to discuss the role of education in regeneration, and discover how aspirations are raised in the borough.

The former comprehensive school teacher turned director of education and later director general of schools, came to Oldham to discover how organisations in the borough work together. Oldham is considered to have a major strength in partnerships between organisations in different sectors — such as education, Local Government, the police and health service — to benefit the town as a whole. The Government has repeatedly recognised that the borough is at the cutting edge of partnership working, and some of its best examples relate to education.

Mr Housden wanted to find out more about Oldham’s groundbreaking work, including projects ranging from the Junior University to plans for a science centre, due to open in 2011.