The Health and Active Living Skills Centre was a finalist in the recent LABC West of England Building Excellence Awards 2020, for the best educational building. These annual awards celebrate quality and building excellence in the delivery of outstanding construction and workmanship.

Weston College, Midas Construction Ltd and View Architects were recognised for their work to create the Health and Active Living Skills Centre, which boosts a modern learning environment for students studying courses in sport and health and social care, a full-sized 3G sports pitch, multi-purpose indoor sports hall and state-of-the-art hospital ward simulation room. The build had many considerations such as:

• Lighting design had to ensure it mitigated the light spill onto the adjacent hedgerows, due to the area being a bats commuting corridor.
• High voltage cables span above the northern end of the site.
• Wessex Water asset (rising main) runs along the eastern and southern boundaries.
• Hydro modelling took place to ascertain the storage requirements on site with attenuated flows controlled by hydrobrakes ensuring the site does not result in flooding elsewhere.
• The building aimed to, where feasible, use natural ventilation (ie sports areas) - Teaching areas made use of modular hybrid ventilators to achieve BB93 acoustic performance requirements and lower energy consumption compared to a mechanical ventilation alternative.
• The sports hall has large insulated translucent panels to provide light (normally a black box). The insulated translucent cladding provides an improved thermal performance over glass and helps diffuse the light reducing the risk of glare.

The project site was registered under the considerate constructors scheme (achieving an average score of 40/45) meaning they were independently evaluated helping to ensure they are safe and healthy environments for both the workers and the public.

Waste management strategies enabled the contractor to achieve 100% diversion of waste from landfill on the scheme. The Health and Active Living Skills Centre opened in 2019, it was the first of its kind in the region, not only for students of the college but also providing members of the public with access to modern facilities with the aim to improve the general health and wellbeing of the local community.

Read more about the Health and Active Living Skills Centre >>

Investors in People is delighted to award Weston College, a Weston-super-Mare based FE and HE college, the “We invest in people” Platinum accreditation.

Platinum is the highest level of accreditation possible to achieve and is a category that only 2% of organisations secure nationwide.

Building on its existing Gold accreditation and Champion status, the College received Platinum as a result of a whole-College approach to prioritising the development and well-being of its employees.

The quality standard was awarded following rigorous assessment, an online survey, staff interviews and the submission of detailed evidence. The College has had a track record with Investors in People since 1997, rising up the ranks each time it is assessed.

The College has held Gold status since 2010 and secured Champion in 2016. The assessment also included the College’s Prison Education staff who teach in prisons in the South West and South East.

Due to the College’s high score it has ranked in the top 20 organisations UK-wide, meaning it has also been nominated for the Investors in People national Employer of the Year.

Lynne Richards, Investors in People Practitioner who assessed the College commented: “On behalf of Investors in People I’d like to congratulate Weston College. Platinum accreditation on “We invest in people” is a remarkable effort for any organisation, and places Weston College in fine company with a host of organisations that understand the value of people.

“I was particularly impressed with the College’s approach in lockdown, during this unprecedented time the College opted to continue with the assessment, which ensured a real authenticity of process and all interviews with staff happened virtually, whilst they were also faced with new challenges in the remote delivery of outstanding education.”

Commenting on the award, Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive at Weston College Group said: “I am delighted that we have achieved this prestigious status – I believe that the success of an organisation begins and ends with people, and this major achievement is testament to the emphasis we place on putting our staff at the heart of the business.

“Employee engagement and investment are among our highest priorities. This achievement reflects those priorities, as well as the commitment and dedication our people give us in return. "Being recognised at UK level is hugely rewarding and we will continue to work hard to support our employees both personally and professionally.”

The College’s “We invest in people”, platinum accreditation, alongside the achievement of winning Lloyds Business National Business Awards Employer of the Year in 2019 and being the highest ranked college in 2019 Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For list, confirms the College’s status as not just a leading Further Education College, but also as a top employer in the country.

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We have been in regular communication over the last two months with both our transport partners, First Bus and Bakers Dolphin, and can now confirm that services will operate with a few adjustments and certain guidelines:

• Both First and Bakers Dolphin services are currently operating at 50% capacity to meet social distancing guidelines.
• Learners must wear a mask on all services. Without a mask, learners will not be permitted to travel.

FIRST BUS - Passes can be purchased via the College shop

• First bus mTickets become active from Monday 7th September.
• Timetable information can be found via the First website or via the ‘travelling to college’ section of our website.
• Learners via the First Bus app will be able to access live data including number of seats available on a service.
• Instructions on how to use the mTicket can be found by clicking here.
• We have been able to negotiate with First additional services to support learner demand, as well as the creation of a specific service that will only be accessible for Weston College mTicket/bus pass holders.
  • The X5s will run solely for the College in the mornings only from Clevedon to Weston-super-Mare (timetable to be released in next day via First website).

BAKERS DOLPHIN - Passes can be purchased via the College shop

• The College will continue to run 5 core service routes via Bakers starting from 7th September.
  • Blagdon/Bridgwater/Clevedon/Nailsea/Portishead
• Timetables for these can be found here on our website.
• Learners must have purchased a Bakers Dolphin bus pass and collected this from a campus reception. Without a bus pass learners will not be able to access these services.
• Bakers will continue to provide a service for some of our apprenticeship learners travelling from Bristol (Rolls Royce and GKN).

TRAIN TRAVEL

A reminder that a variety of discounted railcards are available to learners including:

• 16-17 Saver (50% discount)
• 16-25 Railcard (33% discount)

Further information including purchasing these can be found here.

Train timetables can be accessed here.