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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
A moody seascape has earned a Weston College student two coveted awards in a national photographic competition.
Ed French, 16, entered the National Historic Ships Photography Competition with a picture he took by Marine Lake, Weston, and was presented with the awards at a ceremony on board HMS Belfast in London.
Ed, of Devonshire Road, Weston, scooped the First Prize in his category, ‘Young Photographer Historic Ship or Seascape’, and was overall winner of the competition’s ‘Young Photographer UK’ class.
He was handed his awards by BBC TV presenter Julia Bradbury following a celebration lunch aboard the historic warship.
Now studying a Level Three BTEC Extended Diploma in Photography at Weston College, Ed was a pupil of Broadoak School when the photo was taken. On the day he took it the rain had cleared, leaving a cloudy sky. Ed cycled down to the Marine Lake, by Knightstone Island, and took the picture with a compact digital camera.
He said: “I was very surprised and delighted to win the awards. Mine was the last category to be announced so it was a very tense wait.”
Ed won a £400 digital camera for Broadoak School and a group visit to the SS Great Britain ship in Bristol.
Weston College Photography lecturer Jamie Dormer-Durling said: “I am really pleased for Ed’s success. We like to encourage our students to enter photography competitions; it’s highly motivational and gives a great boost to their confidence. Ed is thinking of continuing to the FdA Photography Course at Weston College where I’m sure he will continue to flourish as a photographer.”
Cornish pasties have provided students from Weston College with an insight into waste management.
Students on the Foundation Degree in Public and Environmental Health recently went on a field trip to Cornwall where they visited the Ginsters production site in Callington and discovered how waste generated from making 140,000,000 pasties and other pastry products each year is managed.
The students met with Mark Bartlett, the Environment Manager for Ginsters, and found out that while the site has huge potential to generate waste this is mitigated by a number of projects on site to minimise waste.
“What is most remarkable about this site is it is a Zero to Land Fill site,” said David Lown, Course Coordinator, Public and Environmental Health, at Weston College.
“There are many stories in the media about food waste so it is particularly beneficial for students to see such a good example of best practice in reducing waste and protecting the environment.”
Ginsters recycle 300 tonnes of cardboard and 100 tonnes of plastic each year, and the students were given a tour of the recycling plant and water treatment plant.
They were also shown the water treatment plant, and heard how each tonne of food product manufactured at Ginsters requires up to -four tonnes of water, making the water treatment plant an important cost effective facility.
The students heard that, despite the various methods on site to reduce food waste, Ginsters still generates 21,000 tonnes of food waste each year.
However, this is not wasted as it is used in an Anaerobic Digester where bacteria convert it into renewable electricity and fertilizer. The remaining 487 tonnes of waste that cannot be reused, recycled or bio-digested are sent to the Energy from Waste Plant in Avonmouth, Bristol, to generate yet more energy.
This was the fifth visit by Public and Environmental Health students at Weston College to the Ginsters site.
The field trip also included visits to the Eden Project to look at on-site health and safety, and to the National Trust property of Lanhydrock where they considered fire safety in a Victorian Country House.
They also looked at the environmental impacts from Wainwrights quarry near Frome, and undertook some field work monitoring water quality on Wembury beach in Devon.
A Weston College sponsored racing driver, Roger Orgee Jr, has won a dramatic showdown in the final race of the 2016 Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship.
The race started well with Roger trailing rival Michael Moyers for the first lap until an accident caused a red flag race stoppage and the grid lined up for a restart. To win the championship, Roger needed to either win or finish just behind Michael.
At the restart the front row drivers both made poor starts and Roger was fourth and Michael directly behind in fifth.
Michael tried to pass Roger during the first lap, but misjudged his braking distance and crashed into the back of Roger’s car, spinning him round and damaging his own car so badly that he was out of the race.
Roger dived into the pits to have a damage check, the car was running but looked unsafe to continue when it was confirmed that Michael was out and Roger was champion.
Next year Roger is hoping to move up to racing sports cars, already having had the opportunity to test a works Porsche Carrera and a Ginetta GT4.
Weston College’s motorsport study programme provides students with the opportunity to work with Formula Ford race mechanics in the College workshops and trackside, and helps to get them involved with the local racing circuit.
In 2015, Roger Orgee Racing’s second car, a Van Diemen RF02, was repaired at the College’s South West Skills Campus following a collision at Silverstone race course.
Roger Orgee Racing can also offer our learners unique opportunities to attend racing events and meet industry professionals.
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