Creating brighter futures

Visit Somerset have given four of our Travel and Tourism learners the very exciting opportunity to work with a prestigious animation firm on a new concept alongside Noah’s Ark Animal Park in Wraxall. Weston College has had a strong partnership with Visit Somerset for a number of years and so have recruited these learners for a week of work experience, shadowing the team and helping with content creation for the project.

The team at Visit Somerset, consisting of John Turner (CEO), Toby Jones (Digital Manager), Maisy Hatcher (Social Media Manager) & Libby James (Content Manager), held Dragon’s Den style interviews with the interested participants. The learners were encouraged to pitch themselves as a viable candidate for this placement opportunity; some even printed off their CVs for the interviewer's consideration.

Lynsey McKinstry, Business Partnership Manager at Weston College, commented: “Originally, 3 students were going to be considered but after the team from Visit Somerset met with everyone, they extended the opportunity to 4 learners due to their commitment on pitching for a place.

“Not only did the students deliver exceptional interviews, it was also a great experience for the two apprentices currently finishing their end point assessments.

“It’s incredible seeing these exciting projects open doors for our learners and allow them to experience first-hand what their future career may entail. We look forward to hearing how the students get on at Noah’s Ark and more exciting opportunities that will support not only the Travel and Tourism learners but across all our divisions where possible.”

Hannah Carstensen, the learner’s tutor, told us: “The learners have had a fantastic few days and have been able to put their Marketing knowledge from the classroom into practice. Hearing all the lovely comments from the Visit Somerset team has been so wonderful. Working with Visit Somerset will create so many opportunities for our Travel and Tourism learners moving forwards.”

John Turner, CEO of Visit Somerset, said: “The Visit Somerset team are honoured to have the opportunity to work alongside the Travel & Tourism students at Weston College, giving the students more knowledge of how tourist attractions function and market to their target audiences. As the lucky four students embark on their journey with Visit Somerset at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, the students will shadow the Visit Somerset team to help them understand aspects of marketing. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the success of the project!”

Weston College and Visit Somerset are also proud to announce an extension of their already strong relationship, in a three-year partnership scheme to allow more students to gain access to these wonderful opportunities, and allow them to develop their employability skills for the future. Keep your eyes out for further news on this exciting venture!

Ethan, one of our Level 3 Creative Media Production and Technology students has received some brilliant feedback during his work placement with SLX, an event production company based in Avonmouth.  

Ethan has dived headfirst into the experience, impressing the employer with his brilliant time-management skills, eagerness, communication and confidence. SLX had some extremely positive feedback for Ethan, expressing that he is a dream to manage and now a valued member of staff! 

SLX specialise in sound, lighting and video for live events and broadcasting and as part of Ethan’s placement he has been working alongside the lighting team, preparing equipment ready to be hired for events. This includes carrying out visual inspections, PAT testing, fixing equipment and making the equipment available at the highest quality. Ethan enjoys working amongst a supportive team who allow him to grow his technical skills and knowledge. 

After speaking to Ethan, he expressed, “the placement has helped me develop my skills massively. After college, I plan to go straight into the live events industry, hopefully with SLX. After being lucky enough to work on Wachet Music Festival in August 2022, this has given me further drive for the live events industry. I hope to progress onto being a lighting designer”. 

Ethan has so far thoroughly enjoyed his experience on the Media course at Weston College, relaying that the support from tutors have been second to none and they have been very pivotal in planning his next steps for the future. He advises anyone interested in studying on the course to take all the opportunities given to them by the lecturers and to get involved with anything that is thrown at them.  

Ethan believes work placements are really important and allow you to create vital connections within the industry. With creative industries being more difficult to get into, getting your name out there as soon as possible really broadens your options for the future.  

At Weston College, our mantra is ‘careers, not courses’. Not only do we want students to engage in as many educational opportunities as possible, but we also want to support them in developing and building a future career. Engaging with our Career Excellence Hubs allows students to take part in their chosen study programme filled with lots of career-boosting benefits, preparing them to be career-ready by the time they leave us.

Find out more about our Level 3 Creative Media and production course and Careers Excellence Hubs here.

The recently released Health and Disability White Paper outlines the governments vision to be able to move more neurodiverse individuals into paid employment to support them to ‘Start, stay and succeed in work’.

Currently, only 4.8% of individuals with a learning disability or autism that are known to local authorities are in full time paid employment. This figure has to change, and we must take action to change the narrative for young people within our community.

Here at Weston College, our empowerment-based specialist support model promotes a whole-organisational approach to inclusivity. We have developed our supported internship programmaes to provide a personalised innovative support network for learners with EHCPs who are looking to move into sustained employment. As a result of this 85% of our interns move into sustainable employment, bucking the national trend by over 80% and outlining our high aspirations and outstanding outcomes for the young people.

Why choose supported internships?

There is nothing better than working with young people to unlock their true potential. We know that around 20-40% of the UK population are neurodiverse and Internships are work based study programmes that allow these individuals to showcase their skills whilst supporting employers to access an untapped workforce. There are currently over 1 million unfulfilled vacancies within the UK costing employers hundreds of thousands of pounds in recruitment costs and we know that we have individuals that have a wide breath of talent and ambition to bridge this employment gap.

Our interns flourish in the world of work, reaching their aspirations and making a positive contribution to the workplace. This is reflected recent feedback from one of our job coaches ‘The interns I support are unique and individual, which is why Supported Internships are so great –they allow us the flexibility to design a personalised support programme that supports allows them to utilise their unique skills to benefit the employers that they are working with.’ Every day the difference that our internship programme makes to the lives of the young people we support. Interns describe internships in the following ways:

‘I am so excited about getting up everyday and going to work. My supported internship will support me to get a job working with children which is something I have always wanted to do.’

‘I worked with my job coach to identify where I wanted to work. I was able to get a supported internship opportunity where I trained for 5 months and got a paid job. A year later I still work here and I love coming to work everyday to see the customers and colleagues’

‘My internship allowed me to use the skills I have to get a job but more importantly has shaped by personal and social life for the better forever. I have recently just got a promotion in my job, something I never thought I would be able to achieve.’

Our commitment to inclusion permeates beyond the college walls. This year we have trained over 50 employers in neurodiversity awareness to support them to become inclusivity champions. By working together to create supportive opportunities the narrative will begin to change. Hosting a Supported Internship and becoming a more inclusive employer, isn’t just a great thing to do –it makes complete business sense!

For more information on Supported Internships, email employers@weston.ac.uk.