News and events

It’s only a few days left to go until Weston College Business Awards and the excitement is really ramping up now. 

In this article we will be discussing the nominees for Industry Placement Employer of the Year. These employers have been working closely with learners across the Weston College provision, to provide them with valuable skills through industry placements. 

The nominees for the awards are: Sense IT, Karuta Sportswear and The Links. 

Good luck to all our nominees. Keep a look out on our social media pages for updates. #BusinessAwards 

Sense IT 

Sense IT are a fantastic local business, who offer multiple positions to our computing learners each year, whether that be for Digital T Level learners, or our BTEC Level 3 students.   

Learners that go on placement at Sense IT are always fully supported, and their progression is consistently impressive, as they fully utilise their mentorship. 

The company has evolved over time, and this has meant that learners have been offered paid employment – as the owner has always managed to get the best out of our learners and utilise their talents to assist his business growth.  

Karuta Sportswear 

Karuta sportswear has supported our Level 3 Graphic Design learners, and they are a shining example of how beneficial the professional experience of an Industry Placement is to our learners at Weston College.  

Learners have been fully immersed in the working world of designing graphics for the application on clothing, from start to finish. With emphasis on research the client's needs when they order their bespoke design, to executing the designs on their sportswear with consideration of quality, which is inspected and approved by colleagues. 

The Links 

The Links have supported our Health and Social Care students with work experience and industry placements over the past few years.  

The Links are always extremely supportive when it comes to hosting our health and social care learners and are keen to support and host students through Levels 1 ,2 and 3 for work experience and industry placements through to supporting the new T Level Health industry placements.  

The Links provide multiple placements and are one of our most utilised settings, nothing is too much trouble, and their ethos is putting our learners first with their caring attitude and experience. 

At Weston College, we are passionate about utilising technology, to not only assist a learner’s experience, but to enhance it.

I am fortunate to oversee the Digital Learning Team, and we develop a wide range of bespoke learning content for faculties across the college. We are always looking at ways in which we can innovate and harness the latest technology, and this year we have been creating 360 immersive content to deepen learning through memorable experiences.

We began introducing this content in the Healthcare department, and felt that Construction would also benefit hugely from this, particularly in the training of HGV and LGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle and Light Goods Vehicle) driving. With the widespread shortage of drivers over the last few months, training drivers efficiently and effectively is of huge priority to us.

Weston College is one of the establishments taking part in the Driver Bootcamp scheme, which is helping to train over 600 drivers in the next two years; the immersive training will complement existing training methods through Weston College’s digital platforms.

Immersive driver training complements live driving instruction by putting the learner in the position of a passenger in an HGV or LGV. The learner is exposed to a 360 environment through a VR headset, supported with commentary from the driving instructor who explains the process of driving the vehicle, along with graphic overlays that help the learner to visualise the correct route and technique to opt for.

From the training we’ve done so far, and the feedback we’ve received, immersive training seems to be a huge hit! The learners have benefitted from the ability to pause, rewind, and re-watch sessions with complete autonomy, creating a more personalised experience and deeper understanding for the content. These possibilities are much less likely to be available when driving in real time, and will provide more effective training if the learner is able to regularly revisit the areas they struggle with, creating not only more drivers, but drivers of a higher quality too.

The trainers have also responded well, as they had previously been using Google Street View to highlight problem areas; the learner being fully immersed in the simulation is a huge upgrade, and has the potential to train more efficiently and to a higher quality.

We hope to bring immersive training to more areas in the college in the future, with current plans to expand to Public Services learners, as it allows the learner to be put in situations, potentially hazardous ones, that traditional classrooms wouldn’t provide. By exposing the learner to these contexts in a simulation first, it allows them to feel comfortable and confident when faced with them in assessments and in the real world.

Louise Pratten, Digital Education Manager

Pre-employment Employer of the Year Shortlist Announced 

The final countdown is on for Business Awards, with just one more week to go! It is time now to turn our attention to the nominees for Pre-employment Employer of the Year. 

These are businesses which use our excellent Pre-employment courses to prepare people for an apprenticeship course or full-time employment. This preparation is often vital to ensuring that the student's potential is reached in the workplace. The businesses in this category are Apache Construction, Bespoke Building and Carpentry, and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.  

Good luck to all nominees! 

Apache Construction 

Apache Construction has engaged with Weston College’s Pre-employment team via the Constructing Lives Together Project. Learners have completed their work experience with Apache, and several of these learners have gone on to gain full-time employment.  

During the pandemic Apache Construction lost several key members of their team and approached Weston College to support them with their recruitment needs. Candidates have developed at a really quick rate with Apache, who have been extremely supportive and patient with learners. They have proved to be a fantastic employer to partner with.  

Bespoke  

Bespoke have been supporting our recent North Somerset Works Together and our Constructing Lives Together project by giving learners access to work experience opportunities. For many learners this was their first ever experience in the construction sector 

Some of these learners would not have otherwise accessed this valuable experience on site to explore the construction sector.  They have shown great empathy and are very supportive to all the learners that they take on. Following placements with Bespoke, learners have gone on to enter the industry, with some going on to full-time employment within construction – including with Bespoke.  

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has engaged with Weston College through Sector Based Work Academies, which has resulted in over 80 people being employers by the NHS in clinical and support roles. 

They started off by recruiting vaccinators, but that has since evolved, and they now offer over 350 different career pathways. Not only has this course been a great opportunity for people to gain valuable experience with the NHS, but it has also supported them with their application process and helped to prepare them for interviews.