An “amazing” learning centre has been reopened following a £500,000 revamp.
The Fairfield Centre in Warndon boasts improved hair and beauty salons, a new extended kitchen, skills garden, and meeting rooms.
Worcester mayor Tor Pingree officially declared the centre open at a special event on Friday (May 22) attended by learners and dignitaries.
OPEN: Lynn Denham, Natalie McVey, Judy Gibbs, Tor Pingree, Lisa Ventura and Anna Lee at the reopening of the Fairfield Centre in Warndon (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
The Fairfield Centre offers a range of courses for adults, including many who struggled at mainstream schools and left with no GCSEs.
English, maths, and digital skills are all taught to help people improve their skills for everyday life or boost their employability.
Michelle Taylor, curriculum lead for media make-up and beauty, said students are leaving the Fairfield Centre with skills much sought-after by the BBC.
“They are crying out for media make-up artists in the Midlands,” she said.
“It’s really nice to teach in here – it’s lovely,” she added about the improved facilities.
STYLE: Media makeup student Karina Nikolaieva in the Fairfield Centre’s new hair salon (Image: Phil Wilkinson-Jones/LDRS)
Judy Gibbs, head of skills and employability at Worcestershire County Council, said the centre, first opened in 2007, had been “not fit for purpose.”
She said the upgrade brings the centre “into the modern era of learning and enables us to look differently at our support for young people and adults.”
“People are more productive in a nicer environment.”
The £500,000 investment came partly from education funding via the county council, she said.
Worcester City Council provided £50,000 thanks to a Town’s Fund grant and public health money was also made available for the project.
City council leader Lynn Denham said investing in the building is about “skills, increasing opportunities for young people, and for older people.
“I think the environment we’ve been able to create here – the expanded facilities – is really important.”
Natalie McVey, cabinet member for children and families, said: “Community-based learning and the assets we have in our communities are super-important, as are the people who work here.
“All of the learners I’ve listened to today have got a very supportive learning environment.”
Councillor Pingree said she was “amazed” by the centre.
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“I’ve just finished teaching at Worcester Sixth Form so I also have the opportunity to work with young people but I do understand the sixth form isn’t the right place for everyone, and that all students need somewhere that feels like the right place for them,” she said.
“It’s so wonderful to see this place open and accepting students of all different backgrounds.”
Lisa Ventura, a cybersecurity expert and neurodiversity campaigner, said she didn’t have an “amazing” place like the Fairfield Centre when she was at school.
She described the centre as “a place that asks ‘how do we create the right conditions for this person to thrive?’ Rather than ‘Why can’t this person just fit in and do as they’re told’”.