COURSES FOR SCHOOL LEAVERS
Your Future Starts Here
With hundreds of exciting courses, this is where your journey begins. From day one, you'll be supported, inspired, and on track to a rewarding career.
See SubjectsJoin a Career Excellence Hub and gain real-world skills, experience, and confidence to reach your goals.
Whether you're finishing school, changing direction, or learning English with our ESOL courses – we’ve got you covered.
Get started today – pick a subject and apply online in just 5 minutes!
Find Your Future Path
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 new sensory learning base for students with Profound and Complex Learning Disabilities (PCLD) has been officially opened at Weston College.
The centre is the final part of a £1million investment that provides high quality facilities.
The new base opened its doors to students in September 2014 at the Knightstone Campus in Weston town centre, meaning students with PCLD no longer have to leave the local authority to receive specialist support.
Ben McConkey, the College’s strategic lead in inclusive practice, said: “In the past, students with PCLD may have had to leave the local authority when they finish school to access the specialist education and support they require.”
The Sensory Learning Base provides students with an individualised high quality multi-sensory programme.
Ben McConkey said: “Our programmes will help young people develop the skills to lead a more independent life, access their community and develop and maintain relationships with family and friends through a wide range of sensory experiences and holistic approaches.”
Weston College Principal and Chief Executive Dr Paul Phillips OBE described it as a ‘vital’ facility for the area.
He said: “It’s a far cry from when the College first opened its doors to a small group of teenagers with learning difficulties and disabilities back in 1981.
“We now have more than 1,000 learners receiving support on further education and higher education courses across all sites.
“This is a vital new facility for the local authority that will support some of the most vulnerable young people in our community and I look forward to welcoming new learners to the College.”
“The Sensory Learning base will work in collaboration external agencies to ensure every individual receives outstanding support and positive outcomes.”
The British seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare and the American gambling city of Las Vegas are to be virtually linked later this month in a unique stage show involving performing arts students.
Ground-breaking computer technology and a video link will make it appear as if the students are alongside each other when the show ‘Time Lapse’ is staged by degree students of the Wessex Academy of Performing Arts (WAPA) at Weston College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
In fact, they will be separated by more than 5,000 miles and an eight hour time difference when the performances take place on April 23rd at 4pm UK time in Weston and 8am Pacific Time in Las Vegas, and on April 24th at 8am in Weston and 12am in Nevada.
Weston College Higher Education Curriculum Co-ordinator for Performing Arts Degrees Ged Stephenson, said: “The performances will be done over video link, although the students will perform as if they’re on stage together.
“The technology that is being used to achieve this is ground-breaking and it’s believed that this performance will be a world first because there are no time delays in the visuals and only a very slight one in sound.
“The video link will be done using ultra-grids, which are really advanced computers that have been created by UNLV.”
Students from a variety of performing arts degree courses at Weston College will be performing with students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
The collaboration between the two educational establishments began about a year and a half ago, after Weston College lecturer Sylvia Lane approached UNLV while on holiday in Las Vegas to see if she could forge links there.
Last year Weston College hosted a visit from two UNLV lecturers, Michael Lugering, Professor of Acting, and Louis Kavouras, Professor of Dance. They spent two days running specialist master classes for students on Foundation Degrees in Performing Arts and Musical Theatre, run in partnership with Bath Spa University.
This provided the basis for the project to stage a unique joint performance across time zones in the play ‘Time Lapse’, which has been specially-scripted for the show.
Ged Stephenson added: “Any live performance requires a considerable amount of organisation, but this show has also required exchanges and sharing of workshops using Skype, Facetime and YouTube.”
Fluffy, the creature that has helped inspire ambitions of further and higher education among numerous school pupils who have visited Weston College, has been in action at a new location this year.
The furry purple visual aid, complete with a black mortar board, has been at North Somerset Enterprise and Technology College (NSETC) to greet around 400 local Year 5 and Year 6 pupils visiting the specialist Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school.
Ben Cocks, Progression and IAG Coordinator at Weston College said that this is the ninth year in which the College has used Professor Fluffy to engage with pupils, but the first time the project has been located at NSETC, which is part of the Weston College Group.
“It has been a really successful programme that children enjoy and we now see secondary students and some current Weston College students who remember their Professor Fluffy visit,” he said.
“This is the second year we have run Professor Fluffy in collaboration with EDF Energy and this partnership continues to be a great way to push the STEM agenda to young people in North Somerset.
“This year we decided to facilitate Professor Fluffy at the NSETC, which forms part of the Weston College Group, as it offers the students first-hand experience of a STEM school and the facilities are jaw dropping.”
During their visits to NSETC, pupils explored career opportunities and educational opportunities and were supported by student mentors and current learners.
They also toured the NSETC, interviewed current college students, and built a prototype ‘green’ car for the future using recycled materials in a project designed by EDF Energy.
At their end of their visits, the pupils ‘graduated’ in caps and gowns with certificates – and with Professor Fluffy in attendance.
Ben Cocks added: “It’s been really great to work again with Weston Excellence on this project, and yet again we have seen the students create some amazing things as part of their visit and they are all a credit to their individual schools. With the support of Weston College’s Student Mentors and Care and Early Years students this year has again been a real success.”
Professor Fluffy was originally created under the Government’s national Aim Higer initiative, but funding was stopped in 2009.
However, Dr Paul Phillips, the principal of Weston College, which was rated ‘outstanding’ at its latest Ofsted inspection, decided it was important to keep Professor Fluffy and has found sponsorship to ensure the engagement work with local schools continues.
WHICH LEVEL IS RIGHT FOR ME?
