Group - EKC Group Welcomes Ashford College and Canterbury Spring Lane Onboard
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EKC Group Welcomes Ashford College and Canterbury Spring Lane Onboard

Today, we have welcomed Ashford College and Canterbury Spring Lane into our family of Colleges and Business Units

The addition of Ashford College and Canterbury Spring Lane to the EKC Group family strengthens the Group’s education and training provision in the East Kent area, equipping local students with the skills and knowledge needed to prepare them for successful careers or further study, and enabling the Group to boost the social and economic prosperity of a new community now served by it.

EKC Group’s acquisition of Ashford College is in response to recommendations made by the Further Education Commissioner in 2019. The Group has also welcomed Hadlow College’s former Spring Lane site, based in Canterbury, into the fold.

Chief Executive Officer of EKC Group, Graham Razey, said that this would usher in a new era of technical and vocational education within the whole of East Kent for the first time.

He said: “Now that our Group has incorporated both the Canterbury Spring Lane site, and Ashford College, into its family of Colleges and Business Units, we can begin to systematically plan skills delivery across the whole of our area. Having both Ashford College and the Canterbury Spring Lane campus within our Group will enable us to better serve our local communities, ensuring that we are able to truly deliver on the skills priorities needed to enable us to achieve our mission, of enhancing the social and economic prosperity of the communities we serve.

“Despite the current challenges we face, we know that our county’s employers will be well positioned to face them, and I am really proud that we’ll be there to support the whole of East Kent’s recovery once the UK has beaten coronavirus.”

Chairman of EKC Group’s Full Governing Body, Charles Buchanan, said: “We have a strong track record of bringing new provision into our Group, and I am confident that this transaction will see us grow and develop the provision which is currently delivered within the Ashford College and Spring Lane campus.

“I am looking forward to visiting both of these sites once we have beaten coronavirus and welcoming these new colleagues so that we can move forward as a truly East Kent provider of technical and vocational education.”