News and events

This year we’re recognising Mental Health Awareness Week, a week-long celebration from May 13th to May 19th, dedicated to acknowledging and enhancing mental health for all students and lecturers. Each year, we address aspects of mental well-being, and this year's theme, "Moving More," shows the connection between physical activity and mental health.

Movement stems from the link between physical activity and mental wellness. Regular exercise is found to have a positive impact on mental health, enhancing quality of life and overall well-being.

Exercise has been scientifically proven to release endorphins, often referred to as "feel-good" hormones, which reduce stress and promotes contentment. Despite these well-documented benefits, many people struggle to incorporate sufficient movement into their daily lives. Mental Health Awareness Week serves as an opportunity to address these challenges and inspire individuals to prioritise movement for their mental well-being.

It is crucial to acknowledge that messages promoting movement may be triggering for individuals with a history of eating disorders or exercise addiction. For those who may be concerned about excessive exercise or harmful behaviours, please don’t hesitate to contact our welfare team, located at each campus or visit our welfare page here. 

You can always find further resources and support via the Welfare SharePoint. 

Resources you can access:

•  24/7 support via our Student Assistance Programme SAP

   

• Let’s Chat: a hub of resources to help with resilience, esteem, relaxation, moving, eating, anxiety, uncertainty, stress, social media and much more.

   

• Kooth – your online mental wellbeing community. Free, safe and anonymous support.

   

• Samaritans – call 116 123. Whatever you’re going through, a Samaritan will face it with you 24/7.

If you are passionate about education and are looking for an opportunity to join the staff team at a leading college, then look at the latest job vacancies available at Weston College here. You can find all the latest job opportunities that Weston College has to offer, with a commitment to providing quality education for learners and a focus on continuous professional development for staff, Weston College is an excellent place to work and grow in your career.

Last week we hosted a successful Fast Track Engineering Interview Event at our South West Skills Campus. The event provided an excellent platform for students to directly engage with leading employers in the engineering industry actively seeking new talent. 

From Level 2 to degree apprenticeships, the event offered a variety of opportunities, providing students a gateway to prestigious positions within the region's most impressive companies. Learners were given exclusive access to renowned employers, without the need for a formal CV, only required to have a passion for engineering. 

The event offered face-to-face interactions between students and key decision-makers, creating meaningful connections and opening doors to promising career paths within the engineering sector. Notable participating employers included Bristol Airport, Rotamec, Bristol Port Company, among others, highlighting the number of opportunities available to attendees. 

If you missed out on this fantastic event, you can still browse our Apprenticeships page here to find your dream career.

If you are passionate about education and are looking for an opportunity to join the staff team at a leading college, then look at the latest job vacancies available at Weston College here. You can find all the latest job opportunities that Weston College has to offer, with a commitment to providing quality education for learners and a focus on continuous professional development for staff, Weston College is an excellent place to work and grow in your career. 

A key challenge for many businesses continues to be attracting people with the skills they need. Tackling ‘skills gaps’ with employers is a daily conversation in my role at Weston College. It’s a challenge and has driven the increase in employers engaging with our Future Talent Business Partner scheme, which connects students with employers through our faculty Careers Excellence Hubs.

If you’re reading this blog and planning to recruit new staff, it’s likely that although 80% of the talent you need is probably already in work (your recruitment strategy for skilled people), and perhaps the other 20% are probably in education and yet to join the workforce.

As someone leading business engagement activity at Weston College, I’m often hearing the employer perspective on working with those in education. However, it’s important that we understand what our young people want. We're understanding our audience through our marketing and communication strategies to attract customers, so why shouldn’t we deploy the same approach to find talent to grow our businesses? 

What does the future workforce, as in our young people in education, want from their future career or employer? Here's what I discovered from a few recent conversations here at Weston College:

1. Values are important. Young people want to work for employers that have clear values that align with their values. Many want more than just a job, and feel that through their job at work, they can positively contribute to the external environment around them.
2. Work life balance. The pandemic changed the way we work, and work life balance is key for young people too. Some have seen their parents now hybrid working, but to young people work life balance doesn't just mean working from home. Many students place greater importance on their outputs (what they achieve) rather than being measured on their inputs (working hours). They feel what they produce should be valued more than say how much or what time it’s taken to produce their work, which raises questions regarding their attitude to fixed working hours and a desire for flexible working patterns.
3. Pay fairness, workplace equality and inclusion. Young people want financial stability and fair pay, but they also want to know the vision of their employer and how they’re part of that. Equity is important and they want to see how a business takes equality, diversity, and inclusion seriously. Employer’s approach to EDI (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) is important and how employers communicate this to the future workforce is key.
4. Social responsibility and sustainability. Many care about climate change as they’ll be here to see further impact of climate change. They do their research and want to know a business cares about the community and external environment around them, and that businesses have taken action to reduce their environmental impact to play their part to mitigate climate change.
5. Knowing self-worth. Many young people are more self-assured and happier to fight for what they believe in. Remember that those currently in education have little awareness of a deep recession (despite turbulence during the pandemic) and have grown up in a candidate-driven employment market. This also links back to young people placing significant importance on their values.

Important to say that my reflections above is based on conversations with staff and students at Weston College only, and of course not representative of all young people. However, I recently read a survey by the Open University (2024) that said 72% of employers have seen a shift in young people’s values and priorities in the workplace in the past three years.

So, what’s the solution to harnessing and recruiting the workforce of tomorrow? Engagement, having conversations and creating partnerships.

That’s where we can help at Weston College. We connect employers with our students, both in the classroom through talks and projects, through workplace experience through our student industry placement programme and beyond college through apprenticeships.

So, let’s create those conversations. Contact us at employers@weston.ac.uk to engage with the future workforce and grow your business.

David Crew – Head of Employer Partnerships at Weston College