Plumbers are sometimes stereotyped as people that just work on toilets and taps, however this isn't the case...

Plumbing can often be an exciting and varied job, where you meet a lot of people, work on a range of projects, and get a sense of satisfaction when you figure out how to fix the thing you've been tasked with mending.

It also takes plenty of creativity and ingenuity when it comes to designing and installing plumbing systems, and you can take pride in your work as you use your skills to solve problems and come up with solutions.

Read on to find out some more reasons why you should consider becoming a plumber...

Weston College held a successful fundraising week in March, raising £3600 for local charity Weston Hospicecare.

Over the week students and staff from across the College took part in various activities, with the aim of raising money for the local charity.

The main event of the week was dress up day, in which staff and students all over the College got in the spirit, dressing up as superheroes, unicorns, octopuses and air hostesses for the day.

There were also a number of awards given out for those who contributed to the week’s success. The College’s Inclusive Practice Faculty won the overall award for fundraising, after students came up with inventive ways of raising money, including writing the first sentences of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in coins.

Weston Hospicecare was thrilled with the money donated to them.

Rachel Mansfield, community fundraiser at Weston Hospicecare, said: “We are once again enormously grateful to the students of Weston College for the fabulous support offered during their RAG week celebrations.

“We’ve loved following the students’ exploits, and we’re thrilled by the incredible amount of money raised for Weston Hospicecare – it really will play a big part in enabling us to support people with life-limiting illnesses and their families across Weston-Super-Mare and beyond.

“We’d also like to say a special thank you to the students from Weston College’s Inclusive Practice Faculty, who won an award for an outstanding contribution to the charity week for a video they created on behalf of Weston Hospicecare – we enjoyed welcoming the students to the hospice when they were filming, and were really impressed by the super piece of work they put together.”

Weston College has employed Chris Lemin as its new Curriculum Lead for Cyber Security. Cyber security is the process of protecting networks, systems and  data from cyber-attacks. It is a hot topic, with the government estimating that large businesses face an average cost of £19,600 when presented with a cyber-security breach.

Chris brings a wealth of knowledge to the role, having worked for the Royal Air Force and as a commercial cyber-threat intelligence analyst for the past three years. As part of his most recent role, Chris dealt with a wide array of companies, assisting them in defending attacks from the internet.  

In February, Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute produced a study based on 1,200 senior executives, which highlighted that 68% of organisations are reporting a high demand for cyber skills. Chris is now writing the Level 4 cyber security apprenticeship standards, and is ensuring that these meet the needs of employers and give students the relevant training to meet these skills gaps. These apprenticeships will offer students the perfect mix of both education and exposure to the cyber security world, while gaining a formal qualification.  

As well as the new cyber security apprenticeship, the College is developing a cyber lab which will be based at the Winter Gardens.  This will allow the students the opportunity to practice a range of scenarios, from testing insecure networks to reconfiguring a network, giving them hands on experience.

Chris said: “Education is the key to cyber security, we are aiming to help organisations to meet the needs of their skills gap.”