News and events

Engineering Degree Apprentice, Jack Kitsell, named as runner up in the Apprentice of the Year category, at the national Association of Colleges’ (AoC), Student of the Year Awards.

Each year, the AoC Student of the Year awards celebrate truly unique students from colleges across England who deserve recognition and will go on to inspire others.

These awards are an opportunity to highlight outstanding and exceptional individuals and showcase their achievements, talents and successes. These students have gone above and beyond to give back and positively impact their college and community.

Sir Paul Phillips, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “I am so proud of Jack, who has gone above and beyond in his studies and also his apprenticeship role. He produced consistently fantastic results and been very supportive to the apprentices in his cohort – well done Jack!”

Corrienne Peasgood, AoC President, added: “Each year the level of applications is extremely high, and it goes to show the fantastic work that students are doing in colleges as well as the lengths colleges go to support their students. Well done Jack on being running up should be extremely proud.”

Weston College Law learners celebrated their achievements at the Bristol Law Society Awards, which took place at the Bristol Marriott City Centre Hotel on the 3rd November.

The awards were a huge success, with over 200 attendees from across the legal sector in attendance.

From a Weston College point of view, several of our CILEx learners made the final shortlist, which was a fantastic achievement in such a competitive award show.

We also celebrated the amazing achievement of Charlotte, who recently completed her Level 6 Diploma in Law and Practice, and won Support Team Member of the Year.

Charlotte, said: "It’s great to have so many alternative routes into law nowadays - the profession is accessible to such a wide demographic of people. CILEx helps diversify the fabric of our law system and I’m proud to say that I’ve qualified through this route."

Dean of Faculty for Professional Studies, Access to HE and Animal Science, Helen George, said: “We are so proud of our Law students, and it was brilliant to see so many people who trained at Weston College, at the Bristol Law Society Awards.

“We were particularly proud of two learners: Gemma who was a finalist for the Law Student of the Year, and Charlotte, who won Support Team Member of the Year. They have both shown a determination to succeed and have blown us away with their attitude to learning. Well done to them both.”

You can find out more about our Law offer, by clicking here.

The Education Department in HMP Eastwood Park have been nominated and awarded the Governor’s 'Value Champion' Award for teamwork. The team deliver and support education for 360 women from Entry Level 1 up to full degrees.

The internal award is part of the prison’s core values – Compassion, Respect, Ambition, Fairness and Teamwork. The new Governor has been recognising individuals and teams that embody each of these values. September 2022 was the ‘Teamwork Value’ month, and the Education Department were nominated by their prison colleagues.

The Education Department at HMP Eastwood Park won the award for working extremely hard throughout periods of uncertainty and difficulty, such as COVID restrictions, and have achieved fantastic results for their learners. Furthermore, they work closely with their prison colleagues to ensure even the most challenging women get the opportunity to achieve.

The Education Department have delivered some outstanding results especially in the Functional Skills department. In 2021 - 2022 they achieved the highest Functional Skills results in the female estate, and they were 5th out of all the prisons in the country. Furthermore, the Education Department has an excellent relationship with their wider colleagues and work in partnership with lots of other departments.

Victoria Jenkins, the Assistant Curriculum Manager of the Education Department, said: “We couldn’t have won the award without the whole team. Every member is so crucial. We are an integral part of the prison not just for the prisoners but for the staff as well, and we are a successful department because of our strong relationship with our colleagues and strong management from our Curriculum Manager, Darren Lewis.”

Find out more about Prison Education, here!