Hub will create new gateway

The new scheme has been put in place in a bid to help to raise educational attainment, improve employment opportunities and promote healthy lifestyles among the people who live in and around Rossington.

The Community Learning Hub is based at Rossington Community Swimming Pool’s building and is open to the public every Wednesday.

It is equipped with six new computers, a projector, printer and other facilities to enable different kinds of groups and classes to be run there.

The Hub has been developed through the working partnership of Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust (DCLT) and the GMB trade union.

Its facilities will enable GMB members together with people from across the local Rossington community to access a wide variety of life-long learning possibilities, that may not have been available to them previously.

Options for those who take up the new opportunities will include maths, English, IT, first aid and a range of vocational courses.

A job club will also take place on Wednesdays between 10am and 2pm.

Jon Whiteley, head of community development at Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust worked closely on the project with Sarah Barnes, learning coordinator of GMB’s Working Towards Work project, to develop the hub.

He said: “This is a really innovative and proactive way to help raise educational attainment, improve employment opportunities and promote healthy lifestyles.

“In addition, we will be looking to use leisure and physical activity as an incentive to attend the Hub by promoting the Rossington residents’ card and leisure cards, as well as signposting people to programmes like Sportivate and Healthy Lifestyles Doncaster.”

He said: “We’ll also be working with Job Centre Plus to raise awareness of and deliver opportunities including employment seminars, the Fit For Work and Working Towards Work Programmes and information, advice and guidance on training, volunteering and employment.”