Founded in 2011, the Academy is based in a four-storey premises that was part of the early redevelopment of the London docks area. Our group also comprises 21 commercial restaurants and the Limehouse Library Hotel, all providing exceptional links with industry.

We believe everyone is capable of improving their lives through learning, regardless of their prior education experiences, background, or current work / life situation. We aim to provide everyone who studies with us strong support, motivation, purpose and the encouragement to really apply themselves and work hard.

We work to ensure everyone who studies with us doesn’t just develop their knowledge and understanding of their subject areas, but also leaves us feeling confident as a student knowing how their behaviours and attributes make them highly sought after and employable.

We want to be a driver for change, and to do this we engage with different employers, both within our Group and across multiple sectors to ensure what we deliver through our various learning programmes is what they want to see in their workplaces.

Our approach to supporting and enabling learning creates a culture and framework from which we build these work-ready learners. It recognises the need to provide opportunities to develop emotional intelligence and resilience. We do this by working with employers to help our students to gain real-world skills, which can be put into practice through live projects and industry placements.

This strategy also recognises technology is transforming the world of work faster than ever before. Without the right graduates to implement, problem solve and ask, “what’s next?”, technology alone isn’t a solution. Irrespective of vocational area, our goal for the life of this strategy — and beyond — is to ensure DAL students have the digital literacy, personal agility and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed in a future driven by people, powered by technology.