New generations of students are set to benefit from the opening of a flagship facility at Weston College. The £13 million Health and Active Living Skills Centre, completed by Midas Construction is based at the college’s Loxton Campus and will welcome its first students this September.

The aim of the bespoke facility is to provide learners with knowledge of the healthcare and sport sectors as well as vital industry skills. The centre will bring together the College’s health and social care, sports therapy and active living courses into one facility, which will benefit students, businesses and the wider community.

It features a state-of-the-art training hospital ward, one full size 3G pitch, one full size rugby pitch, a multi-gym and a sports hall. Dr Paul Phillips, CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “This outstanding new training centre is the latest step in our drive to provide students with the very best learning facilities and resources.

“We have worked with key business partners to ensure that the Health and Active Living Centre will tackle the current skills shortage in the sector and address the longer-term issues that affect our health service and the health of the local population.” The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership through the Local Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Combined Authority contributed £5.4 million towards the project, match funded by the college.

Chair of the West of England LEP, Prof Steve West, said: “We’re pleased to support the new Health and Active Living Skills Centre to deliver important investment in skills for health and social care professionals working in our region. It will also give young people the skills they need to progress further in their education and secure better career prospects right here in the West of England.

“We need to train more people for future careers in our hospitals and community services - this will improve the quality of care and improve people’s lives. With more highly qualified professionals, and with people trained in a wider range of disciplines, people will be better cared for.” James Rimmer, Chief Executive of Weston Area Health Trust, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for partnership working between Weston College and Weston General Hospital.

“This demonstrates the investment we are both making to support the learning and development of students. We hope it will also help the recruitment and retention of staff as well as supporting the increased demand on healthcare locally”.

The development also continues a strong framework partnership between Weston College and Midas, who have worked closely together on a number of recent projects including the newly built Construction Training Centre.

Derek Quinn, Executive Director for Midas Construction, said: “This fantastic new development will have a significant long term impact on staff, students and the local community and we are pleased to have been able to complete the project on time for Weston College.

Weston College has been awarded funds to train five industry professionals to work as post-16 teachers.

It is one of 45 further education (FE) providers selected by the government to receive funding as part of the Taking Teaching Further (TTF) programme. The initiative was unveiled last year to recruit and retrain industry specialists to work in the FE workforce.

The College will use the funding to recruit specialists from the engineering and digital industries.

Successful candidates, who must have at least three years’ experience in either the engineering or digital sector, will benefit from a specialised teacher training programme over the first two years of employment.

This includes:

• A fully recognised teacher training qualification

• An eight-week induction programme

• A reduced teaching timetable to provide more opportunities for professional development, planning and reflection.

If you’re interested in applying, or would like more information, contact Edd Brown on 01934 411693 or email your CV to Edward.brown@weston.ac.uk or attend our Engineering to education event on the 25th July. 16:00 - 18:30 at our South West Skills Campus. 

TTF is part of a wider drive to prepare for the introduction of T Levels from 2020. T Levels, which will be available at Weston College, are vocational equivalents to A Levels and will cover 15 industry-related subjects. They have been introduced to help produce skilled workers for sectors that have found it difficult to recruit in recent years.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “This is a unique opportunity for engineering or digital specialists to embark on a rewarding career in further education.

“It not only gives them a head-start in the industry, but enables them to work at one of the country’s top Colleges and benefit from all the support, resources and progression opportunities they’ll need to achieve success.”

In announcing the winning TTF bids, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Anne Milton said: “Teaching in further education is an incredibly rewarding career. We are reforming technical education in this country with the introduction of new T Levels and we want more staff with industry skills to pass on their expertise and inspire the next generation.

“I’m thrilled to announce the second round of providers who will be offered funding to help over 160 industry professionals to become FE teachers.

“We’ve already seen fantastic stories of success. The fund has supported 47 new teachers to date, and I am looking forward to more teachers joining the profession to inspire, energise and bring on the next generation of highly-skilled young people.”

TTF was designed in partnership with the Association of Colleges and the Education and Training Foundation.

The foundation’s chief executive David Russell said there was a “vital need” to bring industry talent into the sector to pass expertise and experience on to learners, teachers and trainers.

12 unemployed learners were given the opportunity to study a bespoke Marco Pierre White customer service course, at DoubleTree Hilton Cadbury House.

The Weston College course was devised in partnership with DoubleTree Hilton Cadbury House, who were looking to recruit, and train new team members.

The course was aimed at people who were currently unemployed and it proved popular, with 22 applications, for the 12 spaces on the course. Applicants came from community projects that help unemployed and economically inactive people in the West of England find employment including West of England Works, Releasing New Potential and Skills Support for the Unemployed.

Throughout the course learners spent time developing their customer service skills, as well as learning about what is required to work in the hospitality industry.

At the end of the week, all 12 learners were offered a job interview, and six were offered work trials.

Brian Howe, Training and Development Manager at Weston College, said: “This course was really effective in developing learners skills, to ensure they were ready for working in the hospitality industry. The learners did a superb job, and this is reflected in 50% of them gaining a work trial.”

Joyce Millard, Human Resources Manager at Doubletree by Hilton Cadbury House, said: “The learners were amazing, and made the whole recruitment process very easy. Following the success of this course, we will definitely be repeating it on a regular basis across our venues.”

This course is being repeated at the Abbey Hotel in Bath, later this month (November). To register your interest, please email backtowork@weston.ac.uk or ring 01934 411 147.

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