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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
Weston College has teamed up with Weston-super-Mare Helicopter Museum to help renovate Weston Airfield’s dilapidated pilots’ block.
College students, their lecturer Steve Harris and curriculum manager Shaun Canniford volunteered to plaster the 1930s building that has laid in a derelict state since 1993.
“The Helicopter Museum approached us with this project and we were more than happy to help,” Shaun said.
“This development has enabled us to give our students the opportunity to take the skills that they have learned in the workshop and apply them in a commercial environment. Taking into account the significance of the building to the local community, it was important that the College contributed to this project.”
The project is being funded by the Coastal Communities Fund, who have earmarked £138,000 for the development, and the plaster was donated by CRS Building Suppliers, a local business that is based next to the museum in a building that was once part of the airfield complex.
Nick Burrough, Branch Manager at CRS Building Supplies, said: “This is a local project and the College and CRS both share the same vision of supporting the local community to help it grow, expand and develop.”
Alison Page, Project Manager of the redevelopment, said: “This regeneration will help Weston-super-Mare retain its links to a long history of aviation, and is about giving that history back to the local people.
“So much of our aviation history is already gone, and we want to bring it all back in to the room it started in.”
The development will finish in 2016 and open to the public as Weston Aviation Museum.
On Friday 4th December the Helicopter Museum will be holding a social event for anyone with a link to Weston-super-Mare’s aviation past.
For more information on the social event or to volunteer at the site, contact Alison on 07341 836097.
Former Weston College student Bradley Ash has become a professional footballer after signing with SkyBet League One club Barnsley.
The 19-year-old, who studied BTEC Level 3 Sport at Weston College from 2012 to 2014, signed for an undisclosed fee on the opening day of the transfer window.
He had been watched by scouts from a number of Football League clubs after scoring 14 goals from 13 starts for Vanarama National League South side Weston-super-Mare.
Paul Taylor, Sports Development and Performance Manager at Weston College said: “We are very proud of Brad, particularly of his latest achievement of signing professionally for Barnsley Football Club.
“His determination, technical ability and incredible work ethic will I’m sure enable him to realise his dream.”
Barnsley Football Club, managed by former Bristol City midfielder Lee Johnson, snapped up Bradley without first taking him on trial.
During his time at Weston College, Bradley represented Weston College Football Academy throughout and was awarded ‘Sports Performer of the Year’ and ‘Outstanding Male Academy of Sport Athlete’ in 2014.
While in his second year, Bradley was nominated by Weston College to attend trials for the England Colleges National Team.
After three trials he was selected to represent England Colleges, making his debut against Australia, and going on to play a further eight times including matches against Wales, Scotland, Italy and San Marino during the season. In addition, Bradley represented England in an International Tournament in Italy.
Weston College student Fahma Mohamed was invited to 10 Downing Street last week (Thursday 14th) to meet David Cameron as part of his community engagement forum.
Fahma, 19, who is currently enrolled on an Access to Higher Education course at the College, was questioned by the Prime Minister on Muslim women’s issues in British society.
The Prime Minister was keen to find out what it means to be a Muslim female in Britain today and learn about the issues of empowerment, segregation and isolation that Muslim women face.
In a Sunday Times article after the meeting, David Cameron called Fahma a brilliant Muslim women’s role model.
“I heard great examples of so many women who are flourishing in our country,” he wrote, while raising the issue that some Muslim women are forced into gender segregation, discrimination and social isolation from mainstream British life.
Mr Cameron said it was time to be "more assertive about our liberal values, more clear about the expectations we place on those who come to live here and build our country together and more creative and generous in the work we do to break down barriers."
In a Facebook post following the meeting, Fahma commented that she enjoyed meeting the Prime Minister and was glad that he was listening to the voices of British Muslim women.
Fahma is a junior trustee of Integrate Bristol, a charity that was set up to help with the integration of young people who have arrived in Britain from other cultures. She is the eldest of nine children and moved to Britain when she was seven when her parents fled war-torn Somalia.
In 2014, she rose to international fame after creating a petition seeking to put education at the heart of tackling female genital mutilation, which became one of the fastest-growing ever seen on change.org and was signed by nearly 250,000 people.
The petition drew the attention of the then UK Education Secretary Michael Gove, who praised Fahma’s “inspirational” campaign and ensured that the Department for Education wrote to all schools about female genital mutilation and provided materials for teachers to tackle the subject.
She also met the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and who promised to use the influence of the United Nations to ensure that the campaign, backed by the Guardian newspaper, received global attention.
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