Students from Weston College’s hospitality and catering department have attended their first industry event, preparing food and serving front of house at Thornbury Castle.

Level 1 and 2 hospitality and catering students were invited to a Chef’s Forum event at the hotel, where they made canapés with Head Chef Andy Chan at a sparkling wine reception.

Andy said: “The learners were a credit to the industry. They were so keen to learn, and it’s wonderful to get people like them in the kitchen and see the future of catering. They have all been really great!”

The event saw a huge range of chefs and suppliers from across the Bristol area attend, giving the students a chance to network while getting first-hand event experience.

They also got the chance to watch a number of demonstrations, including butchery, herbs and spices, and demos from the Thornbury Castle chefs themselves.

Sandra Bull, Area Manager of Hair, Beauty, Hospitality and Catering, said: “It was the first event experience for many of our Level 1 students, and they were thrilled to get the opportunity and experience a real working environment. It really helped them to get a feel for the industry and learn about potential future career paths.

“We’re so proud of all of our students for their efforts, and extremely grateful to everyone in the industry who continue to coach and inspire the next generation!”

The Weston College Staff Mentoring Programme is a new initiative that aims to help new staff settle into their job roles. Recently, 31 members of staff representing faculties and departments across the College completed the course and are now ready to mentor new curriculum, assessing and business support staff alike.

The new academic year will welcome a wide array of new lecturers and support staff, many of whom were recruited via our Industry into Education initiative, where the College recognised the need for industry experienced candidates within the education sector.

Andrea Greer, Vice Principal for Human Resources, Offender Learning & College Reputation, said: “This is a brand new internal CPD course for the College and it was a natural progression from this year’s “Industry into Education” theme, which has seen unprecedented levels of College growth and numbers of new staff from industry joining us.

We knew that there were already many natural mentors within the organisation, and we wanted to capitalise on this and create a more structured approach to mentoring that would provide an ongoing framework of support for new employees from the start of the next academic year.

Most importantly, this course is focused on further developing our staff and ensuring that in the end, everything we do is to ultimately benefit our learners”.

Two-thirds of business leaders in Britain don’t believe they will be able to find enough skilled people to fill job vacancies in the coming years.

This startling figure – from a recent CBI survey – highlights the scale of the challenge to address skills shortages in numerous sectors. To fill these skills gaps, it’s essential that education providers work closely with employers to understand their needs and create a workforce that will enable them to compete in the years ahead.

Weston College’s Principal and Chief Executive Dr Paul Phillips CBE, commented: “Providing work-focussed education is one of our top priorities, which is why we’re due to open two new state-of-the-art training centres in spring 2019.

“The multi-million Health and Active Living Skills Centre, based at our Loxton Campus, is the result of our work with the NHS and other healthcare employers, which has identified increasing skills shortages that could lead to a recruitment crisis.

“It will enable young people and adults to gain the skills they need to enter healthcare professions, as well as allowing local and regional employers to develop the skills of existing staff.

“Also, the £3.8 million Construction Training Centre – based just off Junction 21 of the M5 – is designed to tackle the regional skills shortage head on.”

The College has devised this innovative centre to offer training in three key construction areas – scaffolding, plant operations and groundworks – training has been selected and designed with employers’ needs in mind and in response to the growing demand for a trained and skilled construction workforce in the region.

Dr Phillips commented: “What makes this project unique is that it’ll provide training at the point of need for whoever needs it – rather than fitting it into the academic year for school leavers. This means employers can come to us at any time for short courses, top-up courses and to up-skill staff who are taking on new roles.”

The above investments has been made possible by the College match-funding a successful bid for funding of £5.4m from the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) through the Local Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Combined Authority.

Professor Steve West, Chair of the West of England LEP, says: “We’re very pleased to support these ambitious projects that will deliver important investment in the skills that businesses in the West of England need.

“As a region we need to work together to improve the quality and relevance of work-focussed education, and provide clearer routes into sustainable and rewarding careers for our residents. As well as giving people the skills they need to progress further in their education and training to secure better career prospects, this will also help lead to improved employment opportunities for our region’s businesses in the future.”

Preparing learners for the workplace has been a focus of Weston College for many years, with existing facilities aiming to mimic real-life workplaces.

Some operate as commercial businesses – such as the Hair and Beauty Centre and The Grove Restaurant – which have both been recently refurbished to provide the very latest resources learning environment. The College strongly believes that working with ‘real’ customers provides an invaluable way for its learners to develop vital transferrable skills, like teamwork and communication, as well as their sector specific skills.

Dr Phillips said: “Our learners also benefit teaching staff who are experts in their field and, in many cases, are still working in their trades. They work with employers to develop a curriculum, which reflects local and national trends in terms of employment, which is particularly apparent in our apprenticeship provision.”

A prime example of this approach is the ‘‘The School of Food Apprenticeship programme delivered by Weston College.

The School of Food is a unique training course, run by chefs for chefs and designed to tackle the local skills shortage.