What is anxiety? It's a word so commonly used within the student population and yet most people can't pinpoint exactly what anxiety is.

We all feel anxious from time to time and, surprisingly, this can actually be a good thing, depending on how you respond to it. Anxiety is the mind's way of telling us the stuff that we aren't aware of knowing - your gut instinct if you like. It's the message that tells you not to laugh in a situation where it wouldn't be appropriate. The voice that says "Change that and do this instead!"

Anxiety can also heighten our focus, more than ever throughout exam season; it's your body's way of raising your arousal, by means of adrenaline, thus sending all of your fighting power to attaining your goals and focusing your sights on success.

Did you know that the physiological and biochemical responses to an event that is incredibly scary are the exact same responses to those you feel when you are loved up and happy? So, the next time you feel anxious about an exam, or a social situation, focus on the way you are responding to the anxiety. Try to use it to your advantage and tell yourself that it is only your body behaving in the right way because you are excited, or you want to achieve your very best in the upcoming test. Turn it on it's head and find the ways that anxiety could benefit you!

Try going for a short run or doing some exercise - you'll be surprised at the positive benefits it can provide.

We are going to spend the next few weeks focusing on Anxiety and the "Mind Matters" sessions that take place every Monday in the LibraryPlus and Bistro at Knightstone and Loxton Campus will be tailored specifically towards anxiety - come along and find out more.

Our Welfare Team is at each campus and can offer confidential and unjudgemental advice, support and guidance, or if you want to talk to someone outside of term time, you can visit www.bigwhitewall.com. The service is free to all students at the College using your @weston.ac.uk email address. Here you can explore a whole toolbox of ways to deal with anxiety and many other issues.

Eight new apprentices have started Passenger Carrying Vehicle (PCV) apprenticeships through Somax at Weston College with a company in Swindon.

Barnes Coaches have taken on eight new apprentices, who will learn how to drive buses and coaches and gain their licences, along with valuable experience in the industry thanks to Somax’s driver training apprenticeships. 

The company, which is the largest and most modern operator in the area, currently have 40 vehicles and specialise in coach hire, holidays and day trips. They have previously employed apprentices in other areas of the business, but these will be their first driver apprentices and they are keen to continue employing drivers through apprenticeships in the future.

Matt Barnes, Managing Director of Barnes Coaches, said: “I have been looking for ages for apprenticeships for drivers. When I found Somax at Weston offering PCV apprenticeships I organised a meeting. As soon as I met up with Simon [Werkshagen, Somax at Weston], I knew it was the right way forward for us!

“All our new apprentices are really keen to get started, and hopefully they’ll really hit the ground running when they pass their tests.”

Simon Werkshagen, Head of Operations and Business Development at Somax, said: “We’re thrilled to have built a new partnership with Barnes Coaches, and for our first PCV apprentices to have officially started.

“Apprenticeships can offer a lot for businesses who don’t want to go down the traditional driver training route and are a great way for employees to gain new qualifications and skills while getting valuable experience with a business.”
 

Creative Arts students from Weston College had the exciting opportunity to visit Bristol’s Marble Factory to watch the ‘Art Battle’ live painting competition.

The ‘Art Battle’ featured 12 artists, who had 20 minutes to create art on a blank canvas. The competition challenged the artists’ ability to work quickly and showcased their creative talent in front of an eager audience of art fans.

The winner is decided by an audience vote. All of the artwork produced on the night goes to a silent auction to support the artists involved.

Nicola Stent, Creative Arts lecturer at Weston College, who accompanied the learners, said: “This was a great opportunity for our learners. The group were engaged throughout the evening and they got involved with voting and purchasing artwork from the event.”

Weston College Art and Design students Cam Gelder and Heidi Lear will be taking part in the next ‘Art Battle’ in Bristol in November.

Nicola added: “We’re very excited to accompany Heidi and Cam and we wish them the best of luck!”

The event is taking place on Tuesday 13th November at the Marble Factory from 7pm. Spectator tickets are still available and can be purchased here.

A film celebrating Weston-super-Mare’s entrepreneurial women was screened at Weston College’s Conference Centre today (April 25).

The project, sponsored by the College, is the brainchild of producer and interviewer Becky Walsh, a former Weston College student, and Justyna Steinkeller, an associate producer and graphic designer.

Becky studied a BTEC in Performing Arts at Weston College and progressed to The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama for her stage management training. She then spent 15 years in the West End working as a stage manager on shows such as West Side Story and Blood Brothers. She was also part of the lighting team for UK’s ‘Handover of Hong Kong’ to China in 1997.

She then spent time living across the globe, having gained a reputation both in the personal development field as a self-help author and as a TV and radio presenter, before returning to Weston to bring her knowledge back into the town.

Becky said: “The women interviewed for these documentaries come from various backgrounds but have one thing in common – they have brought inspiration and entrepreneurship to Weston in terms of creativity and care.

“Their stories are heart-warming and inspiring, and create a new chapter in Weston’s history.”

The film tells the stories of:

• Gill Bute, who fought off gangsters to build a company
• Amelia Eikli, who turned her life around after just one year living in the town
• Valerie Donegan, who has spent her life helping the people who have made the streets their home
• Sara Pacey, who organises entertainment events across the area
• Linda Chan, who was a high flyer in the corporate world until she started to lose her sight.

Linda’s luck changed after moving to Weston, when she joined an adult part-time art course at Weston College. She then progressed onto a Level 2 Art and Design Diploma at Weston College and, last year, graduated from UCW with a Contemporary Art and Professional Studies, FdA.

Linda is now an exhibiting artist and her life has been transformed.

Linda said: “I was overwhelmed by how inspirational the first class was and I have never looked back.”

Dr Paul Phillips, CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this event. Weston College is passionate about supporting the people of Weston and helping our community to grow.”

If you would like to join a full-time course, like Becky, visit our website.

If you are interested in a part-time adult course, like Linda, visit us at the Festival of Learning on Saturday 15th June 11am-3pm at the Winter Gardens and Italian Gardens.

There will be a live Q&A with the team at https://youtu.be/ZOX1CZi41zI 

The treatment of further education (FE) is nothing short of shocking and the recent Augar report is a condemnation of what has happened to the ‘poor relation’ in the educational sector.

As a practitioner who has had the opportunity to work in the school/academy, FE and HE sectors, I am amazed at the lack of investment by Government for what I passionately regard as the key driver of skills and aspirations for our economy. The question now is whether this is the light at the end of the tunnel, or if the glimmer is about to be extinguished as a result of the political malaise our country now finds itself in.

As I write this article, I have literally hundreds of learners taking GCSEs or Functional Skills examinations in mathematics and English. An inordinate number of dedicated staff have coached and developed these 17-year-olds to give them the best possible chance of success, while the level of pastoral support that has gone into supporting learners has been extensive. Our College cannot afford to produce this level of support, but we do because these young people need these skills to progress. And our finances are pushed to the wire as a result.

Of course, there is another issue here. Why are so many learners arriving at the College with such poor achievement in these core subjects? The answer is clear – they have not had the necessary teaching at their previous schools and academies. A specialist in lean management principles would have a field day here, but the problem is tackled too late. The Government must target this robustly. After all, how can a school or academy that cannot get the majority of their learners through such exams be deemed ‘outstanding’? Words fail me.

So, is the Augar report correct? Does it go far enough and can it change our sector? The first issue for me is the sheer breadth of the report which, whilst highly critical of the lack of funding for FE, is contained within a detailed evaluation of all post-18 delivery. The messages within it, however, are very clear and, although most of the observations are common sense to the FE practitioner, I wonder how well they will be both received and understood. Only this week, one MP commented that they had already resolved the issues in FE. Deluded? Most definitely. Ready for change? Not on the basis of that comment! Yet, colleges continue to suffer and one has to wonder what it will take to galvanise action.

The recommendations within the report are, as I’ve said previously, not new to those of us in the sector. They include reducing the inflexible and costly rules to allow for strategic focus and planning; the rationalisation of colleges, where necessary; reversing reductions in core funding; introducing an appropriate adult budget; investing in workforce so there is comparability of salaries with schools, academies and HEIs; and proper recognition for college identity. This would provide a major start to correcting years of starvation of resources, including capital investment.

The next stage? Watch, wait and maintain impetus I guess. We are in a time of change and influence, but imagine if the findings of Augar were even more concise and stated that Government had in effect:

• Failed to strategically plan
• Allowed a growing deficit to spiral out of control
• Complicated processes and done little to enable progression
• Ensured an inequality in pay and working conditions
• Failed to invest appropriately.

Do you not think this is starting to look like a report from the FE Commissioner? It’s time for intervention I think. Will it happen? Who knows? The danger that if it doesn’t happen the reality is now actually even more dangerous for skills in general than our sector!

Dr Paul Phillips, CBE

Principal and Chief Executive

T Levels are a brand new, 2 year qualification which is being launched in September 2020 and at Weston College we are offering the Digital T Level.

So if you’re leaving school in May, here are 4 reasons why we think you should consider a T Level:

Get a head start on your career

T Levels give you the opportunity to gain work experience (a minimum of 45 days) with a local employer, so you can work on real life projects and gain new skills. When you’ve completed your studies, you will stand out from the crowd having industry experience.

Gain a recognised qualification

Just like A Levels and apprenticeships, T Levels will give you the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised qualification.

Once you have completed your qualification you can then choose to study further at university, with a higher level apprenticeship or go straight into employment.

Gain a qualification created with employers

Unlike the traditional A Level route, T Levels have been designed with businesses across industries, to prepare you for working life.

Some of the businesses that have worked on T Levels include Fujitsu, Bank of England and the British Army.

Learn your way

T Levels will take place in the workplace and classroom, which will allow you to learn your way.

You can find out more about our T Level offering by clicking here.

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.”

Students from Weston College's Sport and Public Services Department visited Weston Town Hall last week to discuss the changes to Weston-super-Mare's town centre with Cllr John Crockford-Hawley, Chairman of North Somerset Council.

The students discussed projects such as the Tropicana, Backwell leisure facilities, the town square/Italian Gardens development and using sport as a rehabilitation tool.

Cllr John Crockford-Hawley said: "The students showed their excellent debating skills and their ability to present new ideas. They were very passionate about using sport to help people struggling with addiction.

"I wish all debates that I chair could be of this quality!"