Learning and Education

There are 31 primary schools and five secondary schools in Harlow providing education for young people in the town's neighbourhoods. They include Harlow Fields, a school for children with special educational needs and St Nicholas, Churchgate Street, a private school for 4 to 16 year-olds.

Secondary Schools' educational attainment in Harlow has risen dramatically in recent years and is now above both the County and National average. The town's five secondary schools have each achieved Specialist Status:

Burnt Mill - Performing Arts
Passmores - Technology
St Marks RC - Business and Technology
Mark Hall - Sports
Stewards - Science

Harlow College provides Sixth Form facilities with a wide range of A/AS level courses. It is also the main centre for further education in Harlow focusing on:

Skills for Business offering vocational courses to meet the needs of employers including 'Train to Gain' and Apprenticeships
Community & Higher Education with courses for both personal and career development, including the Journalism Centre which is one of the most experienced providers of journalism in the country and is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists
A Skills Academy which offers a wide variety of vocational skills courses

A new Anglia Ruskin University campus will soon be established at Harlow College.

Adult education is provided by North & West Essex Adult Community College, offering courses leading to recognised qualifications from Business Administration to Visual Arts.

Harlow Education Consortium

HEC is an educational improvement partnership of 50 learning providers working in the four main areas of state education - primary, secondary, special and tertiary/FE. It also includes Adult and Community Learning, the Children's Centre sector and the Integrated Support Service.

HEC aims to provide the highest possible quality of teaching for around 35,000 learners in the local community. Contact 01279 446725 or visit http://www.hecuk.net/ for more information.

Harlow Education & Employer Partnership

The Harlow Education & Employer Partnership (HEEP) was set up by HEC to foster a working relationship between learning providers and employers.

Initial sponsors and supporters include BAA, Pearson Education, Kier, GSK, Raytheon, Valley Groundcare, Essex County Council, Anglia Ruskin University, Harlow College, Rainbow Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital and HEC.

HEEP aims to support and extend a range of education employer partnership activities, including:

Corporate social responsibility - employer activity to support the local community
Management learning exchanges
Training, apprenticeships
Work-related and work-based learning opportunities

For more information Tel: 01279 446726 or http://www.heep.org.uk/