The 2016/17 academic year was an exciting and ambitious year for the Weston College Group, which saw record success rates and the creation of sector-leading facilities. These successes were appraised at the College's annual Business Breakfast, which broght together hundreds of businesspeople from across the South West. Here is a summary of what the College did between September 2016 and August 2017...

We’ve received national recognition for our teaching

The Association of Colleges was so impressed with our teaching that they awarded us two out of the 11 Beacon Awards presented this year. Judges recognised our work towards creating an inclusive and engaging learning environment for our students with special educational needs and disabilities and our offender learners.

We’ve invested £25 million in our facilities

The money has gone towards refurbishing classrooms, installing the latest technology, and creating some of the most high-tech learning environments in the country. Most impressively, the successful refurbishment of the Winter Gardens has secured the building’s future as a community asset. We plan to invest a further £20 million in the current academic year to create specialist facilities for health, sport and construction.

Our success rates are at an all-time high

Our 16-18 achievement rates grew by 4% to 86.5%, and 90.7% of our adult learners successfully completed their courses. The overwhelming majority of our apprentices were taken on by their employers at the end of their course. Our 90% student satisfaction rate places us 18th on the FE Choices survey of colleges across the country.

We’ve been working with businesses to create apprenticeships

We work with over 1,400 businesses to deliver apprenticeships, and our new relationships with employers such as the Bristol Port Company, the Ministry of Defence and Rolls Royce means that we are bringing more and more apprenticeship opportunities to young people and adults across the South West.

We’ve put on free courses for the community

2017 saw us announce our first free adult leisure courses to great success. The courses helped hundreds of adults reengage with education, as well as teaching them some useful skills such as car mechanics, cooking, dancing and bricklaying.

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We've been invited to Buckingham Palace to pick up one of the most important educational prizes in the country: the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.

The award is the latest of a string of successes that the College has seen in recent years since the appointment of Dr Paul Phillips CBE as Principal and Chief Executive.

What is a Queen’s Anniversary Prize?

The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are awarded to leading colleges and universities every two years, and reward excellence, innovation and positive impact on the community. It is generally thought of as equivalent to an Honour but applied to an institution. It is a nation-wide award that is considered to be the most prestigious in the education sector. For further information on the Queen’s Anniversary Prize please visit www.royalanniversarytrust.org.uk

What did we win it for?

The Royal Anniversary Trust judges acknowledged our pioneering approach to outstanding inclusive practice. They recognised that Weston College’s dedicated special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision had delivered impact at a local, regional, national and international level. The College has been recognised for creating world class facilities delivering aspirational provision to over 1000 students requiring additional support. Continuous high performance has been driven by strong leadership from the very top, which has placed empowerment and personalisation at the heart of the College’s strategic plans.

Judges could see that our excellent delivery has allowed the sharing of best practice in order to improve outcomes for other disadvantaged groups including ex-offenders and the long term unemployed. They also recognised that the College’s award-winning provision showed how staff, learners and employers have worked together to “value people” and to create inclusive social mobility for all.

Why is inclusive practice important to us?

Our focus on inclusive practice is led by our Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Paul Phillips CBE, who believes that our students should be put first and that all of our students should be able to enjoy the same high-quality teaching, facilities and support regardless of their background and abilities. He was inspired by the 2001 White Paper titled “Valuing People – A New Strategy for Learning Disability in the 21st Century”.

What does this mean for our students with SEND?

Students at the College can expect to achieve results that are consistently above the national benchmark, with 97% of learners with SEND progressing into employment, further learning or higher education. They can also expect to study in purpose-built facilities that enable them to fulfil their full learning potential. They are taught and supported by highly-qualified specialist staff through personalised programmes of study, which are dynamically and innovatively based on an empowerment model which promotes independence rather than dependency. 

Weston College has set an ambitious target of achieving 200 apprenticeship pledges in just 100 days.

Following the success of the previous 100 in 100 campaign, the College has decided to raise the bar, by matching 200 passionate apprentices with great local employers in just 100 days.

The campaign itself will be starting on January 22nd, and will run through until June 8th. Throughout the campaign the College will be updating their progress via social media, using the hashtag #200in100 on Twitter.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “One of the most effective ways of bringing a new generation of employees to your company is through apprenticeships. Apprenticeships have expanded over the years, and we have seen the growth in popularity of our Degree Apprenticeships, giving organisations a hands on approach in the development of the student, to meet their business needs.

“Weston College is excited to be launching this campaign to create 200 apprenticeships in 100 days. With the support of existing and new employer partners from across the region, we look forward to supplying more opportunities to our students in the year ahead.

“We’re appealing to organisations across the region to pledge and support this exciting mission to create 200 local jobs.”

The businesses that pledge will have their logos featured in the dedicated ‘200 in 100’ section of the website, be featured predominantly in the social media campaign and have other publicity through press releases and video.