At Weston College, we’re always trying to raise awareness for important causes. That’s why we’re very pleased to announce that our Level 3 Media learners recently teamed up with Meningitis Now, a leading charity in the UK for raising awareness and supporting people with meningitis. They have invested tens of millions of pounds in research surrounding the illness, playing a critical part in life-saving vaccines.

Our students were tasked with creating Instagram Reels and TikTok videos to help Meningitis Now with their annual awareness campaign. To do this, our learners travelled to their headquarters in Stroud. Here they met with survivors of meningitis and carefully interviewed them to record their experience, allowing them to recount their stories.

After this, the students went to Bristol to meet with more people who have suffered as a result of Meningitis, including a mother who sadly lost her child to the illness.

Inclusion was a key part of the brief given to learners, as an important part of an awareness campaign is ensuring that the message can be received by as many people as possible. To help with this aim, students used a Makaton interpreter to help subtitle their reels. Makaton is a type of sign language used by over 100,000 children and adults as a communication aid for people who have difficulty communicating and understanding concepts.

This employer project forms part of the Creative Arts Careers Excellence Hub. The College has fourteen sector-specific Career Excellence Hubs, which evidence our dedication to supporting both employers and learners in achieving their future goals. By creating a seamless connection between industry and education, we enable learners to acquire not only the essential skills and knowledge but also the professional networks necessary to excel in their chosen fields.

Well done to all of these learners for raising awareness of such an important issue in a creative way. We wish all of these students the best for the rest of their course!