Navigators
Home › Blog › Andy Burnham visits Navigators College

Andy Burnham visits Navigators College

Date

31 January 2025

Author

sh-comms

Here at Navigators, we recently welcomed Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, to Burgess House in Harpurhey. During his visit he explored the learning spaces and facilities on offer, chatted with students and took time to learn more about the work we do and how this fits into the bigger picture of Greater Manchester’s ambition for young people. We talked through our Alternative Provision and College curriculum, and our mission to provide effective, individualised learning opportunities for our students. It also provided an opportunity to chat about our recruitment process, which aims to employ local people from the Manchester community. 

We also highlighted how we are closely aligned with the Young People’s Guarantee and how all four areas of it are weaved into our Passport to Work Education and Nurture programme.

Reflecting on the significance of the visit, our founder and CEO, Anthony Thompson said:

“It was great to welcome Andy Burnham to Burgess House, so he could find out more about what we do here at Navigators to support young people. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the successes of our students, and highlighting the work of Navigators to such an important figure in the Greater Manchester community. We can’t wait to continue our discussions with Andy Burnham, as we prepare for further growth and development in the new year. “

The visit proved particularly timely, as we were able to showcase our brand new hairdressing salon, which officially launched at Harpurhey Learning Centre on the 21st November 2024.  Supported by funding from RE:Vision,  a subsidiary charity of procurement specialist Procure Plus, the salon will offer students at Navigators a unique opportunity for skills development, accreditation through AQA unit awards and VTCT, and work placement opportunities. 

We showed Andy around the new salon space, and chatted about the opportunities it was providing. Offering students the essential skills needed to thrive in a hairdressing and barbering career, the Navigators Salon Expérience represents a strong addition to the services and employment opportunities available in the local community. It also proved a useful demonstration of the steps we are taking to address the increasing numbers of young people aged 16+ not currently in education, employment or training (NEET) in Greater Manchester. 

Sharing his thoughts on the visit to Navigators, Andy Burnham said: 

“Thank you to everyone involved in Navigators for updating me on their important work here in Harpurhey and across Greater Manchester. It was a really insightful visit and I look forward to hearing more about their successful work with young people.”

More news