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February 2010
Safeguarding – Cheynes Responsibilities

This is a reminder that as part of our legal and contractual obligations Cheynes Training takes on the responsibility for ensuring that effective safeguarding of Candidates under the age of 18 is taking place.

We keep safeguarding issues under constant review and this is in keeping with our commitment that all those involved in a teaching, training or assessing role must sign up to our safeguarding ‘code of conduct’ arrangements. We will be contacting all salons during February withy more information on this initiative.

January 2010
Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching Service

A new service has been introduced to help employers find the right apprentices for their business, the new service is called the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching Service (AVMS). Cheynes Training is actively working with AVMS and we would urge you to let us know if you are experiencing any difficulties with recruiting new apprentices.

December 2009
2009 Photographic Competition - Judging Stage -THE WINNERS

 We are pleased to announce the winners of our 2009 competition. The top two winners are:

1st Place Tori Gill - Cheynes Edinburgh 2nd Place Sarah Jane Hughes - Lead the Field London

Congratulations to our winners, your photographs are amazing.

All entries were fantastic and made the competition an exciting contest so a big thank you to everyone who entered and do please keep up the marvelous work and get ready for next year’s competition.

December 2009
Photographic Competition - Judging Stage

Here are the final judging details of our 2009 competition,To view the final choice of photographs please click on this link
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Cheynes15/CheynesPhotoCompetition09Finalists?authkey=Gv1sRgCL-cg7XE_Lvr4wE#

Three of the top names in the glamorous world of fashion hairdressing will be judging the competition; Jennifer Cheyne, Stephen Way and Stelios Andrew. Each of our three judges will now allocate scores and the winning entry will be the photograph that scores the highest points.

Final judging will take place during the first week of December. The winner will be announced on Monday 7 December.

The rules of the competition are:

  • Entry is free and open to all Candidates on the programme on 1st September 2009
  • Each Candidate will choose a model and complete either a style & colour or a cut & colour
  • The Candidate must completed all of the work but advice can be sought from the salon team
  • Two digital colour photographs (front /side view) of the work must be e-mailed to Cheynes Training by 31st October 2009 - the closing date of the competition
  • The judges for the competition will be Jennifer Cheyne, Stephen Way and Stelios Andrew
  • The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence may be entered into
  • The top six places will be announced on November 30th 2009 on the Cheynes Training website
  • 1st prize is a £500 laptop for the salon and a £300 ‘net book’ for the winning Candidate
  • 2nd and 3rd prizes include training courses and equipment worth £500 (2nd) and £300 (3rd)
  • Three runners up will receive training courses and equipment worth £150

For more information on the 2009 Photographic Competition, email tricia@cheynestraining.com  

November 2009
Photographic Competition - Judging Stage

We are pleased to announce judging details of our 2009 competition which is open to all young people on our training programmes

To view the top 60 photographs please click on this link http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Cheynes15/CheynesPhotoCompetion09#

We are delighted to say that three of the top names in the glamorous world of fashion hairdressing will be judging the competition; Jennifer Cheyne, Stephen Way and Stelios Andrew. Prizes for the winner will include computer equipment for the salon and for the Candidate.

The first stage of judging will be to select the top 10 photographs from the 60 already chosen and to place these on a shortlist for final judging which will take place during the first week of December. The winner will be announced on Monday 7 December. 

October 2009
How to Send in Photographs to the Photographic Competition

There is lots of excitement surrounding our 2009 photographic competition which, of course, is open to all young people on our training programmes. As a reminder, to take part each Candidate must choose a model and complete a cut and colour or a style and colour on the model’s hair and send in two digital photographs by the 31st October when they will be placed on a website for judging. The competition rules may be found on the Cheynes Training website on the Home Zone>Photo Competition.

As you know, three of the top names in the glamorous world of fashion hairdressing will be judging the competition; Jennifer Cheyne, Stephen Way and Stelios Andrew have all agreed to act as judges. Prizes for the winner will include computer equipment for the salon and for the winning Candidate.

Entries must be sent by email to tricia@cheynestraining.comand must arrive no later than midnight on 31 October. We are starting to receive entries now so please do send your pictures early if you can! All of the photographs will be placed on a website with just a number to identify them by (no names or salon details so the judges do not know who the Candidates are). Details of the location of the photographs will be posted on the website and in the November e-Update so that Candidates can log on and look at all of the entries and check to make sure theirs is on the system. Judging will take place during November with the winners announced on 1st Dec.

We wish everyone the very best of luck with the competition and if you need more information please email tricia@cheynestraining.com

September 2009
Photographic Competition
We are pleased to announce details of our 2009 competition, open to all young people on our training programmes. To take part, each Candidate must choose a model and complete either a style and colour or a cut and colour on the model’s hair and have two digital photographs taken and e-mailed to Cheynes Training by the 31st October when they will be placed on our website for judging. The winner will be the best piece of work selected by the judging panel of Jennifer Cheyne, Stephen Way and Stell Andrew.

August 2009
Apprenticeship Success Rates
In England, the Learning and Skills Council measures success within the Apprenticeship system by looking at what happens to all Candidates who are due to complete their programme within a 12 month period which runs from 1 August to 31 July each year; this group of Candidates is known as a ‘cohort’ and the measurement period is called a ‘cohort year’.

The latest ‘cohort year’ has just ended and we are pleased to say that Cheynes Training has, once again, improved our success rates so that they now stand at 69% for Apprenticeships (up from 67% in 2007-08) and 66% for Advanced Apprenticeships (down from 67% in 2007-08).

Although it will be several months before the LSC publishes national figures, we know that Cheynes training will, once again, be far above the hairdressing national average which we expect will be around 60%.

 July 2009
Changes to the Apprenticeship Wage Rate
From August 1st 2009 the minimum rate for all young people on government sponsored apprenticeship programmes rises to £95 from the current £80.

The minimum apprenticeship rate is not, strictly speaking, connected to the National Minimum Wagewhich changes each year on 1st October, the £80 rate has been at the same level for several years and we do not anticipate it rising on an annual basis. Instead it is a contractual requirement between the Learning and Skills Council and all training providers - who are, in turn, required to ensureall apprentices recieve this figure as a minimum.

June 2009
Extension to NVQ Standards
As we reported in the May edition of ETB, the new Hairdressing and Barbering NVQ Standards will be introduced in July 2009 as planned but in a surprising development, City & Guilds have announced a six months extension to the old standards. As a result, salons will have a choice as to which of the NVQ Standards they wish to register new Candidates on for the rest of 2009. A full description of the new NVQ Standards may be found on the Educator Downloads page on this website.

May 2009
Functional Skills
The Key Skills programme is due to be phased out this year and will be replaced with a brand new approach called Functional Skills. As part of the government’s aim of increasing the basic skills of all young people, the new Functional Skills programme is designed to stretch the abilities of young people slightly more than the Key Skills programme it is replacing. City & Guilds feel that each Functional Skill is at least half a level higher than the current equivalent Key Skill.

April 2009
PTLLS Qualifications
Cheynes Training had originally planned to offer the PTLLS and CTLLS award but because of the widespread availability of courses, often held at at times to suit people and at heavily subsidised prices, we have instead decided to focus on supporting those who need the award by encouraging them to take a local college based course. We have asked our head office based Programme Manager, Sarah Wilson, (who recently completed PTLLS herself) to act as our PTLLS advisor by being available to give advice on all PTLLS matters and to help those involved to find the most cost effective and convenient course at a local college.

March 2009
Ofsted Inspection
Every four years or so, each training provider in England is inspected to make sure they comply with the government’s guidelines on the delivery of vocational training. The next inspection for Cheynes Training is due this year and we expect this to take place sometime in the late Autumn, perhaps as late as November 2009. We will keep everyone updated on this because, of course, the inspection will also involve a number of the salons we work with although it will be Ofsted that decides exactly who!

February 2009
Standardisation Meetings
We will shortly invite all assessors to a standardisation meeting which will take place in April or May 2009 and which will be based around the new Hairdressing and Barbering NVQ standards which are due to be introduced in July 2009. This is a very important meeting and the good news is that, because it relates to the new NVQ qualification, the meeting will count towards your annual CPD hours and a CPD certificate will be issued.

Please remember that it is a City & Guilds requirement for all assessors (including those working towards A1 or A2) to attend standardisation meetings. We are asked by City & Guilds to record any assessors who do not attend and they will check to see how we are monitoring this process.

If you cannot make the meeting we have allocated to your salon, then you should arrange to attend one of the other meetings around the country. Following the feedback forms that were completed after the last series of meetings, each assessor will be sent a map to help locate the meeting venue.

January 2009
Train the Trainer Course
The new ‘one-day’ Train the Trainer course commences on Monday 9th March when the first course takes place in Manchester. Further one-day courses will be held in the London area on Monday 16th March and at Gatwick on Monday 20th April. The cost is £75 per person.

Train the Trainer is aimed specifically at those who are fairly new to training but is also designed to act as a refresher course for more experienced trainers. The new course forms part of our approach to the new qualifications for trainers who deliver learning to apprentices funded by the Learning and Skills Council. For more information please contact Sarah Wilson on 0131 476 7100 or email sarah@cheynestraining.com

December 2008
Certificate in Contact Dermatitis Prevention
Cheynes Training is about to pilot a new City and Guilds qualification which aims at raising awareness of contact dermatitis. The new award has been developed by Habia and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and will focus on Candidates identifying the characteristics and causes of contact dermatitis and explaining how to prevent the disease. A number of pilot centres have been identified and the pilots will take place in late 2008 and early 2009 and we expect to roll out the programme in Spring 2009. If you have any questions about the new qualification speak to your RTA

November 2008
Funded Training in Scotland
The Scottish government is changes to the Modern Apprenticeship (MA) in 2009; they intend to replace Skillseekers (the current NVQ Level 2 programme) with a MA at Level 2 and, to only fund the MA at Level 3 (the advanced MA) if there is sufficient demand for places. These phasing out of Skillseekers and moving to a Modern Apprenticeship at Level 2 was long expected. However, the change to MA at Level 3 came as a complete surprise to most people (including us) and we now fear that the demand for Level 3 will not be high enough to trigger funding. If you have any questions about Funding in Scotland speak to your RTA or contact Cheynes Training

October 2008
IFL Registration
The deadline for registering with the Institute for Learning (IfL) ended on 30 September 2008.  If you are a trainer and not yet registered with IFL contact Cheynes Training

September 2008
Unique Learner Numbers
MIAP allocates a Unique Learner Number (ULN) and a Learner Record Service that allows learners the facility to access their training participation and achievement records via a website and to share this with others if required. More information may be found at http://www.miap.gov.uk/ or by telephoning the MIAP helpdesk on 0845 6022589

August 2008
New Cohort Year
A new ‘Cohort Year’ started on 1August, this is the 2008/09 Cohort Year. The 2008/09 Cohort contains all Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funded Candidates who have an expected end date between 1 August 2008 and 31 July 2009 and is used by the LSC to measure the effectiveness of training within any one ‘Cohort’ or group of Candidates. Each year the LSC sets a Minimum Level of Performance (MLP) for each Cohort, this is currently 55% but it rises each year. The average for Cheynes Training for the 2007/08 Cohort was 67%. If you have any questions about ‘Cohorts’ speak to your RTA or contact Cheynes Training
      
June 2008
Teaching Qualifications
The new teaching qualifications remain high on our agenda. It is our commitment to offer the new PTLLS and CTLLS qualifications to all those who first started ‘teaching’ after 31August 2007. The government define teaching as any training activity that helps young people towards the achievement of an apprenticeship qualification, however the definitions are not yet set in stone and those in the salon who have a very small role may not be required to register or hold a qualification. If you have any questions about these qualifications speak to your RTA

May 2008
New Hairdressing Standards
The current NVQ Standards for hairdressing commenced in August 2004 and are due to be updated on 31st July 2009. Habia, the body responsible for setting standards in the hairdressing and beauty industry, is already working on updating the Standards and we will keep you updated on the changes as soon as more information is released. A draft copy of the new standards may be downloaded from the Educator downloads section

April 2008
Under-represented Groups
The hairdressing industry has an acute shortage of young people from under-represented ethnic groups. We would welcome any suggestions on how we can tap into this huge pool of potential talent.
Our target for this year is quite modest; we aim to have a minimum of 2% of young people from ethnic groups on our programmes by July 2008 rising to 2.5% by July 2009. If you have any questions about recruiting young people from under- represented groups speak to your RTA or contact Cheynes Training