Adults wanting a boost in their education are being urged to 'Catch on and Catch up' in a new scheme launched by the Brentwood Learning Partnership (BLP).

The programme is designed at encouraging adults who feel they have a problem with a certain area to come to BLP and sharpen up their skills.

The start of the project coincided with the unveiling of the BLP's new 'friendly face' logo, which will now appear on all its advertisments and literature.

BLP chairman, Gerald McKendrick said: "A recent survey of adult basic skills showed that 18.3 per cent of adults in Brentwood had problems with numeracy and 17.2 per cent with numeracy.

"The Catch on and Catch up scheme is open to anyone, regardless of their qualifications or abilities who think they could benefit from sharpening up on any area, such as reading, spelling, writing, computing and maths."

It is hoped that by tying in the start of the project with the new BLP logo, people may be attracted to the courses.

The decision to create a logo for the group came from Mr McKendrick who felt it would be appropriate for them to easily recognised as a group with their own identity.

He said: "We have used the letters B, L and P to crate a friendly face, which we hope will give offer to people a warm welcome, while the eyes and ears are because the partnership sees itself as the eyes and ears for all local training needs."

And keeping to this promise, the partnership is also in the process of a second project, called Skills for Employment.

The concept is to carry out a survey of small employers in Brentwood and see what training they think would help them and their employees to see the business grow and prosper.

The project is due to be finished by the end of the month and BLP will use the results to modify and changes their courses to meet the demands of the businesses.

For more information call 01277 214068

Published Monday, March 18, 2002