A moody seascape has earned a Weston College student two coveted awards in a national photographic competition.

Ed French, 16, entered the National Historic Ships Photography Competition with a picture he took by Marine Lake, Weston, and was presented with the awards at a ceremony on board HMS Belfast in London.

Ed, of Devonshire Road, Weston, scooped the First Prize in his category, ‘Young Photographer Historic Ship or Seascape’, and was overall winner of the competition’s ‘Young Photographer UK’ class.

He was handed his awards by BBC TV presenter Julia Bradbury following a celebration lunch aboard the historic warship.

Now studying a Level Three BTEC Extended Diploma in Photography at Weston College, Ed was a pupil of Broadoak School when the photo was taken. On the day he took it the rain had cleared, leaving a cloudy sky. Ed cycled down to the Marine Lake, by Knightstone Island, and took the picture with a compact digital camera.

He said: “I was very surprised and delighted to win the awards. Mine was the last category to be announced so it was a very tense wait.”

Ed won a £400 digital camera for Broadoak School and a group visit to the SS Great Britain ship in Bristol.

Weston College Photography lecturer Jamie Dormer-Durling said: “I am really pleased for Ed’s success. We like to encourage our students to enter photography competitions; it’s highly motivational and gives a great boost to their confidence. Ed is thinking of continuing to the FdA Photography Course at Weston College where I’m sure he will continue to flourish as a photographer.”

Cornish pasties have provided students from Weston College with an insight into waste management.

Students on the Foundation Degree in Public and Environmental Health recently went on a field trip to Cornwall where they visited the Ginsters production site in Callington and discovered how waste generated from making 140,000,000 pasties and other pastry products each year is managed.

The students met with Mark Bartlett, the Environment Manager for Ginsters, and found out that while the site has huge potential to generate waste this is mitigated by a number of projects on site to minimise waste.

“What is most remarkable about this site is it is a Zero to Land Fill site,” said David Lown, Course Coordinator, Public and Environmental Health, at Weston College.

“There are many stories in the media about food waste so it is particularly beneficial for students to see such a good example of best practice in reducing waste and protecting the environment.”

Ginsters recycle 300 tonnes of cardboard and 100 tonnes of plastic each year, and the students were given a tour of the recycling plant and water treatment plant.

They were also shown the water treatment plant, and heard how each tonne of food product manufactured at Ginsters requires up to -four tonnes of water, making the water treatment plant an important cost effective facility.

The students heard that, despite the various methods on site to reduce food waste, Ginsters still generates 21,000 tonnes of food waste each year.

However, this is not wasted as it is used in an Anaerobic Digester where bacteria convert it into renewable electricity and fertilizer. The remaining 487 tonnes of waste that cannot be reused, recycled or bio-digested are sent to the Energy from Waste Plant in Avonmouth, Bristol, to generate yet more energy.

This was the fifth visit by Public and Environmental Health students at Weston College to the Ginsters site.

The field trip also included visits to the Eden Project to look at on-site health and safety, and to the National Trust property of Lanhydrock where they considered fire safety in a Victorian Country House.

They also looked at the environmental impacts from Wainwrights quarry near Frome, and undertook some field work monitoring water quality on Wembury beach in Devon.

With the gender pay gap hitting headlines on a constant basis we take a look at why it’s not just men who make good engineers…

Across the UK there is a skills shortage of engineers, which is why we’re investing millions of pounds into creating courses to provide trained engineers that meet the country’s future needs.

This shortage means that engineers are paid well and there are a variety of engineering specialisms that you could pursue. On the flip side, the lack of women in the engineering industry not only contributes to the gender pay gap but also deprives us of a considerable amount of talented individuals that could make a huge difference.

In the UK, only 20% of people enrolled on degree-level engineering programmes such as our new Higher Level Apprenticeship are women, which is a shame because girls possess the same ability to be successful in this field as boys!

On the whole, girls tend to do better at GCSE and A Level, and in the crucial STEM fields, girls do just as well as boys. Year after year, we see young women matching or even outclassing their male peers in maths and science exams – both fundamental technical skills for an engineer.

More and more, the engineering industry is crying out for engineers who not only have proficient technical capability, but are also good communicators who work effectively in teams and can explain their work to key stakeholders. Other crucial skills include a strong, analytical mind and attention to detail. All of these are things that women excel in.

Liz Griffiths, Weston College’s Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, told us about the route that took her into a successful career in engineering. She said: “When I left school I was unsure about the career path that I wanted to pursue.

“I knew that my favourite subjects were maths and physics, so I wanted to find an occupation that related to those subjects.

“I was lucky enough to attend a seminar on women in engineering and was immediately interested in the exciting and varied career options that are available in the engineering industry, so I started to investigate the different kinds of apprenticeships that were available.

“The most important piece of advice I would give to girls that are considering getting into engineering is that it’s a very diverse and well-paid career and there is bound to be a pathway that interests you.

“If you’re unsure, it’s worth going to college open days to see what different types of engineering courses and apprenticeships are available.”