News and events

Weston College Business Awards is back for 2022, after a three-year break.

The event which is taking place at the Winter Gardens in Weston-super-Mare on the 30th June, is a fantastic celebration of learners and employers, with a total of 29 awards up for grabs during the event.

We are delighted to share our shortlist for the ten employer awards, with the winners being announced on the night.

Good luck to all of the nominees!

Weston College continues to be recognised for its highly inclusive approach and innovative practice in SEND and has been successful in continuing to lead the sector for the next three years in partnership with the Education Training Foundation, as a delivery partner on behalf of the Department for Education’s Universal SEND services.

In 2019 Weston College was named as one of the three National Centres for Excellence in SEND, alongside City College Norwich and Derby College and over the last two and a half years, a powerful partnership has been established to share and innovate best practice. Each centre delivers a different theme, with Weston College focussing on ‘people’, supporting organisations to create an inclusive culture, creating a motivational career structure that enable staff to specialise in SEND and professionalise the provision.

This extended tenure means that Weston College will continue to support a step change across the FE sector, improving inclusivity for young people with SEND through their leadership hub and communities of practice, collaborating with NASEN and the Autism Education Trust to join together our outstanding work to support and develop inclusive practice from early years through to post 16.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “To retain our status as a Centre for Excellence in SEND is a huge honour. This announcement will enable us to continue the momentum we have gathered proactively informing the sector, sharing good practice, and developing highly innovative and successful provision for all learners.

“We’ve always taken great pride in the quality of our provision and the development of our specialist provision for learner with SEND. The College places enablement and personalisation at the heart of its strategic plans, creating a highly inclusive ethos and culture.

“Continuing as a Centre of Excellence in SEND in partnership with the Education Training Foundation, City College Norwich and Derby College will provide the opportunity to continue on this journey of impact, entrepreneurship and inclusivity ensuring this led from the top of the organisation to ensure no learners are left behind.”

I am Kacey Allen, the Office Manager and PA to the director of Bespoke Building and Carpentry. We do anything from renovations and conversions to new builds, using the latest cutting-edge technology, tools and products.

Due to the pandemic, cost increases have created challenges for us, as well as the availability of materials decreasing, creating a huge issue in the construction industry, leading to delays in jobs and price changes to both us and clients. Alongside this, there was a shortage of skilled workers generally, meaning not enough carpenters and groundworkers for us. As we have two newbuilds currently underway in Weston and Wedmore, we definitely needed to increase the support in our workload.

With the help of Weston College and the Constructing Lives Together programme, we were able to take on some eager-to-learn labourers and give Bespoke the support we needed with the general labouring jobs in the team, to help produce top quality services and products, particularly in the newbuilds currently being worked on. Each of the workers had completed training in Health and Safety, Construction Industry Training Board, and Construction Skills Certification Scheme, as well as gaining re-employment skills – which has been really beneficial to us!

Over the next few months we will be engaging with Constructing Lives Together again to continue to build our team and hopefully fill the shortage of skilled workers and reduce the delay in jobs we were struggling with before.

We would definitely recommend this programme to other construction firms who are looking to recruit newly trained workers, as you can ensure they will be willing to learn and looking for experience on the job. Furthermore, this programme provides an effective process of finding if the individual is suitable and a good match to the company before making your final decision.

We are excited to see what the future holds for both Constructing Lives Together and Bespoke Building and Carpentry, and look forward to taking on new skilled workers.

Kacey Allen, Bespoke Building and Carpentry.

You can find out more about Constructing Lives Together by clicking here.