Latest news from ForSkills

July 2010 - ForSkills - the common factor for excellence

On 14 July Ofsted published a report which showcases 12 outstanding work-based learning (WBL) providers across England that excel at providing apprenticeships, NVQs and other vocational qualifications for young people and adults.

Although the 12 providers have taken different routes to achieve excellent results, we are delighted to advise that 25% of them rely on the ForSkills solution to assist them in their delivery of the highest quality training programmes.

Click on the Ofsted logo opposite to read the report in more detail

July 2010 - ForSkills - the surfers' choice in Devon & Cornwall

We are pleased to advise that the Devon & Cornwall Training Provider network has now become a user of our class leading Functional Skills assessment suite.

Managing Director of the network, Craig Marshall, said, "Having looked at what is available on the market the DCTPN has decided that the ForSkills package for Diagnostic testing learners for both basic skills and Functional Skills is currently the best available".

March 2010 - ForSkills ICT Initial Assessment assists The Princes' Trust

The Prince’s Trust has teamed up with Microsoft, a member of The Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group, to transform the IT skills of hundreds of disadvantaged young people in the UK.

This is a landmark move for The Prince’s Trust, as it is the first time the Trust has offered young people IT training as part of one of its programmes.

The scheme, developed in conjunction with e-learning specialists ForSkills, will help young people obtain a basic knowledge of MS Office programmes, create an email account and produce a CV: all core factors in allowing them to go on to further training or employment.

The project is designed so that young people of all IT levels will benefit.

Sept 2009 - For Skills to demonstrate SkillsBuilder range at ‘Diploma’ Conference

ForSkills will be exhibiting at Delivering Diplomas: Engagement and Collaboration Conference, being held at Aston Conference Centre, Birmingham, on Thursday 1st October, 2009. The conference aims to provide key information for those involved in delivering the new Diploma.

As specialists in diagnostic assessments and resources for key, basic and functional skills, we will be demonstrating our recently launched SkillsBuilder assessments for English, Maths and ICT, which are written to the new functional skills standards and are also relevant for any basic or key skills courses and qualifications. A key component of the diploma requires students to achieve Functional Skills in English, Maths and ICT, at the level under study.

If you are planning to attend the conference, please come and see us. We are located just outside the main conference area.

July 2009 - Paper-Based Tracking - A Thing of the Past for the League Football Education

With only 30-40% of football apprentices offered a professional contract, the importance of providing trainees with a route to other professions is a key component of the work undertaken by the LFE.

To support the delivery of their NVQ programme, which is undertaken by all trainees, the LFE has successfully used the ForSkills Literacy and Numeracy online Assessment Suite since 2005. Now, they are planning to add two new ForSkills products to their Learning Management System, to improve the delivery of the NVQ.

SkillsTrack, a new innovation from ForSkills, will be used by the LFE to store and update the learners’ ILP, track their performance and record evidence of achievement. This, together with the ForSkills SkillsPortfolio, which creates an online library of evidence, will be used by the LFE to create additional opportunities to collect data and accelerate their learners’ progress.

The initial pilot will start in July 2009 before being rolled out to all 74 participating clubs

Click here to view the LFE case study published on the Excellence Gateway

June 2009 - Two Outstanding New Tools Being Launched at the JISC E-Fair on 23 June

'SkillsTrack and SkillsPortfolio'

For Skills is delighted to announce it will be launching two outstanding new tools to help tutors track and record their learners’ journey.

Being launched at the JISC E-Fair, Leicester on 23 June, these new tools complement our industry-leading Skills for Life key, basic and functional skills assessments and provide seamless integration across learner data.

For those looking to transform how they manage portfolios and track learners’ progress, these tools allow tutors and trainers to integrate learners’ data and create an online library of evidence – reducing the need to collate huge volumes of paper-based evidence.

Key features include:

Total integration of data

Simple to use

Completely customisable to suit your organisation

Links with any MIS

Real time tracking and reporting

No software or hardware to install

Developed by educationalists

Low set-up costs

Training provided

Carl Gibson, ForSkills Commercial Director:

“I am convinced tutors will find these new tools invaluable. They are simple to use and have the potential to totally integrate learners' data, offering a huge transformation in the way portfolios and data are currently managed”. Having recently overhauled our industry-leading assessments to make them functional skills-ready, the SkillsTrack and SkillsPortfolio will enable our clients to track record and manage learners by bringing it all together in one seamless package”.

The new products are available to both existing and new clients with introductory pricing being offered from as little as £5 per learner.

See us at the JISC E-Fair, Walkers Stadium, on 23 June – Stand 1.

May 2009 - For Skills Launches Next Generation of Online Assessments

ForSkills is delighted to announce the launch of its new range of industry-leading assessments for English, Maths and ICT. Branded under our SKILLSBUILDER range, the assessments are written to the new functional skills standards and deliver an array of new features, designed with today’s learners in mind.

Features:

Truly adaptive testing, resulting in a more reliable and faster assessment

Banks of questions at each level, so no two students see the same questions

Unique screening process which directs students to questions relevant to their skill level

Fewer multi-choice questions, improving assessment integrity

Quick screening assessment providing a “best fit” level, useful to colleges and training providers

Greater number of questions emphasising living and functional skills

Automatically saves after each question so no work ever lost

Accessibility features for partially sighted students and those with specific learning difficulties included

Eye-catching screen layouts to maintain student interest

Delivers 'spiky' profile results so each area of a discipline is given a level - particularly useful for the determination of ESOL requirements

For further information about our SkillsBuilder range of new and improved assessments and resources, visit our 'Functional Skills Portal.'

December 2008 - Five Stars for ForSkills

For Skills Limited has achieved the full East Midlands Brokerage Quality Assured standard and is now eligible to supply its services to publicly-funded business support projects facilitated through such organisations as Business Link, Learning and Skills Council, and UK Trade and Investment.

Please contact us for further details.

December 2008 - ForSkills Delivering Best Practice

Published this month by the QIA is Barking College's approach to integrating, personalising and embedding online diagnostic e-assessments to support teaching and learning. It outlines the history, the challenges, the strategic decisions, the processes, the route and the reasoning underpinning successful online diagnostic assessment for the College.

FosSkills is proud to have worked with Barking and to be delivering a solution to them that is acknowledged as being a best practice approach.

Please contact us for further details.

October 2008 - ForSkills Providing Touchline Support

In their third year of use of the ForSkills online assessment suite, League Football Education (LFE) began to work with ForSkills to develop enhancements to their Moodle^TM based VLE, with the aim to dramatically improve the efficiency of systems to control and monitor the apprenticeship NVQ learning journey.

Following a successful implementation with 10 football clubs, LFE now plan to roll out the new ForSkills' e-ILP, e-Review and e-Tracking functionality to all of their 70+ football clubs and education providers before the end of this academic year.

Please contact us for further details.

September 2008 - ForSkills Releases Syndicated Login

In line with ForSkills' mission to fully integrate their assessment processes within a clients IT systems, they are pleased to announce that a free syndicated login service is now available. Following successful trials with several colleges, the secure authentification process facilitates an automatic and seamless transfer from a user's own web site or intranet to the ForSkills, Moodle^TM based, learning environment.

Please contact us for further details.

July 2008 - World Class Skills Success for ForSkills

ForSkills is pleased to announce that, following a competitive tendering process, it has secured a significant contract to supply Internet based services to KPMG. The contract relates to a major support programme for the Further Education system to ensure 'World Class Skills' is realised (now known as the World Class Skills – delivering responsive provision programme).

The support programme contract was awarded to KPMG with effect from May 2008 until August 2009.

June 2008 - "UK's Best Training Provider" Chooses ForSkills

Saks Education are officially acknowledged as the UK's best training provider, having been awarded all grade ones in 2006, by the Adult Learning Inspectorate and for providing outstanding training and being awarded Beacon Status in 2007 by the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning.

ForSkills is pleased to announce that Saks have chosen them to provide Internet hosted Basic and Key Skills assessment and learning solutions for their apprentices, through the Moredle online learning platform.

June 2008 - "FE Army Bursary" Powered by ForSkills

The British Army is offering young people the chance to earn while they learn. The FE Army Bursary Scheme aims to raise the skill levels of Army recruits by financially rewarding students aged 16 -32 for attending college. The scheme supports learners who are undertaking full Level 2 programmes in a range of occupational sectors, such as Engineering, Construction, Administration, ICT and Languages. Learners pick up £1,000 while at college and an additional £1,000 for completing 14 weeks of army training. The project has the backing of important stakeholders such as DIUS, MOD and the LSC.

ForSkills has been awarded a contract by kpmg to support the FE Army Bursary Scheme, through providing a site for Army and College staff that acts as a repository for learning materials and information relating to the scheme as well as a tool to share best practice between colleges.

Learn more about the Army FE Bursary scheme here.

April 2008 - ForSkills Newsletter

This April's newsletter is dedicated to celebrating the success of the work being undertaken by ForSkills with Nottingham LA and Nottingham city schools and special educational units.

January 2008 - ForSkills Chosen by Deloitte

The "From Competence to Excellence" project, commissioned by the LSC and run by Deloitte, aims to raise the status of work based learning and apprenticeships nationally through a series of expert classes, driving forward the Government’s Skills agenda and inspiring young people to raise their skills to the highest levels.

The project website is designed, hosted and supported by ForSkills. Their custom designed, online booking system, allows applicants to view and apply for classes online and for its administrators to manage applications easily making the enrolment process effortless and stress free. ForSkills is proud to support a project “designed to offer young people already engaged in skills training the opportunity to learn from the best skills coaches, in the best training facilities, inspiring them to develop their skills from Competence to Excellence, turning good apprentices and vocational learners into great ones!”

October 2007 - ForSkills chosen by City Council

Nottingham City Council is one of the latest to join ForSkill's expanding client list. Following a successful year of embedding the ForSkills delivered 'bksb Online' solution across the 28 secondary school and specialist support facilities within the inner city, the Children’s Services department of the Council has now entered into a 12 month contract with ForSkills to assist them with the raising of achievement in Literacy and Numeracy skills and to prepare the group for the introduction of Functional Skills.

October 2007 - ForSkills Newsletter

In this issue you'll find a message from our Educational Director, Pauline Paley, details of our latest contract wins and product updates.

September 2007 - Rackspace hosts ForSkills Servers

ForSkills has chosen Rackspace® Managed Hosting, the world's leading managed hosting specialist, to provide us with a fully managed hosting solution. Rackspace understands the importance of hosting a mission critical site, and because of that very fact we chose to be an IntensiveTM Rackspace customer. The added services from an Intensive account, caters to everything that we require to provide a resilient service for our customers.

We've chosen Rackspace as our trusted hosting provider as they are completely focused and experienced in managed hosting. Every system and process at Rackspace was built exclusively for delivering a reliable and secure service, with support staff highly trained for supporting complex hosting environments. Our solution is hosted in state-of-the-art secure data centres, watched over by certified staff.

Rackspace customers benefit from award winning and unbeatable level of customer service, Fanatical Support®. Their employees are available 24/7/365 to meet and exceed expectations, meaning fast responses to critical issues, unlimited technical phone support, access to their huge online knowledgebase, guaranteed 100% network uptime and many other business-critical support features. By outsourcing to Rackspace, we get the peace of mind that our hosting environment is being looked after by the experts.

Rackspace's commitment to its customers won them the Unisys/Management Today Customer Service Excellence Award for 2005, in addition to being named Microsoft's Gold Certified Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year 2007 and Red Hat's first Advanced Hosting Partner in Europe.

This is a registered service mark of
Rackspace US, Inc.

September 2007 - ForSkills has moved

Due to recent growth ForSkills is pleased to announce that we have relocated to new premises at the Mansfield i-centre. The centre is uniquely designed to support, resource and inspire both new and emerging knowledge based companies and facilitates our desire to continue to provide innovative products and remain at the forefront of providing educational training solutions.

We can now be found at:

For Skills Limited
Mansfield i -centre
Oakham Business Park
Hamilton Way
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire
NG18 5BR

July 2007 - ForSkills selected as Midlands Winner of the 2007 HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards

ForSkills is delighted to announce that it has outperformed hundreds of other competitors to be ranked amongst the Country’s best new businesses in this year's prestigious HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards.

The national contest, now in its seventh year, is designed to seek out the most promising new businesses in the UK and to recognise the entrepreneurs behind them.

Simon Wainwright, Head of Business Banking for HSBC Bank, said: "We know there are some truly inspiring start-up businesses out there and we want the entrepreneurs behind them, to step forward and prove that when it comes to putting together a new business they are amongst the best in Britain."

Carl Gibson, Commercial Director of ForSkills, commented "the whole team at ForSkills are extremely proud that HSBC have judged us a regional winner in their 2007 Start-Up Stars Awards. It is confirmation that the services we provide to our customers are not just ordinary but rather extraordinary, setting us apart from our competitors and helping us to secure new business."

The National winning business and runner-up will be revealed at a glittering gala dinner at London’s Dorchester Hotel on October 24.

June 2007 - Important Announcement about bksb Online

Following the successful launch of bksb Online at BETT in January 2007, ForSkills is pleased to announce that it is now directly responsible for all bksb Online sales and enquiries. This is in addition to the delivery, training and support services that it already supplies.

bksb Online users now have a ‘one-stop shop’ for all their online needs. Click here to see the benefits of bksb Online.

So what do these changes mean to you?

Business as usual – day to day you will continue to benefit from;

Dedicated online support at the end of a phone

Standard and bespoke training

Direct access to bksb assessments, tracking and resources

Resources also available as downloadable pdf files

Immediate access to system enhancements including revisions to content made by bksb

Amendments according to client needs and curriculum changes

Opportunities to bespoke the platform and resources to your particular needs

Help loading and/or referencing your own materials and data

Customisation of style to reflect your organisation’s image

BUT now for something extra:

Prices based on your needs rather than size of your organisation

Simplified invoicing direct from ForSkills

Immediate processing of sales and requests for online information and advice

Set up and changes to your licence within one working day

Free dedicated bksb Online awareness and information events,

Direct access to the bksb Online experts for any issues relating to your IT, MIS, LMS and VLE systems.

So what do you need to do?

Absolutely nothing! For Skills will contact you before your licence is due to be renewed but, in the meantime, if you have any queries or want to discuss your current and future needs, just contact us.

July 2010 - ForSkills - the common factor for excellence On 14 July Ofsted published a report which showcases 12 outstanding work-based learning (WBL) providers across England that excel at providing apprenticeships, NVQs and other vocational qualifications for young people and adults. Although the 12 providers have taken different routes to achieve excellent results, we are delighted to advise that 25% of them rely on the ForSkills solution to assist them in their delivery of the highest quality training programmes. Click on the Ofsted logo opposite to read the report in more detail
July 2010 - ForSkills - the surfers' choice in Devon & Cornwall We are pleased to advise that the Devon & Cornwall Training Provider network has now become a user of our class leading Functional Skills assessment suite. Managing Director of the network, Craig Marshall, said, "Having looked at what is available on the market the DCTPN has decided that the ForSkills package for Diagnostic testing learners for both basic skills and Functional Skills is currently the best available".
March 2010 - ForSkills ICT Initial Assessment assists The Princes' Trust The Prince’s Trust has teamed up with Microsoft, a member of The Prince’s Trust Technology Leadership Group, to transform the IT skills of hundreds of disadvantaged young people in the UK. This is a landmark move for The Prince’s Trust, as it is the first time the Trust has offered young people IT training as part of one of its programmes. The scheme, developed in conjunction with e-learning specialists ForSkills, will help young people obtain a basic knowledge of MS Office programmes, create an email account and produce a CV: all core factors in allowing them to go on to further training or employment. The project is designed so that young people of all IT levels will benefit.
Sept 2009 - For Skills to demonstrate SkillsBuilder range at ‘Diploma’ Conference ForSkills will be exhibiting at Delivering Diplomas: Engagement and Collaboration Conference, being held at Aston Conference Centre, Birmingham, on Thursday 1st October, 2009. The conference aims to provide key information for those involved in delivering the new Diploma. As specialists in diagnostic assessments and resources for key, basic and functional skills, we will be demonstrating our recently launched SkillsBuilder assessments for English, Maths and ICT, which are written to the new functional skills standards and are also relevant for any basic or key skills courses and qualifications. A key component of the diploma requires students to achieve Functional Skills in English, Maths and ICT, at the level under study. If you are planning to attend the conference, please come and see us. We are located just outside the main conference area.
July 2009 - Paper-Based Tracking - A Thing of the Past for the League Football Education With only 30-40% of football apprentices offered a professional contract, the importance of providing trainees with a route to other professions is a key component of the work undertaken by the LFE. To support the delivery of their NVQ programme, which is undertaken by all trainees, the LFE has successfully used the ForSkills Literacy and Numeracy online Assessment Suite since 2005. Now, they are planning to add two new ForSkills products to their Learning Management System, to improve the delivery of the NVQ. SkillsTrack, a new innovation from ForSkills, will be used by the LFE to store and update the learners’ ILP, track their performance and record evidence of achievement. This, together with the ForSkills SkillsPortfolio, which creates an online library of evidence, will be used by the LFE to create additional opportunities to collect data and accelerate their learners’ progress. The initial pilot will start in July 2009 before being rolled out to all 74 participating clubs Click here to view the LFE case study published on the Excellence Gateway
June 2009 - Two Outstanding New Tools Being Launched at the JISC E-Fair on 23 June 'SkillsTrack and SkillsPortfolio' For Skills is delighted to announce it will be launching two outstanding new tools to help tutors track and record their learners’ journey. Being launched at the JISC E-Fair, Leicester on 23 June, these new tools complement our industry-leading Skills for Life key, basic and functional skills assessments and provide seamless integration across learner data. For those looking to transform how they manage portfolios and track learners’ progress, these tools allow tutors and trainers to integrate learners’ data and create an online library of evidence – reducing the need to collate huge volumes of paper-based evidence. Key features include: Total integration of data Simple to use Completely customisable to suit your organisation Links with any MIS Real time tracking and reporting No software or hardware to install Developed by educationalists Low set-up costs Training provided Carl Gibson, ForSkills Commercial Director: “I am convinced tutors will find these new tools invaluable. They are simple to use and have the potential to totally integrate learners' data, offering a huge transformation in the way portfolios and data are currently managed”. Having recently overhauled our industry-leading assessments to make them functional skills-ready, the SkillsTrack and SkillsPortfolio will enable our clients to track record and manage learners by bringing it all together in one seamless package”. The new products are available to both existing and new clients with introductory pricing being offered from as little as £5 per learner. See us at the JISC E-Fair, Walkers Stadium, on 23 June – Stand 1.
May 2009 - For Skills Launches Next Generation of Online Assessments ForSkills is delighted to announce the launch of its new range of industry-leading assessments for English, Maths and ICT. Branded under our SKILLSBUILDER range, the assessments are written to the new functional skills standards and deliver an array of new features, designed with today’s learners in mind. Features: Truly adaptive testing, resulting in a more reliable and faster assessment Banks of questions at each level, so no two students see the same questions Unique screening process which directs students to questions relevant to their skill level Fewer multi-choice questions, improving assessment integrity Quick screening assessment providing a “best fit” level, useful to colleges and training providers Greater number of questions emphasising living and functional skills Automatically saves after each question so no work ever lost Accessibility features for partially sighted students and those with specific learning difficulties included Eye-catching screen layouts to maintain student interest Delivers 'spiky' profile results so each area of a discipline is given a level - particularly useful for the determination of ESOL requirements For further information about our SkillsBuilder range of new and improved assessments and resources, visit our 'Functional Skills Portal.'
December 2008 - Five Stars for ForSkills For Skills Limited has achieved the full East Midlands Brokerage Quality Assured standard and is now eligible to supply its services to publicly-funded business support projects facilitated through such organisations as Business Link, Learning and Skills Council, and UK Trade and Investment. Please contact us for further details.
December 2008 - ForSkills Delivering Best Practice Published this month by the QIA is Barking College's approach to integrating, personalising and embedding online diagnostic e-assessments to support teaching and learning. It outlines the history, the challenges, the strategic decisions, the processes, the route and the reasoning underpinning successful online diagnostic assessment for the College. FosSkills is proud to have worked with Barking and to be delivering a solution to them that is acknowledged as being a best practice approach. Please contact us for further details.
October 2008 - ForSkills Providing Touchline Support In their third year of use of the ForSkills online assessment suite, League Football Education (LFE) began to work with ForSkills to develop enhancements to their Moodle^TM based VLE, with the aim to dramatically improve the efficiency of systems to control and monitor the apprenticeship NVQ learning journey. Following a successful implementation with 10 football clubs, LFE now plan to roll out the new ForSkills' e-ILP, e-Review and e-Tracking functionality to all of their 70+ football clubs and education providers before the end of this academic year. Please contact us for further details.
September 2008 - ForSkills Releases Syndicated Login In line with ForSkills' mission to fully integrate their assessment processes within a clients IT systems, they are pleased to announce that a free syndicated login service is now available. Following successful trials with several colleges, the secure authentification process facilitates an automatic and seamless transfer from a user's own web site or intranet to the ForSkills, Moodle^TM based, learning environment. Please contact us for further details.
July 2008 - World Class Skills Success for ForSkills ForSkills is pleased to announce that, following a competitive tendering process, it has secured a significant contract to supply Internet based services to KPMG. The contract relates to a major support programme for the Further Education system to ensure 'World Class Skills' is realised (now known as the World Class Skills – delivering responsive provision programme). The support programme contract was awarded to KPMG with effect from May 2008 until August 2009.
June 2008 - "UK's Best Training Provider" Chooses ForSkills Saks Education are officially acknowledged as the UK's best training provider, having been awarded all grade ones in 2006, by the Adult Learning Inspectorate and for providing outstanding training and being awarded Beacon Status in 2007 by the Minister of State for Lifelong Learning. ForSkills is pleased to announce that Saks have chosen them to provide Internet hosted Basic and Key Skills assessment and learning solutions for their apprentices, through the Moredle online learning platform.
June 2008 - "FE Army Bursary" Powered by ForSkills The British Army is offering young people the chance to earn while they learn. The FE Army Bursary Scheme aims to raise the skill levels of Army recruits by financially rewarding students aged 16 -32 for attending college. The scheme supports learners who are undertaking full Level 2 programmes in a range of occupational sectors, such as Engineering, Construction, Administration, ICT and Languages. Learners pick up £1,000 while at college and an additional £1,000 for completing 14 weeks of army training. The project has the backing of important stakeholders such as DIUS, MOD and the LSC. ForSkills has been awarded a contract by kpmg to support the FE Army Bursary Scheme, through providing a site for Army and College staff that acts as a repository for learning materials and information relating to the scheme as well as a tool to share best practice between colleges. Learn more about the Army FE Bursary scheme here.
April 2008 - ForSkills Newsletter This April's newsletter is dedicated to celebrating the success of the work being undertaken by ForSkills with Nottingham LA and Nottingham city schools and special educational units.
January 2008 - ForSkills Chosen by Deloitte The "From Competence to Excellence" project, commissioned by the LSC and run by Deloitte, aims to raise the status of work based learning and apprenticeships nationally through a series of expert classes, driving forward the Government’s Skills agenda and inspiring young people to raise their skills to the highest levels. The project website is designed, hosted and supported by ForSkills. Their custom designed, online booking system, allows applicants to view and apply for classes online and for its administrators to manage applications easily making the enrolment process effortless and stress free. ForSkills is proud to support a project “designed to offer young people already engaged in skills training the opportunity to learn from the best skills coaches, in the best training facilities, inspiring them to develop their skills from Competence to Excellence, turning good apprentices and vocational learners into great ones!”
October 2007 - ForSkills chosen by City Council Nottingham City Council is one of the latest to join ForSkill's expanding client list. Following a successful year of embedding the ForSkills delivered 'bksb Online' solution across the 28 secondary school and specialist support facilities within the inner city, the Children’s Services department of the Council has now entered into a 12 month contract with ForSkills to assist them with the raising of achievement in Literacy and Numeracy skills and to prepare the group for the introduction of Functional Skills.
October 2007 - ForSkills Newsletter In this issue you'll find a message from our Educational Director, Pauline Paley, details of our latest contract wins and product updates.
September 2007 - Rackspace hosts ForSkills Servers ForSkills has chosen Rackspace® Managed Hosting, the world's leading managed hosting specialist, to provide us with a fully managed hosting solution. Rackspace understands the importance of hosting a mission critical site, and because of that very fact we chose to be an IntensiveTM Rackspace customer. The added services from an Intensive account, caters to everything that we require to provide a resilient service for our customers. We've chosen Rackspace as our trusted hosting provider as they are completely focused and experienced in managed hosting. Every system and process at Rackspace was built exclusively for delivering a reliable and secure service, with support staff highly trained for supporting complex hosting environments. Our solution is hosted in state-of-the-art secure data centres, watched over by certified staff. Rackspace customers benefit from award winning and unbeatable level of customer service, Fanatical Support®. Their employees are available 24/7/365 to meet and exceed expectations, meaning fast responses to critical issues, unlimited technical phone support, access to their huge online knowledgebase, guaranteed 100% network uptime and many other business-critical support features. By outsourcing to Rackspace, we get the peace of mind that our hosting environment is being looked after by the experts. Rackspace's commitment to its customers won them the Unisys/Management Today Customer Service Excellence Award for 2005, in addition to being named Microsoft's Gold Certified Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year 2007 and Red Hat's first Advanced Hosting Partner in Europe.	This is a registered service mark of Rackspace US, Inc.
September 2007 - ForSkills has moved Due to recent growth ForSkills is pleased to announce that we have relocated to new premises at the Mansfield i-centre. The centre is uniquely designed to support, resource and inspire both new and emerging knowledge based companies and facilitates our desire to continue to provide innovative products and remain at the forefront of providing educational training solutions. We can now be found at: For Skills Limited Mansfield i -centre Oakham Business Park Hamilton Way Mansfield Nottinghamshire NG18 5BR
July 2007 - ForSkills selected as Midlands Winner of the 2007 HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards ForSkills is delighted to announce that it has outperformed hundreds of other competitors to be ranked amongst the Country’s best new businesses in this year's prestigious HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards. The national contest, now in its seventh year, is designed to seek out the most promising new businesses in the UK and to recognise the entrepreneurs behind them. Simon Wainwright, Head of Business Banking for HSBC Bank, said: "We know there are some truly inspiring start-up businesses out there and we want the entrepreneurs behind them, to step forward and prove that when it comes to putting together a new business they are amongst the best in Britain." Carl Gibson, Commercial Director of ForSkills, commented "the whole team at ForSkills are extremely proud that HSBC have judged us a regional winner in their 2007 Start-Up Stars Awards. It is confirmation that the services we provide to our customers are not just ordinary but rather extraordinary, setting us apart from our competitors and helping us to secure new business." The National winning business and runner-up will be revealed at a glittering gala dinner at London’s Dorchester Hotel on October 24.
June 2007 - Important Announcement about bksb Online Following the successful launch of bksb Online at BETT in January 2007, ForSkills is pleased to announce that it is now directly responsible for all bksb Online sales and enquiries. This is in addition to the delivery, training and support services that it already supplies. bksb Online users now have a ‘one-stop shop’ for all their online needs. Click here to see the benefits of bksb Online. So what do these changes mean to you? Business as usual – day to day you will continue to benefit from; Dedicated online support at the end of a phone Standard and bespoke training Direct access to bksb assessments, tracking and resources Resources also available as downloadable pdf files Immediate access to system enhancements including revisions to content made by bksb Amendments according to client needs and curriculum changes Opportunities to bespoke the platform and resources to your particular needs Help loading and/or referencing your own materials and data Customisation of style to reflect your organisation’s image BUT now for something extra: Prices based on your needs rather than size of your organisation Simplified invoicing direct from ForSkills Immediate processing of sales and requests for online information and advice Set up and changes to your licence within one working day Free dedicated bksb Online awareness and information events, Direct access to the bksb Online experts for any issues relating to your IT, MIS, LMS and VLE systems. So what do you need to do? Absolutely nothing! For Skills will contact you before your licence is due to be renewed but, in the meantime, if you have any queries or want to discuss your current and future needs, just contact us.

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