Our extra curricular sports academies provide athletes with outstanding opportunities. We are extremely pleased and excited to announce a third student has gained international honours this year. Bailey Kempster, part of our under 19s football programme, has recently been selected for the England colleges football team.

As well as impressing the academy and senior coaches at our partner club Weston-super-Mare AFC, Bailey has had a successful first two seasons playing national youth alliance football.

This accolade is extremely well deserved and caps off a fantastic two years of development. It is great to see that our football programme is now going from strength to strength with Bailey being the second colleges international to come out of the programme since our official partnership with Weston football club started just three years ago.

We caught up with Bailey who added:

"My time in the sports academy has been a great experience with high level coaching and a brilliant training and games program.

"The coaches, the team and the facilities available has made my time at the academy a excellent environment to work in. They have also given me the opportunity to represent them by nominating me for these trials.

"The selection process consisted of two trials. The first of these was a South West trial which was held at Weston Super Mare AFC and the second was a national trial in Leicester. Each player was then given a minimum of 60 minutes in the matches we played to impress the coaches and show them that you are worthy of a place in the final squad. 

"I can't wait to start on the 1st of July with a game against Chelsea FC. We then have a tournament at the end of July with many professional clubs attending. 

"My advice for someone getting into football would be to stay positive, never give up and be prepared to work hard."

Bailey now joins female rugby athletes, Lottie Dadds and Katie Mackay, as our third international progression for this season. We are extremely proud of the trio and wish them the best of luck for all of their fixtures in the future.

Academy Manager Jack Gadd said:

"This is a fantastic achievement for these athletes and shows how the programmes continue to encourage and produce players for these highest of honours.

"All three have epitomised what it means to be a student athlete here at Weston College. It is great to see our programme helping athletes achieve their sporting goals and are now receiving recognition on the national stage.

"We are extremely proud of the three guys and are looking forward now to supporting the next crop of talent reach its potential next season where we hope to add to this tally across our main performance sports."

Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Paul Phillips CBE added: "A massive congratulations to all three of our national achievers this season. With these successes and the development of state-of-the-art sporting facilities at the Health and Active Living Skills Centre, I'm so proud that Weston College and partners are continuing to put Weston on the map as a hub of excellence and outstanding young talent"

On Thursday, Weston College were announced as winners of the ‘Promoting Apprenticeship Campaign of the Year’ category, at the 2021 AAC Apprenticeship Awards.

The AAC Apprenticeship Awards is supported by FE Week and AELP (Association of Employment and Learning Providers) and celebrates apprenticeships across the UK.

Weston College was commended for its partnership with the FA and AoC Sport, to create and promote the FA Women’s Football Apprenticeship Programme, which has the aim of increasing female participation in football.

With the support of a strong marketing campaign the apprenticeship vacancies went live in August, it proved popular, with 146 applications, for just ten vacancies. The apprenticeship itself has had some fantastic backing, with football clubs across the UK endorsing the programme, to encourage more females to get involved with football.

The ever-popular awards received over 350 nominations for the 21 categories this year, with the judges praising the innovation and tenacity of apprenticeship providers.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this award, as it represents partnership working and the hard work and dedication of our team, in not only creating and delivering apprenticeships, but also raising the awareness of apprenticeships across the UK.”

“We have a fantastic relationship with the FA and AoC Sport, and together we have had such great success in getting young females involved in football already – I can’t wait to continue this partnership and support further growth in female football.”

The exceptional achievements of Weston College’s Ellie Hedges were celebrated yesterday as she was awarded the prestigious bronze BTEC Award for Health and Social Care. 

 Ellie, aged 19, was recognised by teachers and peers for her outstanding contributions. As well as completing her Level 3 qualification to an extremely high standard, she also worked 40-60 hours a week as a community carer all through the pandemic. Ellie is incredibly motivated to achieve, applying the classroom taught knowledge to benefit the local community. She is described as “an inspiration for all health and social students”. 

 The Priory Community School leaver’s hard work and dedication was celebrated at the 11th anniversary of Pearson’s annual BTEC Awards hosted online on 7th July 2021 at 2pm.   

 Ellie commented: “I was shocked to be honest. It felt amazing to be recognised, especially on an international level with applicants from 31 other countries aswell.  

“I think the opportunities you get here are amazing. Sarah-Jane has been incredible and I’ll never forget going into the simulation room for the first time, being taken back on how real it felt. This really helped to prepare me for placements and work by putting my knowledge into practice.” 

Now having completed her Level 3 BTEC, Ellie is progressing to study Midwifery at University of West of England (UWE) in January 2022.  

Co-hosted by presenter of the United View, YouTube influencer and BTEC alumnus and ambassador, Flex and sports presenter and events host, Gemma Care. 19 category award winners were celebrated from around the UK and internationally in subjects such as Health and Social Care, Performing Arts, Engineering, IT, Business and Sport.  

BTEC alumni including Academy Award-winning producer and Head of Film and Animation at ScreenSkills Gareth Ellis-Unwin, entrepreneur and founder of SB.TV Jamal Edwards MBE, and award-winning actress Lucy Fallon were among those also presenting awards.  

Commenting on the achievement, Ellie’s tutor, Sarah-Jane Lewis added: “We're all hugely proud of everything Ellie has achieved here at the college. It’s fantastic to see her hard work paying off and this achievement is very well deserved. We’re all about creating brighter futures, and Ellie’s future is bright indeed!”