NWSLC Express May 2023

WELCOME TO OUR COLLEGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

“The spring term at NWSLC has been busy, productive, and successful as usual. We marked our annual celebration of achievement in January and were delighted to showcase the talents of so many of our fantastic students. We were happy to learn that one of our apprentices achieved a place in the WorldSkills UK squad to compete internationally next year. Progress is continuing with our plans to launch a new Digital Skills and Innovation Hub at Grayson Place in Nuneaton, and we have started to deliver essential new skills in hydrogen power for the automotive sector in Leicestershire through our new Hyve programme.

“As always, we continue to help our students to develop a solid foundation for employment with a broad range of skills that provide them with the aptitude to join the workforce. We welcome all students, regardless of their starting point. There is a place for everyone at NWSLC and we support a high number of students for whom achieving their qualifications has required them to overcome significant challenges. No matter where you are now in your learning or employment journey, the college will be able to support you with advice and guidance to take the next step. Please join us for one of our open events in June 2023 and we really look forward to seeing you soon”.

COLLEGE APPRENTICE COMPETES TO JOIN

WORLDSKILLS UK TEAM

An apprentice from NWSLC who was selected as a member of the WorldSkills’ Squad UK is hoping to make it to the team that will compete on a global stage at the international WorldSkills 2024 competition in Lyon next year. Hattie Parnham from Wigston, currently working as an apprentice painter and decorator for Ashby Decorator Centre Ltd, was one of 94 candidates selected for the squad to potentially represent the UK in the ‘Skills Olympics’.

This internationally respected competition is held biannually and rewards excellence in technical challenges. Team UK will face competitors from 80 countries for places on the podium with Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals available in a wide range of specialist disciplines. Hattie secured the Silver medal for painting and decorating in the 2022 construction and infrastructure skills competition.

for all Leicestershire and Warwickshire residents. www.nwslc.ac.uk/events

Marion Plant

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive, NWSLC

Hattie Parnham

‘RESILIENCE’ OF STUDENT STARS AND GRADUATES PRAISED AT COLLEGE AWARDS

Students at NWSLC were praised for their ‘dogged determination to succeed against all odds’ at a celebration event on 20 January 2023 to recognise their achievements. Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive, highlighted how students from across the college had demonstrated high levels of resilience over a challenging period, gaining skills and qualifications to form a sound basis for their future careers.

The celebrations recognised representatives of over 10,000 students and apprentices aged 14 and above who studied with NWSLC last year completing qualifications from foundation to degree level across the college’s seven campuses. Congratulating the students and graduates and presenting the prizes was guest of honour Andrew Turner from NWSLC’s governing body. More than 200 students collected certificates for their higher education and professional qualifications on the night.

Awards winners collecting STAR Awards included:

Hattie Parnham from Wigston who was named Construction Apprentice of the Year and also won the Principal’s Prize for overall Student of the Year. Hattie, an apprentice with Ashby Decorator Centre, competed in the painting and decorating skills competition in the finals of WorldSkills UK 2022 – and came home with the Silver medal!

Automotive and Engineering Student of the Year, Grace Ayliff from Hinckley is set to exceed her target grades as part of her engineering diploma and supports her peers so well, she has been described as a ‘second lecturer’ in the classroom.

Matehullah Mastan from Nuneaton was named as 14-16 Rising Star after he joined the college in 2021 as a Year 10 student from George Eliot Academy.

COLLEGE TO OFFER SUPPORTED INTERNSHIPS AT

GEORGE ELIOT HOSPITAL

Young people with Education, Health and Care plans are being offered a life-changing opportunity to gain Supported Internship placements working at Nuneaton’s George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust thanks to a new collaboration between NWSLC, Warwickshire County Council and DFN Project SEARCH. The DFN Project SEARCH programme will support up to twelve interns from the local area aged between 18 and 24 with a variety of work-based learning opportunities at George Eliot Hospital alongside a daily employability programme designed to help them secure meaningful paid employment.

DFN Project SEARCH is a pioneering transition to work programme for students with learning disabilities and autism with ambitions to get 10,000 young adults with learning disabilities and autism into full-time paid jobs over the next decade.

It’s not too late to apply for our full-time college courses starting this September Visit: www.nwslc.ac.uk/apply

NWSLC Supported Internships

ASDA’S MECHATRONICS APPRENTICES GET HANDS-ON IN

COLLEGE WORKSHOP

Supermarket giant Asda is working with NWSLC for the first time to train the technicians that keep its logistics and warehousing operations moving. Six new engineering apprentices, following the mechatronics pathway, started their first session at the college’s Nuneaton Campus in January. They will return the workshops every seven weeks for two weeks in the workshops, taking the skills they learn back to Asda Logistics Services’ hubs at Magna Park in Leicestershire, as well as Warrington, North-East Clothing Washington, and Lymedale Clothing in Stoke-on-Trent.

The engineering technicians are learning to look after the maintenance and repair of logistics equipment including conveyor belts and chutes, and robotic equipment. The apprentices are expected to achieve their in-depth qualification in mechatronics – specialist skills for the advanced automated manufacturing industry – in around three and a half years.

FORKLIFT TRUCK APPRENTICES ON TRACK FOR CAREERS IN MATERIAL HANDLING

NWSLC has teamed up with Toyota Material Handling UK (TMHUK) to open doors for new apprentices and provide a pathway into a career with one of the biggest and best-known brands in the world. The college helped the business to recruit apprenticeship candidates who will eventually qualify as forklift truck and powered access technicians at locations around the UK from London to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Off the job training takes place at NWSLC’s MIRA Technology Institute and at its Harrowbrook Campus in Nuneaton.

Gareth Ross, Technical Product and Training Engineer, said, “The college is a fantastic support and helps us to make sure that we are taking on the absolute best applicants with the right personal and practical skills to join our team. Once they have completed their TMHUK induction at our Leicester headquarters, apprentices start to follow the Level 3 Lift Truck and Powered Access apprenticeship standard and go to work straight away, either in workshops on clients’ premises or out in the field.”

COLLABORATING

WITH COVENTRY UNIVERSITY TO MAKE ACCESSING APPRENTICESHIPS EASIER

We have been working closely with Coventry University to offer college students and apprentices more choice and simpler ways to progress, while helping businesses to access a broader range of skills for their workforce. With many young people now deciding to follow non-traditional routes to university, demand has increased for opportunities to continue learning within the workplace while earning a salary and gaining a recognised qualification via on-the-job training. Apprenticeships have also become more valued by employers keen to grow their own talent with the help of expert education providers. Coventry University is a leading provider of apprenticeships with more than 40 programmes on offer, training nearly 4,000 apprentices across the country and working with more than 1,000 employers across a wide range of sectors including healthcare, construction, engineering, education. By working with Coventry University, the college is better able to offer smooth pathways from Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships. NWSLC and Coventry University are already collaborating with their partners to offer a Skills Escalator at the MIRA Technology Institute.

APPRENTICESHIPS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Forklift Truck Apprentices

NWSLC engineering technicians

GRAYSON PLACE HOME FOR

COLLEGE DIGITAL SKILLS AND INNOVATION HUB

Our new Digital Skills and Innovation Centre will be located in Nuneaton’s newest development, which has been re-named ‘Grayson Place’ after the popular entertainer Larry Grayson who called the town his home. Part of the Transforming Nuneaton programme, the college’s Digital Skills and Innovation Centre and training restaurant which will be constructed within the former Co-op building. The new state-of-the-art centre, due to open in 2025, will help to regenerate skills and careers opportunities in the town, enable access to digital skills

training and provide an incubation space for business start-ups. It will also support the hospitality sector through a training restaurant that will be open to the public.

DELIVERING HYDROGEN AND ELECTRIC SKILLS BOOST FOR LEICESTERSHIRE SKILLS

Leicestershire-based automotive sector businesses and their employees have started to benefit from a multimillion-pound investment in skills training to help them take advantage of growing demand for cleaner, greener transport from electric vehicles including those powered by hydrogen.

The dynamic new Hyve project, led by NWSLC along with its partners, Leicester College, Loughborough College, and SMB College Group, is delivering infrastructure, awareness, and skills training in hydrogen and electric vehicles with a focus on HGVs and LGVs for businesses based within the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) area. The official launch is due to take place in the Hyve Pavilion at the NWSLC ‘STEAM into Your Future’ careers event in July 2023.

Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive of NWSLC said, “As the process of switching to BEVs accelerates, and emerging technology such as hydrogen becomes more accessible, we will increasingly need more skilled individuals working in the manufacture and maintenance of electric and hydrogen vehicles. The Hyve project is also designed to engage young people with ideas for future careers, inspiring and empowering the next generation of automotive engineers.”

It’s not too late to apply for our full-time college courses starting this September Visit: www.nwslc.ac.uk/higher-education

COLLEGE CAMPUS IN NUNEATON TO BENEFIT FROM DECARBONISATION GRANT

Solar panels, an air source heat pump and LED lighting are amongst the new equipment due to be installed at the college’s Nuneaton Campus after it was awarded a £3M grant through a government-backed scheme. The scheme was launched to encourage green investment, supporting the Government’s net-zero and clean growth goals. The grant will fund a two-year project that will dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the college’s estate at Hinckley Road in Nuneaton as part of NWSLC’s sustainability strategy.

Improvements will include:

• An air source heat pump to service four buildings including the sports hall and engineering workshops to include extensive radiator replacement.

• Upgrades to the fabric of the building to include roof insulation, cavity wall insulation and single glazing improvements.

• Solar panels to harness additional low carbon power.

• LED lighting throughout.

COLLEGE’S PIONEERING WORK WITH INCLUSIVE SKILLS REWARDED

Our Head of Competitions, Pami Johal, was recognised as a champion of diversity and inclusion in technical education as part of this year’s WorldSkills UK Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Heroes Awards. Pami, who supports students to enter national skills competitions, won the Pioneer Award 2023 for her role in developing the ‘Inclusive Skills’ concept designed for students with educational needs and disabilities.

Pami championed the development of these skills competitions as part of the WorldSkills UK portfolio, helping to devise, promote and create robust challenges for these students. During the three-year implementation period, Pami helped to create test projects for regional qualifiers as well as the national WorldSkills UK finals. Students and apprentices from NWSLC performed particularly well in the Inclusive

Plans include opportunities for students to develop their environmental credentials by taking part in a Student Green Council, gaining access to industry site tours via waste management partner, Suez, and by taking part in educational sessions on recycling. for

Pami Johal

HINCKLEY CREATIVE ARTS EXHIBITION INSPIRES

COMPETITIVE SPIRIT

Creative arts students at our Hinckley Campus mounted an exhibition based at the Atkins Building on the theme of ‘Respect for the Environment’ designed to help them practice competition skills. The Respect exhibition includes photography, paintings, ceramics, and installations. Students studying art and design as well media, TV, and film, and those following higher education programmes, have all submitted work to the exhibition.

James Stanley, Learning and Skills Manager for Creative Arts at NWSLC said, “The exhibition is a showcase for the students in our weekly Competition Club which encourages students to pitch their skills against their peers. Here at the college, the culture of competitions is part of our DNA.”

DYNAMIC SHOWCASE HELPS STUDENTS STEAM INTO FUTURE CAREERS

Our Nuneaton Campus is due to host its second annual in-person showcase for careers based on STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths). Hundreds of NWSLC students will be joined by Year 9, 10 and 11 pupils from schools across Warwickshire and Leicestershire at the inspirational event in June where they will meet high profile

national and regional employers and find out about the career opportunities that STEAM qualifications can offer. Advisers in a dedicated employability hub will be on hand to help students identify the additional skills they will need to compete in these exciting job markets.

Date: Thursday 29th June

Session Times: 9.30-11.30am or 12-2pm

Employers Include: Jaguar Land Rover, TESLA UK & NHS