Tuesday 31st January 2006 – Skillset (the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries) and UK Post have celebrated the achievements of the innovative New Entrants Trainee programme for the post production industry at 01zero-one.

The First Post scheme was launched by Skillset and UK Post’s Post Production Training Committee to help employers to provide structured development for junior employees. The training programme was delivered by 01zero-one, the Creative Learning Lab at Westminster Kingsway College’s Soho Centre.

The first phase of this new entrants training scheme has been completed by 25 trainees from a huge range of companies across London, who gathered at 01zero-one in London’s Soho to celebrate the achievements of the course.

Two of the trainees, George Cook and Amber Connolly from leading post-production company, Pepper were both pleased with their achievements on the course. “We have learnt a bit of everything on this course” said Amber “The second half was better for me as it was more technical – which is what I am interested in. The tutors have been nice and the facilities at 01zero-one have been great”.

Triston Wallace, London Projects Manager, Skillset was also impressed with the facilities at 01zero-one.

“There was the lack of a training scheme like this in the industry and so we wanted to design a course that would bring together the technical skills of post production with the customer facing skills that were lacking in this sector. 01zero-one understood the sector’s needs and our training requirements. The facilities at 01zero-one are great and the location in Soho was perfect. It is also great that we could bring together an FE College, the Sector Skills Council and the Regional Development Agency on this project”.

The modular training scheme covers technical, commercial and customer requirements for the industry and was developed with input from over 30 facility houses to ensure it meets the sector’s needs. The scheme has been funded by the London Development Agency and industry investment. The second First Post training scheme is due to launch in March 2006 and applications for this scheme are being sought from the post production industry by 6th February.