COURSES FOR SCHOOL LEAVERS
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QUALIFICATIONS EXPLAINED
A Levels develop the knowledge, skills and study habits to excel at university, as well as the attributes recognised by employers.
Your academic studies will be complemented with enrichment opportunities such as trips, mentoring and work experience, providing the perfect springboard for your future career.
A Levels are assessed through exams at the end of two years of study. Most learners study three subjects - some choose four.
With an apprenticeship you’ll go straight into the workplace and be shown clear routes to progress straight into employment within a specific occupation. You can achieve nationally recognised qualifications, earn a wage, and gain skills that will see you get ahead. On average you will spend 20% of your learning time in the college and 80% within the workplace
Professional and technical qualifications are designed to provide you with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to gain employment within specific industries or occupations. They provide a balance between theory and practical skills development. They are suited to those who want to get hands-on experience within a particular vocational area. These programmes include work placements. Assessment is more varied and will include exams, coursework and practical work.
T Levels give you the chance to learn what a real career is like while you continue your studies. T Levels have been designed with leading businesses and employers to give you the knowledge and skills you need, including a minimum of 45 days on an industry placement – this means you will spend 80% of your learning time in College and 20% within the workplace.
LATEST NEWS
Our incredible Level 3 Performing Arts students showed off their talents at the Wintertainment Showcase!
The Wintertainment Showcase is a variety show, allowing Performing Arts learners from all three pathways of Dance, Musical Theatre and Acting to put all the hard work they have done on display. Learners have been practicing and preparing for the Wintertainment Showcase for weeks, fine tuning their performances and honing their skills to be the best they can be.
Direction and choreography were in the hands of our fantastic lecturers; Joe, Fiona, Lisa and Marjory. Some students went one step further however, choreographing their own impressive performances.
Our Dance students wowed audiences, demonstrating a wide range of styles. These were swing, jazz, contemporary and commercial. The clear favourite, however, was a dazzling performance of "Backstage Romance" from Moulin Rouge the musical. Acting students were also on top form, performing monologues from a variety of plays as well as a group piece from a play called "Metamorphosis". Musical theatre students rounded out the variety perfectly, with a blend of solo songs and monologues. The highlight of the Musical Theatre performers however were the excerpts from "Fame", "Come From Away" and "Need A Little Christmas".
All of the effort and hard work clearly paid off for the learners as the feedback they received was outstanding. Friends and family watched with pride and congratulated the learners on an excellent show. Lecturers were also incredibly impressed with lecturer Joe saying this: “The Level 3 Performing Arts Wintertainment Showcase was a huge success, showing our incredibly talented students in this wonderful variety show. They have progressed and developed their skills in confidence, professionalism and skills which has prepared them for our end of year full scale musical and play at the end of the academic year. I am extremely proud of each and every one of them!”
The performance had a strong impact, teaching learners about how a professional show is put together. Learners were able to boost their own vital industry skills including working with headset microphones, understanding lighting cues and learning to work together as a large cast of performers for a live audience.
This incredible showcase forms part of the Creative Arts Careers Excellence Hub. The College has fourteen sector-specific Career Excellence Hubs, which evidence our dedication to supporting both employers and learners in achieving their future goals. By creating a seamless connection between industry and education, we enable learners to acquire not only the essential skills and knowledge but also the professional networks necessary to excel in their chosen fields.
Congratulations to everyone on a fantastic show!
To find out more about our performing arts courses, click here!
Weston College recently hosted a ‘Careers in Law’ event, as part of the Career Excellence Hub, for students at Loxton Campus. The College’s legal courses continue to see growth with a large number of A Level Law students at its Sixth Form and Paralegal Apprenticeships providing routes into legal careers.
The College has exciting plans to offer a brand new Legal Services T Level course for school leavers from September 2024, the first Legal T Level in the region.
The legal and professional services sector, employs over 65,000 people in the region according to research by the West of England Combined Authority. Recognising the breadth of careers in the sector for learners and the College’s ‘careers not courses’ ethos, the event provided an opportunity to collaborate with employers to showcase careers to learners. Employers including Burges Salmon, Simmons and Simmons, CMS, Foot Anstey, Womble Bond Dickinson, RPC, Irwin Mitchell and VWV attended, meeting students during the event.
Dave Crew, Head of Business Growth & Employer Partnerships at Weston College said “Thank you to our employer partners for supporting our ‘careers not courses’ ethos. Our region has a large legal sector which is evolving at pace through its use of technology and various pathways for learners to join the sector. This creates exciting career opportunities on our doorstep for learners. It was fantastic to see our students engaging with potential future employers and discovering the breadth of careers available. We’re look forward to collaborating with employers as we create our new Legal Services T Level launching in September 2024.”
Employers commented on the enthusiastic engagement from College students.
Lauren Gardener, Early Talent Executive at RPC said “We thoroughly enjoyed connecting with students from Weston College, it was great to meet so many engaged individuals with a genuine passion about working in a law firm. We hope that after sharing our Legal and Claims Handling apprenticeship opportunities, we have inspired the students to continue their pursuit in a career within law."
Keith Mitchelhill, Early Talent Recruitment Advisor at Womble Bond Dickinson said “It was a pleasure to speak with the students of Weston College, they all came incredibly well prepared and we had some very insightful conversations regarding how to best display their experience and the different routes into law.”
Harry Keaveney, Legal Apprentice at Burges Salmon said “The enthusiasm and curiosity displayed by the students was remarkable. This reflects the excellent work that the college is doing to prepare them for their future careers. It’s clear that Weston College is dedicated to creating valuable opportunities for students and we look forward to working with them in the future."
If you would like to find out more about Weston College's A Level courses, please click here.
Employers looking to upskill staff through the College’s legal courses or access future talent can contact employers@weston.ac.uk
In September we hosted our second Great Big Green Week and built on from the success of the first one in 2022. This year we developed a range of events and activities for all members of our Weston College Community, not only to raise awareness and promote our Sustainability and Social Action Agenda, but also to ensure we are ALL contributing to aiding the environmental challenges that lie ahead. Key activities included our Engineering and Automotive Sustainability Learner Conference, with learners completing a ‘real-world’ challenge with judges from our key employers. Our annual Beach Clean in partnership with Weston Pier and other activities such as ‘Green Your Campus’, as we seek to achieve Net Zero.
Here's a short film celebrating all we did in that week:
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.
WHICH LEVEL IS RIGHT FOR ME?
