Weston College is proud to announce the successful completion of the "Leading from the Middle" CPD programme for a number of its middle managers and leaders. Designed for both curriculum and business support managers, this high-impact development programme was commissioned by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and delivered by FE Associates (FEA).

The programme, which launched on January 25, 2023, culminated in a conference on May 3, where participants presented on the outcome of their action learning projects. Throughout the programme, participants were offered a good mix of building knowledge and understanding of the sector, including funding, strategy, and policy, as well as equipping managers with greater soft management and leadership skills.

One of the key highlights of the programme was the allocation of an external mentor to each participant, allowing them to focus on particular areas of development during the course of the programme. The delivery team for the programme was made up of a range of experts, including trainers from in and out of the FE and Skills sector. The team's background includes ex-Principals, a Deputy Principal, an Ofsted Inspector, and trainers working with some of the biggest employers internationally and nationally, including the Metropolitan Police

Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) were an integral part of the programme, and the programme was underpinned by an ethos of inclusivity and personalisation, with core elements that participants were required to engage with and complete. Based on their initial assessment, participants got the opportunity to engage with modules and units that were relevant to their own personal development.

Sir Paul Phillips, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College commented:  "We are delighted to have successfully completed the Leading from the Middle CPD programme for our middle managers and leaders. This programme has been instrumental in building knowledge and understanding of the sector, equipping our managers with greater soft management and leadership skills, and ensuring that equality, diversity, and inclusion are embedded into all aspects of our work. The Leading from the Middle CPD programme has been a great success for Weston College, and we look forward to continued success and growth in the future.”

My name is Dan, and I am the Recruitment Manager at Butcombe Brewery, part of the Liberation Group. We are a business made up of premium food-led pubs and breweries that create award-winning beers. We are extremely proud of our South West roots, and have now expanded across the South of the UK, and the Channel Islands!

Having grown our business in Somerset, a relationship with Weston College seemed a natural step when we first began our partnership. We were keen to help support the community in our homeland whilst also gaining access to the next wave of Hospitality superstars!

We have had a superb, collaborative relationship with Weston College over the last few years. Alongside being a Career Excellence Hub employer, we also attend careers fairs, provide masterclass learning sessions with the students and have become involved with T Level structure and content too.

The impact of the partnership with Weston College has been fantastic; we have successfully placed 6 young chefs into our businesses across the South West. Also, the courses delivered by the college have helped some of our Central teams learn new skills to bring to the business!

Well done and thank you to the team at Weston College - I look forward to what the future of our partnership holds!

This week, Weston College have hosted two events focusing on sustainability; a Community Beach Clean on Monday 24th April and a Sustainability Conference on Thursday 26th April.

Both events’ main aim was to educate those in attendance on the importance of sustainability, through interactivity, guest talks and informative resources.

The Beach Clean was open to staff and students, but also to members of the community to work towards a cleaner environment. This event was very kindly funded by Burnham & Weston Energy, meaning all necessary equipment could be provided to help make this event as accessible as possible! The clean was a huge team effort of volunteers from the college and community, to help with the restoration and preservation of our coastlines, and acting as a fun and engaging way to raise awareness about environmental issues.

Alongside the actual beach clean element of this event, there were also several stands set up in the Tropicana where students and the public could learn more. North Somerset Council’s Waste and Recycling team, as well as their Energy team had stands at the Tropicana, on hand and ready to inform and engage in meaningful conversations with the community.

Following the theme throughout the week, the Weston College Sustainability Conference took place at the Winter Gardens Pavilion, with learners from the college and UCW, as well as employers in attendance. Burnham & Weston Energy’s Lynda Wookey provided the keynote speech, focused on Community Energy to contribute towards the development of the college’s sustainability strategy for the future.

Employers who work closely with the college also dotted stalls throughout the ballroom, including North Somerset Council, Uncle Paul’s Chilli Charity and Garden Organic. The stalls, similar to the beach clean, were able to bring interactive games and resources to engage the attendees in learning about environmental issues. Our Travel and Tourism learners had their own stall on the Future of Sustainable Transport in Weston, which acted as fantastic experience in interacting with new people and presenting their own ideas.

Following this, the attendees were treated to an insightful Q&A session with panellists including Lynda Wookey (Burnham & Weston Energy) Kate Eastment (Garden Organic), Joe Tristram (Centre for Sustainable Energy), Alexandra Watson (Michelmores) and Amelia Cruz (Younity), before a student discussion to conclude the event.

Jo Philpott, Vice Principal – Curriculum Delivery & Technical Innovation, commented on the success of the week: “Here at Weston College, we are very committed to our Sustainability and Social Action Framework. This framework, in turn, will help us in building a green, lean and socially responsible culture to create a sustainable and community focused College of the Future.

“Through implementing initiatives such as the Beach Clean and the Conference this week, we are able to engage a huge number of our learners, staff, and the wider community of North Somerset, and play a part in an agile and responsive approach to our community. I am thrilled with the outcome of both events, and look forward to the impact they each have for the future.”

With Weston College's Annual Business Awards under 6 weeks away, we’re excited to be bringing you the first of many employer award nominees articles!

In this article we’ll be talking through our nominees for the CEH Employer of the Year award. Nominated are: Culture Weston, Hydrock Consultants, Hinkley Point C

Good luck to all that have been nominated! Award winners will be announced on Thursday 30th June. Stay updated by following our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages or by following #WestonCollegeBusinessAwards2023. 

Just 7 weeks to go till Weston College's Business Awards and we cant wait!

The event which is taking place at the Winter Gardens in Weston-super-Mare on the 15th June, is a fantastic celebration of learners and employers, with a total of 25 awards up for grabs during the event.

After receiving over 100 nominations, we are delighted to share our shortlist for the employer awards, with the winners being announced on the night.

Weston College is proud to be the lead College for the West of England Institute of Technology (WEIoT) which is playing a pivotal role in the skills agenda of our region. As the national recruitment statistics for IoTs are revealed in FE Week, the WEIoT is delighted to announce that it has achieved 118% of its enrolment targets to date.

Weston College is working in collaboration with education partners Bath College, Gloucestershire College, Yeovil College, UWE Bristol and our employer partners Airbus, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Trust, National Composite Centre, Bamboo, Renishaw, Jisc, iO Academy, GKN Aerospace, Rolls Royce, St Monica Trust, Leonardo, GE Aviation and North Somerset Council.

As Sir Paul Phillips, Principal and Chief Executive for Weston College, stated, “Our IoT is based on a hub and spokes model with a robust leadership team and partners who understand the skills agenda. Targets are not easy in some cases but between us dialogue has been positive. We are employer always guided and have established strong links with DfE et al so that there is a shared knowledge of matters with shared resolution. The West of England IoT is pivotal to the skills agenda in our region and built upon trust and entrepreneurship. I worry that a public sector mentality may damage the innovation and rapid response to skills shortages in the future realised to date. At present however we are driving change and there are opportunities for modularisation but still a need to recognise that skills needs and qualifications are not the same thing. The IoT has huge potential to influence skills solutions and all credit to the West of England Combined Authority for recognising that pump prime revenue funding is a pre requisite for success.”

Read the full FE Week article here: Experts and minister hail ‘flying start’ as recruitment stats for IoTs revealed

Weston College, a leading further education institution, is proud to announce its participation in The Education Training Foundation (ETF) Leadership Mental Health and Wellbeing project. This project aims to create space for leaders to reflect on and share their journey towards self-awareness and positive mental health, through a trauma-informed approach.

The project offers various resources such as webinars, podcasts, and blogs. Since January 2023, different leaders from FE have shared their journey on how they’ve changed the culture within their organisation. Through listening, learning, and leading by example, a culture shift can be embedded, starting from the top.

The podcast series "ETF Leadership Mental Health and Wellbeing: Changing your culture to embed mental health and wellbeing at the heart of further education," showcases real stories from FE leaders who have approached “reflection and resolution” within their own individual practice and wider organisational approaches, specifically addressing how to avoid burnout and be equipped to deal with stress. Polly Harrow, Assistant Principal Student Experience, Kirklees College and Chair of Executive Board, National Association for the Managers of Student Services (NAMSS) interviews a series of guests about how they’ve been on a journey of creating a culture change within their organisation.

In the second podcast episode, Polly talks to Sir Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive, and Dr. Georgie Ford, Strategic Lead – Healthcare and Nursing at Weston College about their experience and learning from their trauma-informed approach to mental health support. The interview focuses on their experience and learning from their trauma-informed approach to mental health support, particularly on how they support staff mental health and wellbeing and the impact this has had on changing the culture of the organisation. They discuss how they have created a supportive environment for staff, including training, regular check-ins, and open communication channels, and how this has positively impacted the overall mental health and wellbeing of staff and students.

The podcast provides valuable insights into the importance of creating a culture shift towards mental health and wellbeing in education institutions, as well as practical advice for leaders looking to implement changes within their organisations.

This program is delivered by Association of Colleges, commissioned by the Education and Training Foundation on behalf of the Department for Education.

To listen to the podcast series, search "ETF leadership mental health and wellbeing" on your podcast provider app or click here for the episode on Spotify.

Weston College is proud to be part of this project and hopes to continue promoting a positive culture towards mental health and wellbeing in the education sector.

Here at Weston College, our employer relationships and how we can benefit your business, is a huge part in the role we play. Our Business Growth Team work extremely hard on the employer engagement, so we are excited to launch a new series of blogs from members of the team, allowing you and your business to find out how to benefit from Weston College.

To kick off this series, we have caught up with Kirsty Woods, to explore her role and responsibilities within the team.

“My name is Kirsty, I am a Business Partnership Manager, and I started this job on the 3rd October 2022. My role is to engage with businesses from the Construction industry, identify how the College can support them with training and recruitment, and create opportunities for our learners. I act as the first link between Weston College and the Construction Industry!

It’s a fast-paced role which I love! There is no such thing as a typical day; I find gaining a detailed understanding of a business, their challenges, and the opportunities for us to support them really interesting. We’re lucky to work with a fantastic group of businesses and the interest from employers to work with the College continues to gather momentum.

Predominantly, I work with employers within the construction industry, but they hugely range in size and discipline. For example, I can be speaking to some of the largest organisations in the country one minute regarding their training and development needs but then, supporting a local SME to access funded or commercial training to taking on their first apprentice brick layer the next! It’s just so varied which is why I find it so rewarding. According to the latest Construction Industry Training Board report, we will need an extra 38,200 workers in the South West alone by 2027 so my role supporting Industry to link with education and their future workforce whilst raising the profile of construction as a career path is crucial.

Without a doubt, my favourite part of the job is organising industry events or securing progression opportunities which directly benefit our fantastic construction learners. As a highlight so far, I worked with colleagues to create a BACE Talk series as we have had an ambition to highlight the breadth of careers to our construction students this year, as showcasing careers through our Career Excellence Hubs is a key part of the College ethos. I also love getting to meet so many different people all with a shared passion for developing the next generation by showcasing Construction for the brilliant and varied industry it is. There are so many opportunities to develop a rewarding, sustainable career and it needs to be shouted about!

Weston College is renowned regionally for excellence and I am proud to be part of it. I fully subscribe to our ethos of delivering careers not courses. I was born in Weston-super-Mare but moved to Bristol aged 7 so it really does feel like I’ve come home!

There are so many opportunities for Construction employers to benefit from working with us. From taking on an apprentice, to commercial training for upskilling their existing staff, and employers can be part of our Construction Careers Excellence Hub to engage with future talent through offering guest lectures to our Learners or offering work experience or T Level Industry Placements.

There are still major skills shortages in construction and employers are increasingly aware of the need to build an early talent strategy. The challenge for employers is often knowing where to start.

That’s my job – to identify the shopping list, offer solutions and build long-term employer partnerships. It all begins with a conversation. Employers can email the Business Growth Team at employers@weston.ac.uk to start that conversation…