City & Guilds Group recently published a report, entitled ‘People Power’, exploring how employers are, and will be, affected by the UK Skills Gap. They polled over 1000 employers and found that 89% struggled to recruit the skilled staff they need. They also felt that the UK education system was failing to create the skills required, with 38% stating this as the reason they struggle to recruit. Closing the skills gap certainly isn’t going to be an easy fix, but there are lots of ways Weston College are tackling the issue.

As a college, we pride ourselves in preparing our learners not just for exams and assessments, but for the workplace. This is reflected in our facilities, which mimic real life workplaces. Some operate as commercial businesses, for example our Hair and Beauty Centre and The Grove Restaurant. This opportunity to work with real customers develops our learners’ transferrable skills, such as teamwork and communication, as well as their sector specific skills.

We are continuing to develop this provision with our new Health and Active Living Skills Centre, which will create teaching environments for health and social care learners. According to the People Power report, care workers and nurses will grow the most as occupations over the next 6 years. Our facility will offer courses from Level 1 to degree-level, with the aim to address the current and future skills shortage within the healthcare workforce.

One of our key values as a college is to be responsive to the needs of businesses and the community, and, in reflection of this, the new centre was designed in consultation with health sector employers. Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “The development will bring together the College’s health and social care, sports therapy and active living curricula into one bespoke facility, which will benefit our students as well as the wider community.

As well as providing qualifications to people new to the healthcare sector, the Health and Active Living Skills Centre will also work with local and regional employers to upskill and retrain their existing staff.”

Weston College learners benefit not only from these facilities, but also from outstanding teaching staff who are experts in their field. Many of our staff come from industry, and are in fact still working in their trades, so are able to transfer skills to our learners required not just by the syllabus, but by employers. They work to develop a curriculum, which reflects local and national trends in terms of employment, which is particularly apparent in our apprenticeship provision.

The School of Food Apprenticeship scheme, will seek to address the recruitment gap in the local catering and hospitality industry. On this scheme, apprentices attend weekly masterclasses with professional chefs, offering them the opportunity to develop current and competitive skills.

In addition to their study programme, Weston College learners receive Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) from their in-house award winning ASPECT team. Through the employability tutorial programme, learners have the opportunity to explore their career options and improve their skills in areas such as job applications and interviews. The team also offer 1:1 appointments and a drop in service to provide tailored IAG. Members of the team are kept up to date with local and national trends in employment through CPD activities such as the Business West Next Generation Careers Review, the National Graduate Careers Conference and Inside Government’s Women in STEM event.

ASPECT’s offer is predominately aimed at 14-18 year olds, and is complemented by the College’s 19+ provision. In addition to the adult course and careers IAG delivered by our College Information Service, a National Careers Service Advisor offers appointments to support career exploration and skills development for learners aged 19+.

We also recognise that employer engagement with learners is a crucial element of IAG. A particularly successful example of this is our annual Brighter Futures Fair, which last year brought together 49 employers and universities in an event attended by over 1500 Weston College learners. They had the opportunity to meet local and national employers, and ask questions about the skills and qualifications they needed, resulting in 82% saying they felt more confident about their future options after the event. After the success of last year, we are continuing to develop this event, which will next take place on Thursday 8th November 2018.

We are not naïve about the problem the skills gap poses, particularly within more specialised and senior roles, but we recognise the difference we can make as a large educational provider. We aim to continue and to grow our initiatives to create brighter futures not just for our learners, but for businesses and our community as a whole.

Weston College has been awarded a prestigious accreditation after a comprehensive evaluation of staff satisfaction.

‘Best Companies’, who compile ‘The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For’ lists gave the College a two-star accreditation after carrying out an exhaustive survey of staff.

The survey is a set of 70 academically designed questions based on eight ‘factors of workplace engagement’. The questions are confidential, so respondents are free to be completely honest.

When the survey’s complete, organisations receive a Best Companies Index (BCI) score – which is Best Companies’ unique measure of workplace engagement.

To earn its rating, the College had to show evidence of ‘outstanding’ commitment to workplace engagement. The accreditation tells clients, partners, investors and employees that the organisation understands the importance of workplace engagement and genuinely values its people.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Weston College’s Principal and CEO, said: “Best Companies are the experts in gauging the multitude of factors that separate good employers from the rest.

“To achieve the two-star accreditation is a significant achievement and speaks volumes of what our staff think about working for the College. We are one of the top-performing colleges in the UK and my staff are key to that success.

“It’s no secret that FE providers across the country are feeling the pinch from repeated and prolonged budget cuts. But, nonetheless, we're continually investing in our staff.

"We understand the importance of remunerating staff who perform well, and making them feel valued – or you run the risk of losing them, to the detriment of your learners.”

Alongside this accolade the College has also been awarded the Investors in People (IIP) Gold Standard, which is held by less than 2% of UK businesses and demonstrates commitment to invest in staff to improve performance. The College is also an Investors in People ‘Champion’ – a prestigious award given to IIP role models.

Weston College has been named ‘Provider of the Year’ at a national awards ceremony that celebrates outstanding achievement in developing English and maths skills.

Representatives of the College received the prestigious prize at The Skills Awards at Leicester City FC’s King Power Stadium.

The Provider of the Year award recognises “pioneering innovation, excellence and effectiveness” in the College’s English and maths teaching and outcomes.

The Skills Awards are hosted by BKSB, a company that develops interactive products to improve English, maths and ICT skills.

The awards are designed to reward the quality and diversity of educational delivery and achievement in the best educational establishments. They also recognise the most dedicated members of the teaching profession and their learners.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College Group, said: “We’re delighted that our English and maths provision has been recognised on the national stage.

“English and maths skills are vital to the prospects of all individuals for their education, career prospects and day-to-day living, and are quite rightly high at the Government’s agenda.

“This award highlights the priority we place on equipping learners with those skills, and also the quality of the tutors we're fortunate to have at the College.”

Amazing make-up and incredible costumes…

The Production Arts Runway took place earlier this week and wowed an audience with a runway performance of technically stunning body art, hair and costumes. All of these were designed and put together by our second year Production Arts learners and focused around a superhero/supervillain theme, hence the title of the runway: ‘Kryptonite’. This showcase of talent formed part of the learner’s Final Major Project; supported by the Performing Arts students, in the form of as dancers and models.

From concept to creation, the Production Arts learners had been working on their final characters for 10 weeks. ‘Runway day’ began with learners starting preparation from 8am, working on their models for over 8 hours to perfect their full body artwork. The final result was a stunning, diverse display featuring amazing body painting, make-up, hair, props and incredible costumes.

Overall, the evening was a fantastic success with high praise coming from both parents and staff.

Kirsten Harrison, Lecturer in Production Arts, commented: “We are all incredibly proud of our learners. They have all worked exceptionally hard and have come a long way since starting their journey with us. They have developed into extremely strong and capable make-artists. Each one of them have a bright future in creative industry.

“All of our learners will be progressing onto university level courses or the brilliant UAL pre-degree programme. Words can hardly justify how extremely proud we are.”

The Production Arts Runway was part of SWATCH, the annual Creative Arts Summer Festival, showcasing work from students spanning over multiple weeks across various venues in Weston-super-Mare.

Click here to read more about the other upcoming events from Creative Arts Summer Festival

Well done to all those who took part and a massive thank-you to staff that co-ordinated and helped these learners reach their full potential.

Weston College is set to play a lead role in training the animal management staff of the future due to their new partnership with Puxton Park and funding from the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The College has joined forces with Puxton Park, which will enable learners to develop industry-specific skills working within the park’s extensive farmland, facilities and wide range of farm and domestic animals, which will significantly enhance the employability skills of learners.

Puxton Park is providing 2050 m² land to the College to create the new £1.4m Animal Management Education Centre. Significant financial investment has been provided by the College’s successful bid for £990,000 funding from the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) through the Local Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Combined Authority.

The new centre will utilise low carbon techniques and create an inclusive education facility for delivery of the practical elements of the animal management curriculum.

The centre will comprise of three classrooms, storage, wash-space, toilets, office and a student breakout area.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “Puxton Park is an outstanding and well-known venue, boasting a huge range of facilities, resources and animals.”

“This innovative and exciting partnership provides a wealth of opportunities for learners, to develop practical skills with species to suit everyone’s interests from reptiles to large farm animals through to birds of prey.”

“With future skills gaps identified and the excellent access of Puxton Park on the A370, this partnership will allow us to develop our animal management provision and provide learners throughout the region with the skills they need to succeed in this exciting industry.”

Chair of the West of England LEP, Prof Steve West, said: “We are really pleased to support the new Animal Management Education Centre being delivered by Weston College in partnership with Puxton Park. It offers a learning facility which will meet increased demand and provide a sustainable future for high quality education and skills programmes aimed at meeting the needs of employers in the visitor economy and land-based sectors in the West of England.”

West of England Mayor, Tim Bowles said: “The new centre at Weston College will help prepare young people, apprentices and higher education students for successful careers in this important sector for the region. The use of low carbon techniques throughout the Animal Management Education Centre supports our ambitions for clean growth, as set out in our Local Industrial Strategy.”

Alistair Mead, Managing Director of Puxton Park, said: “We are proud to be working in partnership with Weston College.”

“Puxton Park was originally built with the intention of being an educational working farm. Over the past 12 years, the park has grown in many ways; however, our roots as a place of learning and growth are deeply ingrained in everything we offer which is why we feel so passionate about supporting and working with future veterinary nurses, animal keepers, animal scientists, farmers and vets.”

The animal care sector is forecast to grow by up to 12% by 2024 and you can still join the College to start this September and be one of the first learners to benefit from this exciting opportunity. Find out more about the College’s animal management courses below:

• Courses for 16-19 year olds
• Animal Management fdsc
• Access to Higher Educations courses

Rimante joined Weston College as a 16-year-old to study a Level 3 course. Since then, she’s progressed through University College Weston, gained employment at the College and now works in the HR department. Here she talks about her journey and offers advice to potential students.

After attending a taster day, I knew the College and the Travel and Tourism BTEC Extended Diploma was for me. The course gave me an insight into the different sectors of the industry, which helped me decide what I wanted to focus in the future. The lecturers also came from different industry backgrounds and related the subject back to real experiences, which made it very interesting to study.

The residential trips were also amazing. I went to Gambia twice and got to understand how tourism works over there and what impact the big travel organisations have on the country’s economy. The trips also helped us relate our studies to ‘real life’.

We had several guest lecturers – from various backgrounds like Bristol Airport – and visited the Virgin Atlantic customer experience day where we got an insight about their branding and how they deliver customer experience.

Aside from subject-specific skills and knowledge, the course gave me skills I can apply in virtually any job role, such as researching, report and presentation writing and budgeting. Those are the skills that all employers out there are looking for and it makes you stand out from other applications.

If anyone’s thinking about studying the course, I’d say ‘go for it’, because it opens so many career paths. Even if you end up working in a different industry – like myself – the knowledge you gain is transferable and it doesn’t limit you in the future.

After this course I progressed to the foundation degree in Tourism Management at University Centre Weston. This was the logical choice as I’d enjoyed the Level 3 course so much and knew how great the facilities and lecturers at Weston College were.

The class sizes were also smaller than other places, which meant I got more support when I needed it. Plus, the course was only two days per week, so I could continue working and gaining industry experience while studying.

After the foundation degree I moved on to the Business Management with Sustainability BA (Hons) top up. It was also while I was studying my degree that I started working at the College as a part-time Trainee Clerical Assistant.

After I graduated I also had the opportunity to volunteer with Nicaraguan project workers in Quisuli Arriba in the north of the country to hold educational workshops about the importance of clean water and effective sanitation processes. Read more

I then joined the HR team at the college, whilst studying for the Human Resources Practice CIPD Certificate, this was an evening course once a week for a year. This course gave me a solid introduction into HR and helped me develop the skills that are required for a HR role.

I then went on to complete the level 5 Human Resource Management CIPD Certificate, which was also one evening a week for a year. This course helped to further developed my professional practice, looked at business issues in the context of HR, employment law, resourcing/talent planning and reward management.

If you are looking to start your HR career or wish to get the qualification to support your position/further develop your career. I would recommend these courses, they help you to link the theory with real practice and are certified by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

It’s been a really enjoyable and rewarding journey, and I can’t recommend the College highly enough.

If you’re thinking about following a similar path, I’d advise attending the open days that are held throughout the year. Here, you can speak to the many lecturers and careers advisors, and ask any questions about the potential study routes and career paths.

Join us

• Travel and Tourism BTEC Extended Diploma
• Business Management with Sustainability BA
• Human Resources Practice CIPD Certificate (level 3)
• Human Resource Management CIPD Certificate (level 5)
• Find out about our next open event

An upsurge of interest in Apprenticeships at Weston College is being celebrated to mark National Apprenticeship Week.

In recent years the number of Apprenticeships at the College has grown enormously, making Weston College one of the biggest facilitators of work-based training in the region.

More than 90 per cent of College apprentices are now retained by their employers after their training period has finished, and the College works with around 1,000 employers from across the region.

This week (March 3-7) is National Apprenticeship Week and College-related events have been going on all over the area.

A Weston College-branded stand in Weston-super-Mare’s Sovereign shopping centre attracted passers-by interested in information about Apprenticeships.

The College also visited eight schools including ones in Bridgwater, Clevedon and Nailsea. Children were given an introduction to Apprenticeships, including a talk from an employer, and employment taster sessions were on offer.

It also marked the launch of ‘100 in 100’, a College-led bid, supported by the National Apprenticeship Service and the Weston Mercury newspaper, to create 100 new Apprenticeships in 100 days. One of the key aims of the campaign is to raise awareness of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE), which is available for eligible businesses who take on a young apprentice.

One of the week’s highlights was the Skills Show, which took place at the Winter Gardens on Tuesday March 4. Around 3,000 people - including many local schoolchildren turned out for the European Social Fund and Local Enterprise Partnership-funded event, which was facilitated by Weston College.

Major local employers were on hand to give advice and offer taster sessions in catering, construction, business, hair and beauty and healthcare.

Tim Walsh, 20, a Weston College apprentice working at DoubleTree at Hilton Cadbury House Hotel in Congresbury, was mixing non-alcoholic cocktails with Max Bennett, another College apprentice at the same hotel and a WorldSkills award winner.

Tim, of Winscombe, said: “I’m loving the apprenticeship and it’s given me a great deal of confidence in connecting with customers and delivering the best I can.”

Max, 19, added: “It’s great to be at the Skills Show and we’re getting a lot of interest in what we’re doing. Hopefully this might lead on to some new employees in the future.”

James Wilmot, Weston College Apprenticeship Recruitment Coordinator, said: “The popularity of this week’s events proves how strong the interest in Apprenticeships is, which is borne out by the variety of Apprenticeships we offer.

“Increasingly, it seems, young people are seeing Apprenticeships as a way to earn while they learn and this interest is helping to generate many worthwhile placements leading to greater opportunities.”

The outstanding achievements of Weston College students, staff and business associates were honoured this week (4th November), at a glamourous ceremony held at the Winter Gardens, Weston-super-mare.

The ‘Celebration of Success’ was a chance for the hundreds of guests attending to hear remarkable personal stories from across all sectors of the College.

Parents, friends and business guests were treated to a three-course meal cooked under the direction of Andrew Walker, executive chef at Chartwells – the leading provider of catering and support services to the UK education sector.

The event was hosted by Dr Paul Phillips, Weston College’s Principal and Chief Executive, who unveiled the awards with the assistance of guest speaker Nicki Chapman – music industry insider, former judge on ITV’s ‘Pop Idol’ and now popular BBC television and radio presenter.

She said: “This is one of the most outstanding colleges in the UK. I left school at 16 and did not go to university. If I had had the opportunities that Weston College gives people today, it would have given me such a leg-up in my career.”

One of the night’s biggest success stories was Amanda Hunter, who won the Access to Higher Education Student of the Year award.

"Being at Weston College has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she said. “The staff have been brilliant and really supportive, setting me up very well for university life."

Amanda returned to education after several years away, with the aim of going to university in the hope of eventually working in a children's ward.

"I am now studying at the University of the West of England, and it's all thanks to Weston College.

"If you have always dreamed of going to university but think you have missed your chance, I would say it's never too late; Weston College has helped me do it, and can do it for you, too."

Other winners included Alex Tucker, who studied Contemporary Art and Professional Studies BA (Hons) in partnership with Bath Spa University and won a Higher Education award at the event.

“Words cannot come close to describing what Weston College has done for me,” he said. “I am so grateful.”

Alex graduated in June and has recently sold his artwork for in excess of £40,000. Owners of his art include the Stone Roses and Banksy.

“I would not like to think where I would be now if I had not come here; Weston College has saved me.”

Both GKN Aerospace and Ipeco Composites won the Business of the Year award. Paul Ashbee, Training and Development Manager at GKN, said: "The whole evening was really good! I attend awards across the UK, but I thought tonight had a real personal touch that emphasises just how much the staff and the learners really enjoy the learning process."

Martin Napper, Chief Executive of the event’s main sponsor Castletan Group, said: “It was a superb evening, and really inspiring. I was taken aback by the degree of skill and talent in Weston, and we want that talent to work with us!”

Dr Phillips said: “The awards presented tonight are testament to the success of the ethos which permeates throughout the College, of putting the student at the heart of everything we do and strive to do.

“Our students thrive in such an environment and that’s why recognising and celebrating their successes gives me such a strong sense of satisfaction and pride.”

For more photos of the event visit the College’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/westoncollege.

A Weston College student has been selected for Wessex Water’s Young People’s panel, an enterprise which gives 16-18 year olds the opportunity to experience running a business.

Chris Hutchings, 17, who studies A Level Business Studies, Photography and English at Weston College’s Sixth Form Centre, has been attending meetings at Wessex Water as part of an initiative which enables young people to have a say in how the company is run.

Chris said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to benefit from hands on work which will supplement the theory I’ve learnt in class.

“So far it has been an excellent insight into businesses’ decision making processes, and will be good experience when I apply to university.”

At their first meeting last month, the panel met managers at the company and were taken on a tour of the company’s headquarters in Bath.

At the end of the day, the panel was set the task of creating a presentation about ideas to promote the company’s installation of water metres and improve its customer services.

Chris said: “My presentation will be about the creation of a mobile app that would allow people to monitor their water metre readings and automatically budget their water usage for them, to make sure they are saving money and aren’t wasting water.”

Claire Timmins, Business Studies Tutor at the College, said: “Weston College is all about providing students with the skills and experience they need to progress to work or university.

“This opportunity at Wessex Water is another example of or students benefitting from our strong links with employers across the South West.

“I am confident Chris will prove a credit to himself and the College during this placement.”