Weston College continues to buck the national trend when it comes to apprenticeships, having successfully achieved more than 300 apprenticeship enrolments in just 50 days!

The campaign which aimed to counter youth unemployment, and provide new opportunities for people looking to take the next step in their career, proved to be highly successful; with opportunities created across sectors.

Companies of all sizes pledged to get involved, from global heavyweights such as GKN, to national organisations like the NHS, as well up and coming businesses, like Apache Construction.

Jayne Pashley, Apprenticeship Co-ordinator at North Somerset Council, has hired an apprentice through the campaign, she said: “ At North Somerset Council we love apprenticeships. For us, they offer a fantastic way of not only recruiting new talent, but also unlocking the future of our workforce, which we believe is key in business growth.

“The team at Weston College have supported us from start to finish, and have made the whole process really easy. I would highly recommend apprenticeships.

“We look forward to developing our apprentices and hopefully supporting many more in the future.”

John Mackeldon, Hewlett Packard Enterprise agreed, saying: “The whole apprenticeship process has been really easy, and our new apprentice has brought fresh ideas and energy to the team which has been really important in our business.”

Sir Paul Phillips, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, added: “We continue to lead the way when it comes to apprenticeships. Apprenticeships offer everyone involved tangible benefits, from vital experience for the apprentice to employers accessing talented individuals.

“Every year we set bigger challenges, and every year we deliver. To create so many opportunities in such a short period of time, truly is incredible, so I’d like to thank our local business community who have got behind the campaign and pledged to support our community, by offering residents the opportunity to retrain, upskill or get their first taste of employment.

“Something I have been especially pleased to see, is the fact that we are working with employers of all sizes through apprenticeships – including over 300 new SMEs in 2022.

“It isn’t too late to pledge to take on an apprentice, we offer apprenticeship opportunities all year round, so we can help you with your recruitment whenever you are ready to offer an apprenticeship.”

Although the campaign is officially over, you can still hire an apprentice. Find out more about apprenticeships, by clicking here.

Last week, three of our wonderful Digital learners competed in the National WorldSkills Finals in computing, hosted in Middlesborough.

We were able to sit down with two of the competitors, Fin and Skylar, who told us all about their journey, training and success in WorldSkills; Skylar achieved Silver in the competition!

Both learners expressed an interest in WorldSkills after seeing the success of the previous cohort of Weston College learners who competed, including Jack Kimmins who won gold! They also each explained that it was a great way to work on their own skills to apply to their degree courses.

The whole competition spanned over a long period of time, with the qualifiers being in July. The qualifying round was a day with an issued web development task, with a time limit to complete it. Once the learners had confirmation they had passed this round, they began to revise until the finals, which took place this month (November).

Skylar explained the competition days: “The competition was very challenging. It was a set of five modules spread over three days, based up at Middlesbrough College in their new MC Digital building. The five modules included everything website development, from design work to client side scripting to server side scripting. As well as a speed round where time was of the essence. I felt very prepared due to the wealth of knowledge of previous competitors as well as the practise resource is we were given to help train us for the real briefs.”

While Skylar said that the JavaScript and PHP aspects were the best part of her day, Finley highlighted the speed module on the final day as his best part: “The smaller tasks within the short timeframe was quite fun and was a challenge to think of solutions without spending too much time on a single section given the time restraints.”

However, the competition days were not without their difficulties. Both learners touched on the aspect they found the most challenging; for Finley it was PHP module where he felt he could have benefit from more revision in that area, and Skylar found the design round the trickiest.

Despite the difficulties, all the participants did incredibly well, with Skylar achieving Silver overall! This is such a wonderful achievement, and she was absolutely thrilled, saying “It felt absolutely amazing to achieve silver in the website development competition. Knowing that I am the second-best student website developer in the UK feels absolutely amazing.

I found out the results through a virtual medal ceremony, live streamed by Steph McGovern from her studio where they announced all the winners of the competitions. I just couldn’t believe it when my name was called out!”

Both Skylar and Finley were very enthusiastic about the prospect of competing again next year, Finley commenting, “I am already looking forwards to the sign-ups. I entered this year, unsure if it was the correct choice, but after attending and reaching the finals, its been an amazing experience. I am excited to attend again!”

If you are considering following in their footsteps and entering WorldSkills, here is the first-hand advice from those who just competed: “Just go for it – you won’t know how far you can go or the extent of your knowledge unless you try, and it’s such a great learning experience. Even if you don’t get through to the finals, it’ll still look great on your CV!”

Both learners expressed huge gratitude to their teachers and tutors at University Centre Weston, Jason Hill, Jack Kimmins and Jack Cole, who have been so supportive throughout the whole process, including numerous training sessions.

Many congratulations to everyone involved!

Why choose to study Sport? 

At Weston College, we believe there is so much more to sport than just what happens on the pitch. While, yes, developing physical ability and skill in a game is essential, there are so many more areas of daily life that sport can impact. Careers in sport also go far beyond being a professional player.  

We encourage our learners to consider the social and cultural influence sport can have within the community; how it can be used to bring people together and encourage healthy and active living.  

Understanding the importance of inclusivity is also a major factor in teaching sport. 

Whilst honing these skills and learning about the role of sport and fitness within the wider community, our students have been taking part in delivering practical sessions to learners from our very own Faculty of Inclusive Practice (FIP), as well as preparing for some upcoming sessions with local primary schools. 

The first session was a festival of sport, taking place on Friday 11th November. It was a huge success, with both Sport and FIP learners enjoying the collaborative and engaging event. 

Jack, Sports Academy and Enrichment Manager, told us: 

“The festival was a really good opportunity for the learners to see how sport is inclusive for all, and it gives them a good chance to demonstrate what they’ve learnt in a real-life situation.” 

The sport learners have also recently organised and delivered a dodgeball festival in partnership with Dodgeball UK for local primary schools. 

This was another enormous success! Jack said: 

"We’re really excited to be growing and building local links with local stakeholders. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to provide sport and enrichment to the community. It’s also a great opportunity for the learners to work on the employability skills that are going to be crucial for them to develop alongside their knowledge in order to become employable.” 

This is just the very beginning of the multitude of sports festivals and events our learners will be delivering. 

Upcoming events will include: 

• A sport festival for local Extended Learning Academy Network (ELAN) primary schools  

• Festival of football - with Weston College FIP learners competing with Westhaven School 

Amazing work to the brilliant learners taking part, we can’t wait to see more of the community impact you’re making! 

To find out more about career opportunities in Sport, visit our Sports and Fitness Careers Excellence Hub.  

To learn more about our Sport courses, click here.