History of the Trust
CP Learning Trust was incorporated on 9th April 2003, borne out of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Learning Partnerships. With a shared commitment to working together, sharing resources and expertise for the benefit of individuals, the two Partnerships merged and gained charitable status on 14th January 2005.
Our first Chief Executive Officer was Roy Brown, a key member of both Learning Partnerships. Under his leadership the Trust become self-sustaining with the scope to deliver outside of the East of England. As a mark of his expertise in the adult learning sector, CP Learning Trust was awarded a contract to work in Europe to provide professional support and guidance to organisations new to partnership delivery and management.
The Trust also became the first organisation in the East of England to be awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark. This was in recognition of our work recruiting and training volunteers and supporting them in the workplace.
Roy Brown remained CEO until retiring in 2015, and is now a member of our Board of Trustees. He was succeeded in post by Gaynor Cooper who continues to develop the Trust whilst staying true to the ethos on which it was established.
Our Vision: ‘For everyone to have the opportunity to improve their life through learning.’
The Trust has built its reputation and integrity through a partnership working approach. This maximises the opportunities for our learners, ensures their needs are put first and enables them to follow the best possible journey of learning.
Additionally, the Trust continues to work closely with existing formal strategic and community learning and skills partnerships to ensure a contribution is made to local policy and strategic development.
Funding from a variety of sources has enabled us to engage and support over 40,000 learners from some of the most deprived areas of the country. Through consultation with individuals and practitioners we have been able to devise programmes specific to the needs of each community, encouraging participation through innovative, first step-activity to further learning, skill sharing, volunteering, paid and self-employment.
Some of the funders who have supported our projects include:
- European Social Fund
- national Lottery Heritage Fund
- National Lottery: Big Lottery Reaching Communities
- European Commission Lifelong Learning Programme: Grundtvig
- Skills Funding Agency
- East of England Development Agency
- Adult and Community Learning Fund
- Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities
Evidence of the strong links between participation in learning and social-economic wellbeing is the cornerstone of the work of CP Learning Trust and continues to drive our future planning.