Weston College and the West of England Institute of Technology (WEIoT) consortium will partner with Business West, on the brand-new Local Skills Improvement Plan Trailblazer (LSIP).

Business West is one of only eight Chambers of Commerce across England that will lead on the new initiative for the region.

The pilot project will seek to align further technical education provision in the greater West of England area more closely with the skills needs of local employers.

First outlined in the Department for Education’s Further Education white paper, the aim of LSIPs is to give employers more of a say over the future skills landscape in their locality and be part of addressing skills gaps.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said:

“We are thrilled to be working with Business West on this exciting project, as our passion for supporting local people access to the skills training, they need, is closely aligned.

“We offer cutting-edge technology and high-quality training, which is really going to benefit local employers throughout the pilot of the LSIP plans. We will provide the necessary training and support, to unlock learner’s potential and access new skills.”

Business West’s Head of Skills, Nicky Williams will spearhead the pilot, which also opens up a share of £65m in competitive grant funding for the region, commented: “Business West is delighted to have been chosen as one of eight Chambers across England to be a trailblazer for the LSIP in the West of England region.

“As a long-term champion of an employer-led education and skills agenda, we will be working closely with employers in the advanced engineering & aerospace and healthcare sectors to shape the future of skills in our region.

“The pilot of LSIPs are a real boost for employers and will help make sure that the provision of technical training meets their future needs.”

Earlier this year, the government released their ‘White Paper Skills for Job: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth’, which challenged FE providers to be “responsive to local labour market needs.”

With the UK poised for high career growth as it emerges from the pandemic and employers looking to recruit the best talent to succeed, the paper was very timely.

It brought up valid points, and analysed ways in which FE Colleges can support the local labour market, providing learners with the relevant skills needed to thrive on completion of their studies.

It got me thinking, how can we ensure a consistent approach across our whole provision, and at all levels? We already work with key employer partners, but what can we do to further support the labour market?

So, I am pleased to introduce you to our brand-new Career Excellence Hubs.

Each of our fourteen faculties have signed up to become a Career Excellence Hub, which aligns our provision to the needs of local employers and future industry sector needs.

The Career Excellence Hubs will offer the very best support, from our award-winning teams in; well-being, inclusive practice/SEND and digital. We are also going to be linking much closer with WorldSkills UK, to provide learners with more opportunities to test their skills on the national stage.

In order for these to be a real success, we are on the look out for Future Talent Business Partners.

Our Future Talent Business Partners not only pledge their support to develop young people and help them become industry ready, but they will also have the opportunity to:

• Co-design training provision  
• Create an inspirational learning experience  
• Provide the skills training required for their business and wider industry 
• Deliver a talented workforce for the industry will thrive 

We have already had a great response from industry, as they seek to partner with us, on this exciting new project – which is going to have a really positive impact across our region, for both our learners and employer partners.

We have long had the ethos of creating careers, and not just providing courses, and these new Career Excellence Hubs, are the next step in our journey of creating brighter futures for everyone associated with Weston College.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College Group

Last weekend (16th – 18th July) Weston College and the West of England Institute of Technology (WEIoT) held the ‘Future Tech Weston’ event, in partnership with Weston Town Council, on the Italian Gardens.

The 3-day event which proved very popular with locals, and holidaymakers alike, as over 2,000 people visited the event, which showcased a range of technology, from drones to electrical cars, all with the aim of demonstrating how future technology can impact our region.

The main attraction was the Westfield Pod, an autonomous vehicle, which provided demonstrations around Weston across the weekend - with over 1,000 people experiencing the Pod. The Pod is an electric powered 4-6-seater, which can be driven manually, via an externally connected joystick, or automatically along a predefined route. There were two examples on display, as passenger transport pod, and a street sweeper, both fully autonomous.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston Group, said: “We were very pleased to host ‘Future Tech Weston’, and it was really exciting to see what the future of transport might look like in Weston.

“We believe that it is vitally important to be promoting aspects such as future green technology and showcase the exciting career opportunities there are for our communities.

“I would also like to mention how proud I am of our Computing learners, who have worked closely with Westfield on the coding and the development of Westfield’s autonomous vehicles – something I really enjoyed testing out!”

Metro Mayor Dan Norris met health and construction students at Weston College and also helped celebrate the official national launch of the UK’s twelve “Institutes of Technologies”.

Weston College is the lead college for the West of England Institute of Technology in partnership with Bath College, Gloucestershire College, Yeovil College and UWE Bristol, and local employers including Airbus, the NHS and the National Composites Centre.

At Weston College’s Health and Active Living Centre, Mayor Norris was shown the College’s new simulation ward where students train on state of the art, life-like dummy patients which breathe, blink and groan. The Mayor spoke to students and then got hands on performing CPR on a training dummy. He was then shown some of the College’s construction facilities at the Construction Training Centre.

Dan Norris said: “I’m delighted to visit the brilliant facilities at Weston College – the injuries on those patient dummies were worryingly lifelike, and I was fascinated to meet some of the people training to go into the building trade, the sights and sounds brought back a lot of memories for me from the days I was a scaffolder’s assistant. The young people I met were really enthusiastic and motivated and they know exactly what skills they need and were telling me about the full-time jobs they know they can get at the end of their studies.”

Whilst at the Construction Training Centre Dan met Thomas Aram who is on a 360 Excavator training programme. Thomas was made redundant from his previous job, so training at Weston College is providing him with an opportunity to reskill and find a new job.

Thomas said, “It’s been tough since I was made redundant – my Universal Credit Advisor told me about this opportunity at Weston College, and I jumped at the chance, as I’d always wanted to work in the construction sector. I’m on a 10-day programme which will give me the qualification I need to get a job, and once I have that there are more training opportunities to increase my skill level.”

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive at Weston College commented: “We were delighted to welcome Dan to the College to meet our learners and to hear first-hand about their experiences and future career aspirations. His interaction with learners was superb and it gave us all a boost. It was great to meet somebody genuinely interested in what we do and our learners.”

Our extra curricular sports academies provide athletes with outstanding opportunities. We are extremely pleased and excited to announce a third student has gained international honours this year. Bailey Kempster, part of our under 19s football programme, has recently been selected for the England colleges football team.

As well as impressing the academy and senior coaches at our partner club Weston-super-Mare AFC, Bailey has had a successful first two seasons playing national youth alliance football.

This accolade is extremely well deserved and caps off a fantastic two years of development. It is great to see that our football programme is now going from strength to strength with Bailey being the second colleges international to come out of the programme since our official partnership with Weston football club started just three years ago.

We caught up with Bailey who added:

"My time in the sports academy has been a great experience with high level coaching and a brilliant training and games program.

"The coaches, the team and the facilities available has made my time at the academy a excellent environment to work in. They have also given me the opportunity to represent them by nominating me for these trials.

"The selection process consisted of two trials. The first of these was a South West trial which was held at Weston Super Mare AFC and the second was a national trial in Leicester. Each player was then given a minimum of 60 minutes in the matches we played to impress the coaches and show them that you are worthy of a place in the final squad. 

"I can't wait to start on the 1st of July with a game against Chelsea FC. We then have a tournament at the end of July with many professional clubs attending. 

"My advice for someone getting into football would be to stay positive, never give up and be prepared to work hard."

Bailey now joins female rugby athletes, Lottie Dadds and Katie Mackay, as our third international progression for this season. We are extremely proud of the trio and wish them the best of luck for all of their fixtures in the future.

Academy Manager Jack Gadd said:

"This is a fantastic achievement for these athletes and shows how the programmes continue to encourage and produce players for these highest of honours.

"All three have epitomised what it means to be a student athlete here at Weston College. It is great to see our programme helping athletes achieve their sporting goals and are now receiving recognition on the national stage.

"We are extremely proud of the three guys and are looking forward now to supporting the next crop of talent reach its potential next season where we hope to add to this tally across our main performance sports."

Principal and Chief Executive, Dr Paul Phillips CBE added: "A massive congratulations to all three of our national achievers this season. With these successes and the development of state-of-the-art sporting facilities at the Health and Active Living Skills Centre, I'm so proud that Weston College and partners are continuing to put Weston on the map as a hub of excellence and outstanding young talent"

On Thursday, Weston College were announced as winners of the ‘Promoting Apprenticeship Campaign of the Year’ category, at the 2021 AAC Apprenticeship Awards.

The AAC Apprenticeship Awards is supported by FE Week and AELP (Association of Employment and Learning Providers) and celebrates apprenticeships across the UK.

Weston College was commended for its partnership with the FA and AoC Sport, to create and promote the FA Women’s Football Apprenticeship Programme, which has the aim of increasing female participation in football.

With the support of a strong marketing campaign the apprenticeship vacancies went live in August, it proved popular, with 146 applications, for just ten vacancies. The apprenticeship itself has had some fantastic backing, with football clubs across the UK endorsing the programme, to encourage more females to get involved with football.

The ever-popular awards received over 350 nominations for the 21 categories this year, with the judges praising the innovation and tenacity of apprenticeship providers.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of the Weston College Group, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this award, as it represents partnership working and the hard work and dedication of our team, in not only creating and delivering apprenticeships, but also raising the awareness of apprenticeships across the UK.”

“We have a fantastic relationship with the FA and AoC Sport, and together we have had such great success in getting young females involved in football already – I can’t wait to continue this partnership and support further growth in female football.”

The white paper sets out a vision for the future of skills across England. The resources both physical and human needed to deliver and respond to this challenge are significant and require innovation and collaborative working. In the West of England region, two partners in the education world have joined forces to drive a unique implementation programme. UWE Bristol and Weston College, both giants in the world of higher and further education have almost 20 years of partnership working between them but from September 2021 they are tackling a skills issue across the Bristol region – together!

Why is this happening? The combined and joint working experience of the two organisations is clearly greater than the sum of the parts. The Vice Chancellor of UWE Bristol Professor Steve West commented:

“The need to focus on skills and education to level-up and build for the future is essential and now is the time to be bold and ambitious with partners as we recover from a global pandemic.”

His words were complemented by Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal & Chief Executive of Weston College:

“If we jigsaw our combined skills portfolio which includes an Institute of Technology ( IoT) and a Centre for Excellence we can grab this nettle and produce the skills continuum that is missing.”

Both individuals believe that their proposal makes sense at so many levels and moreover that this is a Level 3 pilot in the making that they hope Department for Education and others will see as having the potential to influence and change perception of education. Their model is simply two organisations providing the thrust of development that can influence the response of young people and adults alike. This is a boldness in approach that has a freshness, a vitality that will appear to a wide audience. So, what does this future look like. Already ahead of launching in the Autumn Term both organisations have piloted Level 3 activity under a joint brand and yes there is a market - which is already reaching undiscovered potential.

Both organisations were keen to emphasise that resource is more important at this stage than a single building or location, Dr Phillips added:

“We need to be responsive at a number of levels including type of curriculum, location of delivery and mode of deliver.”

Whilst Professor West stated:

“The Government needs to support inclusive innovative examples of collaboration that encourages institutions, businesses and communities to work together to improve the health, wealth and opportunities of the nation.”

Like so many initiatives to develop this model and take it to its full potential will require investment. Both leaders hope that this is the type of project that will gain funding in the future from both a revenue and capital perspective. The institutions believe in this approach and have already invested and speculated to accumulate. Their accumulation however is an agile response to an urgent skills demand.

Dr Phillips concluded:

“We know the objective of the ‘skills for jobs’ white paper. Its intention to reform post -16 technical education and training to increase productivity is already clear. The UWE Bristol/Weston College partnership is already ahead of the game and will transform the opportunities for learners right across our region.”

On Thursday 8th July, Level 3 learners spent the day putting into practice what they have been learning over the last year on the Theatrical, Special Effects, Hair and Media Make-Up Diploma at a show held at the Sovereign Shopping Centre.

Poppy Shepheard (17) from Weston, Georgia Houlson (18) from Weston, Jasmine Nickells (18) from Weston, Frankie Ogborn (20) from Weston, Georgina MacDonald (17) from Weston, Martyna Borowiec (18) from Clevedon, Amelia Morcom (18) from Weston and Rhianna Gardner (18) also from Weston, were given a make-up brief where they needed to explore the theme of ‘Sci-Fi’ and designed their own character suitable for film or theatre, taking inspiration from films and/or books to create a total look that matches the aesthetic of the characters and environment.

Working to a brief is an expectation in the media make-up industry and this qualification provides learners with the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to work as a make-up artist covering topics such as:

• Airbrush make-up for the face

• Camouflage make-up

• Fashion, photographic and media make-up

• Plus optional units including - face and body art, mehndi skin decoration, applying prosthetic pieces, styling and fitting postiche, wig services and fantasy hair design.

Sandra, Dean of the Faculty said: “As you can see our learners have created some brilliant sci-fi looks, they are going to look great in their portfolio's. They have all worked so hard.”

Poppy Shepheard, “It was interesting to see how each of us interpreted the brief, and created our unique look! I decided to take a dystopian/robot angle, and create a fierce robot warrior! I really enjoyed showcasing our creativity to the public, it was such a great end to the year! I would highly recommend this course for any creative make-up enthusiasts and artists, or for anyone looking to join the world of makeup artistry.”

Jon, Centre Manager said “It looks fantastic. What great, creative work - well done! We want to be at the heart of the community, and by working with the wonderful staff and learners at Weston College we are able to deliver different events for our customers and also assist the learners experience in working under pressure with an audience in a different venue.”

There is still time to join us:

• Courses for school leavers
• Courses for adults

The exceptional achievements of Weston College’s Ellie Hedges were celebrated yesterday as she was awarded the prestigious bronze BTEC Award for Health and Social Care. 

 Ellie, aged 19, was recognised by teachers and peers for her outstanding contributions. As well as completing her Level 3 qualification to an extremely high standard, she also worked 40-60 hours a week as a community carer all through the pandemic. Ellie is incredibly motivated to achieve, applying the classroom taught knowledge to benefit the local community. She is described as “an inspiration for all health and social students”. 

 The Priory Community School leaver’s hard work and dedication was celebrated at the 11th anniversary of Pearson’s annual BTEC Awards hosted online on 7th July 2021 at 2pm.   

 Ellie commented: “I was shocked to be honest. It felt amazing to be recognised, especially on an international level with applicants from 31 other countries aswell.  

“I think the opportunities you get here are amazing. Sarah-Jane has been incredible and I’ll never forget going into the simulation room for the first time, being taken back on how real it felt. This really helped to prepare me for placements and work by putting my knowledge into practice.” 

Now having completed her Level 3 BTEC, Ellie is progressing to study Midwifery at University of West of England (UWE) in January 2022.  

Co-hosted by presenter of the United View, YouTube influencer and BTEC alumnus and ambassador, Flex and sports presenter and events host, Gemma Care. 19 category award winners were celebrated from around the UK and internationally in subjects such as Health and Social Care, Performing Arts, Engineering, IT, Business and Sport.  

BTEC alumni including Academy Award-winning producer and Head of Film and Animation at ScreenSkills Gareth Ellis-Unwin, entrepreneur and founder of SB.TV Jamal Edwards MBE, and award-winning actress Lucy Fallon were among those also presenting awards.  

Commenting on the achievement, Ellie’s tutor, Sarah-Jane Lewis added: “We're all hugely proud of everything Ellie has achieved here at the college. It’s fantastic to see her hard work paying off and this achievement is very well deserved. We’re all about creating brighter futures, and Ellie’s future is bright indeed!”