GLL (Greenwich Leisure Ltd) has signed a partnership agreement with a professional body to help support and develop its workforce through an accredited training programme.

The social enterprise, which manages 260 leisure, library and children’s centres, has signed an employer partnership agreement with the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA). The deal means GLL managers will become professional chartered members of CIMSPA.

In addition, GLL has also become a skills development partner after obtaining a direct grant from the Skills Funding Agency to deliver employer-led apprenticeships. As a result, GLL is the first leisure operator to establish both CIMSPA partnerships.

The partnership agreement was signed on the launch day of GLL’s first Supervisors’ Academy – a group of 20 supervisors and aspiring managers who are on a 12-month programme that will see them gain CIMSPA’s entry management qualification, if successful. The programme will cover business modules, such as financial and people management, and applied learning in the workplace. The programme will also pilot the leisure duty manager apprenticeship.

Members of the group will be part of GLL’s succession planning strategy if they pass.

Plans in developing its workforce include delivering academy modules as standalone training sessions for the whole workforce via the GLL College, developing the GLL Management and Leadership Academy aligned to CIMSPA’s level 5 syllabus, and moving GLL’s level 3 fitness instructors into CIMSPA’s new practitioner memberships for exercise and fitness professionals.

Tara Dillon, CIMSPA chief executive, attended the launch of the academy. She said: “GLL is renowned for the standard of its staff training and development, so it’s no surprise that it is pioneering this new education model for supervisory staff who want to enter management. Our new partnership means that we can work together to not only develop future managers for GLL, but for the sector as a whole.”

Lorraine Patrinos, GLL associate director of learning and organisational development, added: “We are very excited about our CIMSPA partnership. Learning and home-growing staff is at the core of our social enterprise ethos and the partnership with CIMSPA will help us to deliver this vision. The level 3 modules are different – it’s about applied learning in the workplace and will provide an important stepping stone for staff to become leisure professionals and progress into management.”