Art and Design courses are exciting opportunities to let your creativity flow. If you’re undecided on whether or not to study an art course, here are our top 4 reasons as to why you should.

Learn a range of techniques

Our courses cover a wide selection of skills, such as painting, drawing, ceramics and photography. We will teach you new techniques, and develop your existing skills.

College facilities

Weston College has excellent facilities, we are always looking to improve the learner environment to ensure you are supported throughout your learning. We have purpose built art studios based at our Loxton Campus which will provide you with all the resources needed to develop.

Top class lecturers

Our lecturers have industry experience, and they will teach you the relevant skills needed for when you complete the course. It’s not just us that think our lecturers are great, they were also rated as outstanding by Ofsted.

Future opportunities

The industry is expected to grow 5.3% in the build up to 2024, which will provide you with more job opportunities. Art and Design covers an array of exciting occupations, from illustration to teaching, there are lots of opportunities for you. There is also the potential to earn huge sums of money, whilst working in a job you love.

If you would like more information on our Art and Design courses click here.

Construction is a vital contributor to the regional economy.

And it’s set to increase in importance with a number of projects either in development or planned.

The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset is the largest construction project in Europe. Four thousand businesses in the south west are registered to work on the project and, by 2020, there will be £200m of spending each year in the local economy.

Public housing is another key area of regional growth, with the south west set to buck the UK trend and grow at 3.7% to 2021. Plus, the government’s pledge to build 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s, will also impact the region.

However, these developments – and issues such as Brexit – have highlighted a significant problem: demand is outstripping supply of skilled workers. In fact, a shortage of construction workers faced by small and medium-sized businesses has hit its worst level on record.

With over 20,000 new jobs being created in the region up to 2021, action is needed.

At Weston College, we’re taking the bull by the horns by developing a purpose-built Construction Training Centre This £3.8m project, which adds to our already comprehensive range of construction training courses, is based just off Junction 21 of the M5, and is due to open in spring 2019.

It addresses the shortage of infrastructure construction skills, and targets three areas where the shortage is at its most acute – plant operations, scaffolding, and groundworks.

But what makes this centre unique is that it’s geared towards fulfilling genuine commercial need and to providing training on demand.

Over the last decade, we’ve built strong relationships with employers to develop our apprenticeship provision. And it’s become increasingly apparent that commercial organisations want training at the point of need – not just for school leavers during the academic year.

Once the new centre is up and running, 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. We’ll also provide apprenticeships in these new areas when they’re required.

School leavers are able to take advantage of the available training at Weston College at our existing centre at South West Skills Campus on Locking Road. The new Construction Training Centre will also allow us to provide bespoke training at short notice, and react to the realities of the commercial world.

What’s more, construction employers, trade organisations and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), who match-funded the project with some £3.3m through the Local Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Combined Authority, have all been fully engaged in informing the building design and offer.

But, as with any project of this nature, much of its success relies on the strategic partnerships it involves and we’re extremely fortunate to be working with highly professional, market-leading organisations.

We have a long-running relationship with Midas Construction, who are commissioned to build the centre. They understand the College, our priorities and how to provide the learning environment that students need. Midas are also a key member of the employers’ forum that drives the content of the new centre’s curriculum.

We’re also working closely with Simian Risk to deliver scaffolding training. We worked hard to identify a strategic partner for the centre and are delighted to be working with Simian, who are national leaders in the field of scaffolding safety, training and assessment.

For more information on the Construction Training Centre, please click here. 

Students and staff at Weston College have been busy raising money for chosen charities as part of their annual Raising and Giving (RAG) week.

Compared to 2018’s total of £3,600, the combined effort managed to raise an incredible £5,900 for mental health charity Young Minds and local organisation Weston Hospicecare.

Across the week, money was raised through a number of different ways including talent shows, cake sales and an entire day of fancy dress. From sponsored silences to Gecko inspired haircuts, each department also arranged a fundraising event for students and staff to get involved with.

Uniformed Public Services students rowed the equivalent distance of the 24 highest mountains in the world and Inclusive practice students managed to travel 475km (the distance from London to Paris) by walking, running and rowing throughout the week. The Computing department managed exciting events such as Beat Sabre on the VR, a Golf chip challenge and a Nerf gun firing range, raising a total of £1,400 as a department.

Weston College Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Paul Phillips CBE commented: “The atmosphere across campus is always vibrant and full of positivity during RAG Week. This annual fundraising event is a fantastic opportunity for our learners to contribute to our community and raise aspirations by helping others. Yet again our staff and learners went above and beyond and, as ever, bucked the trend.”

After receiving a cheque from Dr Paul, Simon Angear from Weston Hospicecare added:

“Weston Hospicecare is once again enormously grateful to all staff and students at Weston College for their fabulous efforts on our behalf during RAG Week.

“We love hearing about all the different activities held to raise money, and were bowled over by some of the creativity displayed in some of this year’s events.

“Community support is vital to the hospice, and this wonderful donation from Weston College will play a big part in helping us continue to care for our patients across Weston-super-Mare and beyond.”

A massive thank-you goes to all of the staff and students for their generosity and dedication to raise such an amazing amount for some brilliant causes.

Please see below the list of winners for the RAG week awards 2019.

Most Innovative Fundraising Idea

Dungeon and Dragons Escape Room Challenge - Will Price and Jon Barnett (Engineering and Computing)

Best Use of Digital

Sponsored Silence Communication Through Assistive Technology – Zoe Benton, Paul Kelly, Lorna Whitford (Extension Studies)

Most Money Raised by a Staff Member

'£891.16 - Cameron Lyes (Engineering and Computing)

Most Money Raised by a Student

Super Smash Bros Tournament £126 – Tom Jory (AEC Faculty)

Most Money Raised by a Faculty

£1,400 - Faculty of Engineering and Computing

Outstanding Commitment to RAG

Gecko Inspired hair cut - Rob Heaton (Sixth Form)

Best Dressed Faculty

101 Dalmatians – Management Information Systems

Best Challenge

Mountain Rowing Challenge - Uniformed Public Services

Best Event

Extension Studies Talent Show – Faculty of Inclusive Practice