LATEST NEWS AND UPDATES
There is always so much going on across our various campuses and courses.
Stay up to date on our latest news here or check us out across social media.
A vibrant public artwork celebrating Weston-super-Mare’s community, and co-created by internationally acclaimed public realm artist Morag Myerscough with local artists and residents, has taken pride of place in the town’s High Street.
‘Super Wonder Shrine’ was officially opened on Friday 9 December at a launch event attended by the artist, community members involved in the project, local councillors and the general public. Alongside speeches, ribbon cutting and live music, there was a ‘pooch parade’ with pet and people portraits, to mark the town’s love of dogs – a central theme that emerged from engagement sessions with the community.
Following Morag Myerscough’s trademark timber-built style, and adorned with bold and colourful patterns and words from the community, Super Wonder Shrine is animating pedestrianised space on the corner of the High Street and Regent Street, an area known locally as Big Lamp Corner.
This is part of ‘21st Century super Shrines’, a pioneering heritage project launched in May 2021 that is managed by Culture Weston. It is part of a four-year High Street Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) cultural programme, funded by Historic England, in partnership with Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
There are plans to develop a curated programme of free, outdoor ‘happenings’ presented by Culture Weston at the temporary Shrine in the months ahead. These will include music, spoken word and art, alongside a regular people’s platform of community activities.
The project is the culmination of months of community collaboration and activity led locally by visual artist and social maker Megan Clark-Bagnall, through which Morag Myerscough engaged with local people in a series of public sessions. From online discussion forums to in-person workshops, a creatively led exploration of what makes Weston town special resulted in an array of vibrant patterns, warm sentiments and a love of dogs!
The final painting and pattern application of the structure was undertaken by local creatives, together with over 45 students from Weston College with hands-on guidance from Morag Myerscough in what was a genuine skills and community-building process.
Crafted and built by Weston-based master joiner Simon Birtwistle and local maker Shelley Jane, the temporary bandstand shaped structure was constructed from sustainably sourced timber approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and features sheltered seating, a small performance area, words of wonder from local people and an interior roof that bursts with dog names, including Morag’s dog ‘Elvis’. The exterior roof tiles give new life to a recycled dance floor.
Morag Myerscough said: “I have enjoyed every moment of this project. Weston-super-Mare community are incredible and work so closely together with a true sense of belonging, fun and joy. I am grateful to have been invited in and to be able to co-create the ’Super Wonder Shrine' with such an amazing group of humans.”
The project has also created a new YouTube series of ‘Chip Chat’ conversations led by Megan Clark-Bagnall and featuring Morag Myerscough chatting about culture over chips.
Fiona Matthews, creative director at Culture Weston, said: “Involving over 100 community members of all ages in its design and fabrication, this project has radiated joy from first workshop to final polka dot! Morag Myerscough’s fantastic vision stems from working with local communities to co-create artistic landmarks that instill a sense of belonging. The project has also importantly provided employment opportunities for the town’s creatives and offered an unforgettable educational experience to Weston College students.
“Super Wonder Shrine is a multi-faceted and vibrant testament to Weston’s energy and positivity right at the heart of the high street.”
Ellen Harrison, Head of Public Programming at Historic England, said: “The Super Wonder Shrine is a brilliant new landmark in the heart of Weston and a wonderful example of the role culture and creativity play in the regeneration of our high streets. It’ll be the focal point for inspiring events in the coming months and bring even more colour and character to the historic town centre.”
‘Super Wonder Shrine’ has brought together support from local and national organisations, including Weston College, Cuppa Architects, the Sovereign for providing the painting space, YesColours for supplying eco-friendly paints, Faithful+Gould for Construction, Design and Management consultancy, Hydrock for structural engineering support, plus donations from Burges Salmon, Alun Griffiths and Kier.
Last week Sport learners held another instalment in their series of sports and exercise festivals.
The festivals are a fantastic initiative put in place in order to engage local schools and boost the presence of inclusive sport practice within the community.
Read more about the festivals here.
The most recent event was a football festival in partnership with local Uphill-based school, Westhaven.
According to Head Teacher, Jamie Peacock, “Westhaven is a specialist school, and a unique environment, for children and young people who experience complex barriers to learning.”
The festival, which took place at Loxton Campus in our Health and Active Living Skills Centre, was an excellent opportunity for both Weston College and Westhaven students to collaborate and engage in a fun-filled, active-focused afternoon.
Our Sport learners planned, set up and carried out a circuit of fun activities centred around improving football skills which the Westhaven learners eagerly participated in.
Jack, Sports Academy and Enrichment Management, said “We’re really excited to be growing and building local links with local stakeholders. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to provide sport and enrichment to the community.”
Sports learners, Ella and Skyia, had this to say:
“We had the opportunity to work with the Westhaven students, teaching them the basics and getting them involved in sport.
We think this is important because we’re practicing valuable skills that we’ll need in our future coaching careers. It’s also really important to encourage inclusivity in sports and exercise.”
Amazing work guys!
To learn more about Sport courses at Weston College, click here.
Last week our fantastic Performing Arts learners put on their brilliant rendition of pantomime 'Babes in the Wood'!
Students professionally performed in several shows from the 7th to the 8th December at the prestigious Blakehay Theatre.
As well as performing evening shows to the general public, learners also got the chance to wow younger crowds of local primary school students at the show's matinees.
The wonderful production received this feedback from Walliscote Primary School:
"Please thank your wonderful staff and students. The children LOVED the panto, for so many it was a first theatre experience, even more so after the Covid years. It was a joyous experience from start to finish.
Merry Christmas to you all and thank you once again."
Amazing work guys!
To find out more about our Performing Arts courses, click here.
Learners from our Business Career Excellence Hub are spreading Christmas cheer, through the Business Enterprise Challenge.
Learners studying Business related courses at Weston College have been split into groups, and tasked with raising money for Weston Hospicecare. Each group have been given a Business Mentor, as well as a £50 donation for a start-up budget. The challenge is to turn their £50 into the most profit, with all proceeds going to the charity.
Each group of learners have created their business plan, which includes sourcing products, developing their pricing strategy, coming up with a marketing plan and then selling their product or service.
The groups have also been given a Business Mentor, with lots of key business people from across the town offering their support to this great initiative (full list below).
The challenge which was launched in October is well underway, and last week (W/C: 5th December) learners took to the Sovereign Centre in Weston-super-Mare, to sell their products. With a presence each day, learners showcased their merchandising skills as well as their products – selling Christmas gifts and raising lots of money in the process.
Dean of Faculty for Professional Studies Access to HE & Animal Science at Weston College, Helen George, said: “I have been really impressed with work that the students have been producing as part of the Business Enterprise Challenge.
“Over the course of the challenge so far, we have seen learners grow in confidence, increase their understanding of running a business and build some vital skills that will support them throughout their future careers.
“Most importantly learners are raising a lot of money for Weston Hospicecare, which has been the driving force behind the success we have seen to date.
“I wanted to say a big thank you to our Business Mentors as well, they have provided such valuable advice, guidance and feedback to the learners, and we really appreciate the support that they have given us.”
Each group of learners will present their experiences to a judging panel, as well as sharing how much they raised at the end of January, to try to win one of four awards:
- Fundraisers Achievement Award (for the team which raises the most profit)
- Most Sustainable Business Award (for the most sustainable business or product idea)
- Visual Merchandising Award (best trade stand)
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award (awarded to a team which demonstrated outstanding entrepreneurialism)
With the winners being announced at Weston College’s Celebration of Success event, in February 2023.
If you would like to find out more about studying a business courses at Weston College, click here.
Learners from the T Level Digital and BTEC Computing courses recently took part in the Bebras Challenge. Bebras is a computational thinking challenge that is organised over 50 countries, in partnership with Oxford University and The Raspberry Pi Foundation. Learners answer questions that look at challenging their logical thinking and problem-solving abilities, both of which are vital skills required in computer science. This takes place in the 2nd week of November, with all that compete earning either a certificate of participation, merit, distinction or best in school.
Tom, one of the learners who had placed in the top 10% of achievers, told us about his experience.
“Our whole class entered the challenge together. Ben Hobbs, our teacher, put in the application for us all. It was great that we all entered as it meant we were able to revise together; we were given practice papers for the lead-up to make sure we were prepared for the challenge.
“I’d only found out about being in the top 10% of competitors when I was given the certificate the following week; it was definitely the highlight of the challenge!”
Those that achieve within the top 10% nationally, are eligible to take part within the Oxford University Computing Challenge (OUCC) in January, which looks to challenge them on their programming abilities within their choice of coding language, including C#, Java or Python.
Tom commented: “I intend on taking part in the OUCC; I think it will be much more difficult as it is focused on problem solving with coding, but I’m excited to face the challenge.”
Tom’s advice to anyone thinking of entering the Bebras challenge was to “try and manage your time and answer as many questions as you can – practice questions were the best and most effective way to improve on this.”
Ben Hobbs, the computing teacher who entered the learners into the challenge, said: “I am so proud of everyone who competed in the Bebras Challenge, particularly those who were in the top 10%; what an incredible achievement! Opportunities like these are the perfect way for the learners to put what they learn into practise, and the development in their confidence afterwards is astounding! Congratulations to everybody involved!”
Last month our amazing Sixth Form learners took part in a Winter Market in Bristol as part of Young Enterprise.
Young Enterprise is a leading UK charity centred around empowering young people to discover, develop and celebrate their skills and potential. Their mission is to motivate young people to succeed in the changing world of work by equipping them with the work skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed.
As part of the Young Enterprise programme, our learners have had incredible talks from industry professionals at companies like Abatec and Brent Engineering to inspire and motivate them.
The Winter Market, held on 26th November near St. Nicholas Markets in Bristol, was an opportunity for learners to demonstrate everything they have learnt. Within teams, they selected and produced their own goods, which they then had to expertly pitch and sell to the public.
We caught up with Jack, whose team received a judge’s honourable mention at the Market. They did exceptionally well, successfully profiting on their unique, hand-crafted, metal Christmas ornaments.
Jack, who is a first year Economics, Politics and Business learner, told us:
“Young enterprise is an opportunity for young people to start a business that they run by themselves or with assistance from lecturers, creating and selling a product to the public. I got involved because my economics lecturer, who also teaches business, said it would be a great way to use my economic and business skills together.”
How did you find the experience?
“It was our first time doing this, so we didn’t know what to expect but thankfully it was a success and the judges liked us and we even got an honourable mention as a result. It turned out well and we were pleased with our results. We achieved what we wanted to do which was sell all the products through our use of an appealing stand and our high-quality marketing skills.
Next time we aim to improve our products and innovate. We’d like to go to more markets and become more successful than last time.”
Jack, who tells us he would like to go on to work in the banking industry after college, finished off by saying “I really recommend doing the Young Enterprise as it gives you an insight into making business decisions and the responsibilities of businesses.”
Amazing work from everyone who took part!
To find out more about A Levels at Weston College and the opportunities available, click here.
The wonderful Level 1 Hairdressing learners were welcomed by Emma, the salon owner of Unique Hair, for work experience in an industry standard salon. Unique Hair is an independently run hair salon, local to the college, currently underway to becoming a Career Excellence Hub ambassador. This results in the college and the salon working very closely together to ensure the content in the course is of upmost importance to the learners, and even results in work experience opportunities which otherwise would not be offered to L1 learners!
Emma had six Level 1 learners in total spread over three Mondays, where she opened the salon especially for work experience days. Emma sourced her own clients for the learners to work on, undergoing treatments such as meeting and greeting clients, shampooing, conditioning and applying treatments, as well as blow-drying, curling and setting clients’ hair. This gave the students the chance to use industry-standard equipment, and experience first-hand, what a day working in the salon would be like.
While Level 1 learners would not usually gain the opportunity to have work experience, Emma was so keen to help out and allow the students to develop employability skills to increase success in their futures in the industry. The students commented, “It was such a great opportunity, and really helpful experience for what working day to day in a salon would be like. Emma was great at explaining everything, and really kind when explaining everything, including the new techniques. We’d absolutely love to go back!”
The learners’ tutor, Kelly, told us, “It has been amazing to see the development of their skills since this experience!”
Rachel Harrison, the Workplace Coordinator for Hair, Beauty and Hospitality commented: “The learners absolutely loved their time at the salon, and having the chance to try out new products; the opportunity was invaluable for the learners. Here at Weston College, we focus on finding the learner’s career aspirations first, then assist in how they can reach this. Having a whole day in an industry-standard salon is one of the most beneficial ways to help in reaching their dream jobs; I am so grateful to Emma for her kindness and hospitality towards the learners, and being their mentor for the whole day! I hope we are able to provide this work experience to Level 1 learners in the future!”
Last week, three of our wonderful Digital learners competed in the National WorldSkills Finals in computing, hosted in Middlesborough.
We were able to sit down with two of the competitors, Fin and Skylar, who told us all about their journey, training and success in WorldSkills; Skylar achieved Silver in the competition!
Both learners expressed an interest in WorldSkills after seeing the success of the previous cohort of Weston College learners who competed, including Jack Kimmins who won gold! They also each explained that it was a great way to work on their own skills to apply to their degree courses.
The whole competition spanned over a long period of time, with the qualifiers being in July. The qualifying round was a day with an issued web development task, with a time limit to complete it. Once the learners had confirmation they had passed this round, they began to revise until the finals, which took place this month (November).
Skylar explained the competition days: “The competition was very challenging. It was a set of five modules spread over three days, based up at Middlesbrough College in their new MC Digital building. The five modules included everything website development, from design work to client side scripting to server side scripting. As well as a speed round where time was of the essence. I felt very prepared due to the wealth of knowledge of previous competitors as well as the practise resource is we were given to help train us for the real briefs.”
While Skylar said that the JavaScript and PHP aspects were the best part of her day, Finley highlighted the speed module on the final day as his best part: “The smaller tasks within the short timeframe was quite fun and was a challenge to think of solutions without spending too much time on a single section given the time restraints.”
However, the competition days were not without their difficulties. Both learners touched on the aspect they found the most challenging; for Finley it was PHP module where he felt he could have benefit from more revision in that area, and Skylar found the design round the trickiest.
Despite the difficulties, all the participants did incredibly well, with Skylar achieving Silver overall! This is such a wonderful achievement, and she was absolutely thrilled, saying “It felt absolutely amazing to achieve silver in the website development competition. Knowing that I am the second-best student website developer in the UK feels absolutely amazing.
I found out the results through a virtual medal ceremony, live streamed by Steph McGovern from her studio where they announced all the winners of the competitions. I just couldn’t believe it when my name was called out!”
Both Skylar and Finley were very enthusiastic about the prospect of competing again next year, Finley commenting, “I am already looking forwards to the sign-ups. I entered this year, unsure if it was the correct choice, but after attending and reaching the finals, its been an amazing experience. I am excited to attend again!”
If you are considering following in their footsteps and entering WorldSkills, here is the first-hand advice from those who just competed: “Just go for it – you won’t know how far you can go or the extent of your knowledge unless you try, and it’s such a great learning experience. Even if you don’t get through to the finals, it’ll still look great on your CV!”
Both learners expressed huge gratitude to their teachers and tutors at University Centre Weston, Jason Hill, Jack Kimmins and Jack Cole, who have been so supportive throughout the whole process, including numerous training sessions.
Many congratulations to everyone involved!
This week plumbing learners from our Construction Career Excellence Hub, were treated to a visit from German specialist tool manufacturers, REMS.
Daniel Parker, Regional Product Engineer at REMS, delivered a brilliant guest talk, whilst also showcasing the wide product range on offer. Daniel said: “It was a real pleasure to show off our product range to the next generation of Plumbing and Heating Engineers, the lads were really enthusiastic and a real credit to the College.”
The learners were all engaged, and enjoyed hearing from the industry – something that is a critical part of the delivery at Weston College, through the Career Excellence Hubs.
Ethan Sampson, who is a second year plumbing and heating technician apprentice with Gas Safe Ltd, was in attendance and commented: “I really enjoy it when manufacturers come in and do demonstrations because it really helps me to relate our theory lessons, and look at the new products on the market we will be using in future within the plumbing industry. When I talk to other people in the industry, they have told me that they didn’t receive this type of support at college.”
If you would like to find out more about the courses we offer in plumbing, click here.
Marketing and Communications
The marketing department is responsible for promoting Weston College to the public, by promoting the Colleges courses, achievements and events.
Our aims are to attract learners to study within the Weston College Group, build and grow the College’s brand and highlight its reputation, and promote the College Group’s success, student progression and outstanding support for our learners.
The marketing department manages the College’s websites and official social media accounts, runs advertising campaigns, creates press releases, and manages many of the College Group’s events, such as Graduation, the Celebration of Success and the Business Awards.
We produce a wide range of publications including our full-time, Higher Education and part-time prospectuses, course leaflets and posters, and other documents such as the College’s annual report, magazines and newsletters, course brochures and the student handbook.
Weston College is committed to providing accurate and timely information for local, regional and national media, and the general public.
The marketing team is available between 8.30am and 5pm, Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Fridays. You can get in touch with us by emailing marketing@weston.ac.uk.
All of our press releases are uploaded to the news section of our websites. News from the academies we sponsor, including the North Somerset Enterprise and Technology College, can be found on the news section of the Inspirational Futures Trust’s website. News pertaining to our Higher Education Provision can be found on www.ucw.ac.uk.
The marketing department produces most imagery and film in house, and keeps an extensive archive of the photographs it takes. If you would like a copy of an image featuring you or a member of your family, please contact us at photography@weston.ac.uk.
Our photos of graduation and many other events can be found on the College’s Facebook page. High quality images can be found on the College’s Flickr account.
Weston College is able to accommodate many requests to provide locations for film and photography. The College has a range of attractive, modern and adaptable facilities which can be viewed on our youtube channel.
We also are able to provide heritage facilities such as the Victorian Hans Price designed Conference Centre and, from September 2017, the 1927 Winter Gardens Pavilion.
For booking details, contact marketing@weston.ac.uk.
For enquiries about sponsoring key events such as Celebration of Success, Business Breakfast, Business Awards and Graduation, please contact the marketing team by email at marketing@weston.ac.uk.
