Weston College has spent more than £1 million improving and extending facilities in time for the new term.

The work has been carried out over the summer at the Knightstone, South West Skills (SWS) and Loxton Campuses and has been welcomed by students and staff as the new term gets underway.

There have been major changes to the Higher Education (HE) floor at Knightstone Campus, plus improvements to facilities for Hospitality and Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD) students. The SWS Campus on Locking Road has benefited from a major extension into an existing building that now houses the College's bespoke Motor Vehicle Workshop, related classrooms and superb IT facilities (including vehicle diagnostics).

Also new for the College are new Painting and Decorating and Multi-Trade areas and new bays for the popular Plumbing course, all based at the College's Construction and Engineering Centre of Excellence (CECE).

On the sixth floor of the Knightstone Campus a new HE Centre has been created. This architecturally designed area features the use of natural materials including oak doors and matching walkways. The new facility accommodates a new lecture theatre, an open study area, welfare / support rooms and new science labs.

The teaching kitchen for students with LDD, including wheelchair-friendly facilities, has been refurbished on the third floor of the building and the second-floor Grove training restaurant has seen the creation of improved kitchen facilities and changing areas.

A new photographic studio and an extended staff room has also been created at the College's Loxton Campus in Loxton Road.

Weston College Assistant Principal (Systems and Resources) Linda Burlison said: “The extensive work completed over the summer will benefit both learners and staff, underlining the fact that as a College we are prepared to make significant investment for the future.”

The British seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare and the American gambling city of Las Vegas are to be virtually linked later this month in a unique stage show involving performing arts students.

Ground-breaking computer technology and a video link will make it appear as if the students are alongside each other when the show ‘Time Lapse’ is staged by degree students of the Wessex Academy of Performing Arts (WAPA) at Weston College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

In fact, they will be separated by more than 5,000 miles and an eight hour time difference when the performances take place on April 23rd at 4pm UK time in Weston and 8am Pacific Time in Las Vegas, and on April 24th at 8am in Weston and 12am in Nevada.

Weston College Higher Education Curriculum Co-ordinator for Performing Arts Degrees Ged Stephenson, said: “The performances will be done over video link, although the students will perform as if they’re on stage together.

“The technology that is being used to achieve this is ground-breaking and it’s believed that this performance will be a world first because there are no time delays in the visuals and only a very slight one in sound.

“The video link will be done using ultra-grids, which are really advanced computers that have been created by UNLV.”

Students from a variety of performing arts degree courses at Weston College will be performing with students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

The collaboration between the two educational establishments began about a year and a half ago, after Weston College lecturer Sylvia Lane approached UNLV while on holiday in Las Vegas to see if she could forge links there.

Last year Weston College hosted a visit from two UNLV lecturers, Michael Lugering, Professor of Acting, and Louis Kavouras, Professor of Dance. They spent two days running specialist master classes for students on Foundation Degrees in Performing Arts and Musical Theatre, run in partnership with Bath Spa University.

This provided the basis for the project to stage a unique joint performance across time zones in the play ‘Time Lapse’, which has been specially-scripted for the show.

Ged Stephenson added: “Any live performance requires a considerable amount of organisation, but this show has also required exchanges and sharing of workshops using Skype, Facetime and YouTube.”

Weston College students had a chance to meet Michael Gove, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and local MP John Penrose, last week at an event hosted by Weston-super-Mare Conservative Association.

The students, who are currently studying A Level Government and Politics at Weston College’s Sixth Form Centre, were invited to the Royal Hotel for a three course meal followed by a speech from Mr Gove, who last week was voted out of the Conservative Party leadership election.

Kori, 17, said: “I found the evening thoroughly interesting. It’s cool to see politicians in the flesh because it shows us that the things we learnt in class are more than just theory or history.

“Meeting the politicians brings the concept of politics back to reality.”

Mardi McLay, Lecturer in Government and Politics at Weston College, said: “This was a unique experience providing the students with an opportunity to see first-hand, politics in action.”

Eve Mason, Weston College’s Curriculum Lead in Humanities, Legal and Social Studies, said: “Mr Gove was an interesting and entertaining speaker, who spoke on a range of contemporary matters.

“The students gained a valuable insight into the political process, talking at length to one of Mr Gove’s advisors to find out how he got into politics and what it’s like working for an MP.”

During his speech, Mr Gove paid special tribute to the students, saying: “It’s good to see the amazing young people from Weston College here this evening.

“Everyone in the town should feel proud of the College, and it deserves congratulations for everything it has achieved.”

Mr Gove has previously commended the College for its work in the offender learning sector, where it delivers education in nine prisons across the South West of England.