The East Lothian Learning Partnership, ELLP, is concerned with the promotion of learning opportunities for everyone in the local community. It seeks to find ways for learning to lead to achievement, for young people, for adults, and for communities. It does this through partnership working, with partners from the further and higher education sectors, the voluntary sector, the business community and statutory bodies.

Learning is something we all do, all the time. There really is no downside; it can be fun, improve your social life, you can discover things about yourself, your home area, learn skills to get a first job, train or retrain for a different one, or improve pay and prospects in your existing career. ELLP is equally concerned with the wider issues of community involvement, planning and development, active citizenship, inclusion and youth issues.

ELLP Events Calendar
Every year ELLP holds a variety of learning related events around East Lothian and ELLP groups and forums meet regularly (information on ELLP groups can be found below). View or download ELLP Annual Calendar

Organisations involved are: First ELLP Strategy: East Lothian produced a Lifelong Learning Strategy in February 2000, and a Community Learning Strategy in May 2000. These documents underpinned the forming of the East Lothian Learning Partnership, which was formally launched in 2001.

Learning is, and will continue to be, a key feature of modern life. With change everywhere we need to learn to cope with it in different aspects of our lives. Daily life is changing with faster communications and more technology in homes, schools and workplaces. “A job for life” is a thing of the past and learning to learn is a core skill for everyone who is, or will one day be, a member of the workforce. For others, learning new skills brings personal development and enjoyment.

East Lothian Learning Partnership has brought together providers of education and learning opportunities to set out the following partnership vision for the future of learning in East Lothian –

All partners will work together to ensure that this vision becomes a reality, developing genuine partnership working at local and authority wide level which will result in dynamic new provision and promotion of learning throughout East Lothian. Through this process, the people of East Lothian will be supported, encouraged and enabled to participate in learning opportunities.

Community Learning and Development Strategy
'Building a Learning Culture in East Lothian: Community Learning and Development Strategy 2005-2007' identified the following five local priorities: Achievement through Learning for:

• Adults
• Young People and Children
• Community Capacity Building
• Enhancing Employability for Adults and Young People
• Building the Capacity of the ELLP

Throughout 2005 ELLP members along with other local organisations met together in newly formed thematic forums and the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Action Group to discuss how their existing work could be enhanced. As a result, they produced 6 action plans which were presented at the Community Planning Partnership/ELLP annual conference in December 2005. The action plans can be viewed in the Publications section.

Each thematic forum – Adults, Young People and Children, Community Capacity Building and Enhancing Employability – and ALN Action Group brings together ELLP partners and a broad range of organisations.

Adults Forum
Careers Scotland, Jewel and Esk Valley College, East Lothian Council - Adult Literacy and Numeracy, Napier University, Lothian Health, U3A, Guideline, Queen Margaret University College, Wider Access East Lothian, East Lothian Council – Community Learning and Development.

Young People and Children's Forum
Dialogue Youth, East Lothian Council – Community Learning and Development, Lothian Association of Youth Clubs, Mobex, Changing Children’s Services, Volunteer Development East Lothian (VDEL).
Download below YP&C Forum meeting notes and minutes
2007
YP&C Forum minutes 24.04.07
2006
YP&C Forum minutes 14.11.06

Community Capacity Building Forum
East Lothian Community Care Forum, Careers Scotland, CyBIL, East Lothian Community Health Partnership, ELVON, East Lothian Council – Community Learning and Development, Education and Children's Services, Adult Services - Social Work, Libraries, Dialogue Youth, VDEL.
Download below CCB Forum meeting notes and minutes
2007
CCB Forum Meeting Notes 06.02.07
2006
CCB Forum Meeting Notes 21.9.06
CCB Forum Remit 19.7.06
CCB Forum Spider's Web exercise 19.7.06
CCB Forum Meeting Notes 25.5.06


Enhancing Employability Forum
Job Centre Plus, Musselburgh, STUC, Careers Scotland, East Lothian Council – Personnel, East Lothian Business Association, PIP Project, Progress 2 Work, ELCAP, Haddington Citizens Advice Bureau, Tesco, Bridges Project, East Lothian Council – Education, Hart Builders, East Lothian Council – Adult Literacy and Numeracy, Guideline, ELVOS, Mobex, East Lothian Council – Economic Development, Lauder College, Queen Margaret University College.
Download below Employability Forum meeting notes and minutes
2006
E.Forum meeting notes 22.6.06

ALN Action Group
East Lothian Council - Community Learning and Development, Jewel and Esk Valley College, Bridges Project, Careers Scotland, Lothian Health, East Lothian Council - Integration Team, Job Centre Plus, East Lothian Council Libraries.

ELLP Operations Group
East Lothian Council - Community Learning and Development, Jewel and Esk Valley College, ELVON, VDEL, LAYC, Haddington Citizens Advice Bureau, ELC-Policy and Business Managment, ELC-Economic Development.

Download below Operations Group meeting notes and minutes 2006
Operations Group minutes 12.2.07
Operations Group minutes 5.6.06
Operations Group minutes 30.1.06

ELLP Executive
East Lothian Council - Community Learning and Development, Jewel and Esk Valley College, ELVON, VDEL, ELC Community Planning Partnership, East Lothian Business Association.

If you want to know more about the ELLP partners, go to the Partners page.

European Social Fund Project
The project is managed by East Lothian Council on behalf of the East Lothian Learning Partnership which is tasked with delivering the Lifelong and Community Learning Strategies for the county. ESF funding supports the delivery of a comprehensive programme of activities and events reaching out to over 300 beneficiaries predominantly in East Lothian's disadvantaged communities and promoting an awareness of and stimulate demand for learning, so enhancing employability and job readiness.

ELLP was the first Learning Partnership in Scotland to apply for, and be successful in receiving external funding from the European Social Fund. This has allowed staff to be employed on a part time basis, to organise events promoting learning, to develop and strengthen the partnership and improve internal and external communications, and to research and write a new Community Learning and Development Strategy for 2004 – 2007.