Weston College recently took part in the 2023 Planet Earth Games, an Association of Colleges (AoC) competition which uses games and challenges to engage colleges and students in climate action.

The AoC and Planet Earth Games describe this as a “Global Movement”, and have co-produced a project aimed at educating, promoting and advocating for colleges in climate action, and sustainable consumption this academic year.

The College had many activities taking place across the week, particularly in the Engineering and Inclusive Practice departments.

The Faculty of Inclusive Practice (FIP) launched the ‘Wheels to Work’ campaign, where a number of staff cycled from Yatton and Clevedon through to Weston. Alongside this, free bike checks, services and cleans were offered to learners and staff.

Extension studies and Engineering also took part in a Beach Clean across Weston Seafront, to improve the beach experience for the community and help preserve the coastline.

Live salads and 100 tree saplings were planted at Butcombe farm by the learners, to assist with the environment and carbon emissions.

The engineering learners also collected reusable plastics, and moulded them into various items. The learners from FIP then sold them in their pop-up shop.

Jo Philpott, Vice Principal – Curriculum Delivery & Technical Innovation, commented on the success: “We are incredibly proud of the dedication our learners had towards the Planet Earth Games initiative and the impact this has had since. We believe it is incredibly important to do our part when it comes to sustainability, and AoC’s Planet Earth Games is the ideal way to get learners engaged. I’d like to say a huge thanks to everyone involved!”

Weston College hosted its first ever ‘Reverse Careers Fair’ at the beginning of this month, as part of My Future Month, for the learners with SEND within the Faculty of Inclusive Practice (FIP).

Each student created poster boards showcasing themselves, their accolades and their skills, for employers from across the South West to review and find potential new members of their workforce.

We caught up with Nina Sinclair, the Lead Employment Navigator for Autism, who co-ordinated the event. She told us about the success and process of the reverse careers fair:

“We knew this was an important event to arrange for the leaners within the faculty. In my experience of attending the ‘normal’ job fairs, it’s really apparent that it’s not accessible. Yes, it’s physically accessible to some degree, but when you take into account the sensory and social demands, the layout and navigating, and the confidence it takes to put yourself in front of an employer in that manner, you realise that someone who is neurodivergent could find that incredibly difficult, particularly when they are trying to put their best self forward. Because of the impact that this can have, it almost feels as though they are competing with people who don’t have those barriers, and it struck me as being extremely unfair.

We heard about reverse career fairs previously and had wanted to implement something similar for learners with SEND during My Future Month, to support their progression of careers and employability. The idea of creating the poster boards seemed ideal, as the learners are still able to showcase their talents to employers, without needing to talk directly to them, or even be in the room if it felt too demanding on the day.

Furthermore, we felt flipping around the ‘traditional’ layout of a careers event would allow the employers to feel more approachable and human to the learners, and encourage those meaningful conversations that can lead to brilliant outcomes.

We knew we had to take the leap and arrange this inspiring event to take place following the constant learner feedback that we receive, including struggling to access community and college wide events, as well as virtual ones.

As a college, we’ve been offering Inclusive Employer workshops, to educate and improve employer’s understanding of inclusivity towards becoming more neurodivergence within their business, and potential employees too. We took this chance to self-reflect and practice what we preach within the college, to improve upon what we deliver to learners with SEND.

When considering which employers to invite to this event, we wanted to ensure it was bespoken to the learners showcasing themselves. To achieve this, we found out from the learners which area and industry they would like to work in, and then asked the Business Growth Team to reach out to employers which fit the description and invite them along. We then knew which employer to direct to which learner or poster board, to encourage conversations with meaningful outcomes for both participants.

As well as the employers which attended, we also had some representatives from the college’s Apprenticeships Team to present to the learners that they also have that option, but also to present to the apprenticeship team that even though our learners may require extra support in some areas, they are strong candidates for apprenticeships.

Something we desperately wanted to avoid was the idea that this would be ‘segregating’ the learners with SEND from the other learners. In order to combat this, we purposely planned this event for a week after Careers Fest, a more ‘traditional’ careers fair held by the college. If the learners attended Careers Fest but felt overwhelmed, they knew they had the Reverse Careers Fair which would be better suited to their needs, but still allow the opportunity to talk to employers and put themselves out there.

The highlight of the event for us was before the event had even happened, walking through the classrooms of the different courses within the faculty, and seeing the learners working on their boards, seeing their excitement, and the conversations that were taking place about their employability opportunities. It was fantastic to see.

Since the event took place, we’ve had some great feedback from employers, the apprenticeship team, and learners.

One employer said: “I was able to talk to several students about career progression, job opportunities and also aspirations and all came across really positive and enthusiastic. Thank you for the invitation, and I hopefully look forward to working with your team and group in the future.”

Chloe from the Apprenticeships Team, said: “This was one of the best events we have attended to date; it gave us a chance to meet a variety of neurodiverse learners in a safe space and have meaningful conversations about how they can take their next steps to getting an apprenticeship!”

As well as this, we have employers coming back to run CV and money management workshops, and the apprenticeship team want to work closer with the faculty – we know we’re going to have strong outcomes for the learners.

We wanted to take the Weston College career strategy and adapt it to fit the needs of the learners with SEND and that’s exactly what we’ve achieved; we cannot wait for the next one! This model of best practice in SEND will be shared locally and nationally through our Centre for Excellence in SEND”

Click to find out more about the Faculty of Inclusive Practice, or how you and your business can get involved.

Weston College celebrated the attendance of Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal who visited its state-of-the-art Health and Active Living Skills Centre at Loxton Campus on Thursday, March 30th, 2023.

HRH The Princess Royal was greeted by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset, Mr. Mohammed Saddiq and joined Weston College’s Principal and Chief Executive, Sir Paul Phillips CBE on a tour of the impressive facilities.

The visit included a demonstration of an inclusive sports session with Special Education Needs learners, and the College’s Football Academy students' strength and conditioning class. The tour also offered an opportunity to meet groups of Health and Social Care learners who were taking part in a nutrition and food science session, plus a chance to meet Apprenticeship students showcasing a range of medical scenarios on medical mannequins. The students explained to HRH The Princess Royal that the medical mannequins helped them to practice and improve their skills before working with real patients, so preparing them to be competent and confident healthcare professionals.

During the visit, The Princess Royal also met key members of the College leadership team and the Chair of Governors, Andrew Leighton-Price, as well as local dignitaries including Chair, North Somerset Council, Councillor Karin Haverson, Mayor, Weston-super-Mare, Councillor Sonia Russe and Member of Parliament for Weston-super-Mare, Mr. John Penrose.

Weston College’s Health and Active Living Skills Centre is a multi-million flagship facility which is inspiring and educating new generations of students and enabling the upskilling of people already in the healthcare and sport industries.

The Centre brings together the College’s health and social care, sports therapy, and active living courses into one facility, which is benefiting students, businesses, and the wider community. It features a state-of-the-art training hospital ward, science laboratories, a full size 3G pitch, a full-size rugby pitch, a multi-gym, and a sports hall.

The event concluded with The Princess Royal unveiling a plaque to officially open the Weston College Health and Active Living Skills Centre, and it is hoped that the Centre will continue to thrive and support learners, businesses, and the community for many years to come.

Commenting on the visit Sir Paul Phillips CBE, said:

“I feel both honoured and privileged to welcome and share this impressive development with The Princess Royal; this is her fourth visit to the College, The Princess Royal opened Loxton Campus in 2008, South West Skills Campus in 2018, and then the redevelopment of the Winter Gardens in 2021.

“I am very proud to see where the Weston College Group is today, and how we continue to contribute to the regeneration of Weston-super-Mare through the creation of inspiring facilities for both leaners and the community.

“We have worked with key business partners to ensure that the Health and Active Living Skills Centre is tackling the current skills shortage in the sector and address the longer-term issues that affect our health service and the health of the local population.”

The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) through the Local Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Combined Authority contributed £5.4 million towards the project.

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.

Recently, our Environmental Health Practitioner Degree Apprentices swapped their usual online studies to attend a series of exciting in-person practical sessions in the laboratory at our Knightstone Campus.  

This was a particularly momentous occasion as our BSC (Hons) Environmental Health Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship is taught exclusively online, with our students based all over the UK.  

However, our personal approach here at UCW means we care about getting to know each and every one of our students. So, when the opportunity arose to invite our degree apprentices onto campus, we simply could not pass it up! 

Students took part in a series of practical sessions, led by lecturer in Public and Environmental Health; Nahum. The workshops were designed to inform and develop the apprentices’ understanding of environmental health in a way that can be applied to their everyday professional practices in the field.  

We caught up with Joanne, one of our brilliant Degree Apprentices all the way from Tyneside Council, to find out more about her course.  

Joanne told us the day spent on campus at UCW was very interesting: “We cultured bacteria and bacterial growth in the laboratory. We were looking at how to identify different forms of bacteria using gram-staining and streak plates.” 

We asked Joanne about the skills she is gaining from her studies with University Centre Weston, and how these are helping her develop in her career. 

She said: 

“Just learning about everything is so amazing because there’s so many different disciplines in environmental health. I’m predominantly working in housing at the moment. It’s interesting learning about microbiology, and the climate change, the planet and how everything interlinks really makes you start to think about things differently. 

“When looking for my degree apprenticeship, UCW’s offer was definitely the best, in terms of their staff’s expertise and the new way it’s being delivered online. This is something I find incredibly useful, being based in the Northeast, it means I can learn flexibly whilst working – which is fantastic. I’m thoroughly enjoying it!” 

Thanks Joanne! 

If you would like to find out more about the Environmental Health Practitioner Degree Apprenticeship programme at UCW, click here.