West London College - Student Newsletter - December 2021

Dec 2021

Student Newsletter

Opening Welcome

A warm welcome to…

All our students. We hope that you have settled well and are progressing well with your studies.

We are almost at the end of this term and we’re sure you are looking forward to a well deserved break… but before you rush off here’s the latest WLC news.

Thank you and goodbye…

For now. This is the last newsletter for this term BUT of course we will be back in the New Year to let you know all the WLC updates to come.

Covid Updates As many of you may know there is a new Covid Variant - Omicron - that is likely to become the dominant variant in the UK. In line with the new government announced guidelines it is now compulsory to wear face masks around the college campuses.

If you are exempt you will need to bring your own exemption badge, either in the form of a sunflower lanyard / pin badge or one of the exemption badges you can find on gov.uk.

In the meantime please protect yourself and the community, get vaccinated!

All students are now eligible to receive their Covid Vaccination, please use the link below to get yours booked in! Remember, some professions such as nursing and care work are moving towards compulsory vaccinations to work in their industry, so getting vaccinated will help stop the virus and keep those job options open to you NHS Covid Vaccination Booking You can also attend the following walk in centres local to your College site: Hammersmith Campus Ealing Campus Southall Campus Park Royal Campus Lastly, please always make sure that you are testing twice a week.

You can pick up lateral flow tests from the Student Services Office

West London College

Safeguarding

Safeguarding is of utmost importance to us and we are focused on ensuring we do the best to protect all our learners as best we can.

If you ever have any concerns about yourself, or any other student you can always pop into Student Services.

We can offer support with a wide range of problems and if we can’t we probably know someone who can.

Email safeguarding or fill in the student services referral form.

Pastoral & Wellbeing Keeping safe online This week, we are raising awareness on keeping safe over the Christmas break. It is equally important to feel safe online as it is in person.

Here are some internet safety tips: Keep Personal Information Limited Be Careful What You Download Be Careful What You Post Be Careful Who You Meet Online If you feel unsafe throughout the Christmas break, you can always speak to Childline on 0800 1111 for advice and guidance.

West London College

UCAS APPLICATIONS Apprenticeship

Interested in Apprenticeships?

Apprenticeship applications are now open for 2022 in a wide range of areas and at all levels.

Intermediate – Level 3 Advanced – Level 4 Higher – Level 5 Degree – Level 6 UCAS Deadline The College deadline for UCAS Application was on 30th November 2021. If you haven't submitted your application yet, please make sure you do so before the end of the term. If you need help please contact j.wiredu@wlc.ac.uk

Please click here for more information and to apply.

Careers Events at UWL

This week University of West London visited Ealing Green College to offer a Science Careers Talk in Biomedical Science to our Science students, with about 52 students in attendance.

The Science students also attended a Biomedical Science Taster at the University where they had a campus tour and visited the brand new Science Laboratory where they were given first hand training on using the Science microscopes and other facilities.

West London College

Apprenticeships

All About Apprenticeships

Have you thought about progressing to an apprenticeship, once you complete your course?

There are very positive reasons to look into this, as you will be able to work for your employer and be paid, while also training for a nationally recognised qualification.

With the winning combination of qualifications and work experience, your career will really take off.

To find out more, contact our Apprenticeship Team: Serge, Haitham and Yosuf via employer@wlc.ac.uk

Bursary You may qualify for some additional support to help contribute to the costs associated with your courses.

It’s not too late to apply!!

Please check out the Student Finance and Bursary page under Student Services on the Student Portal for eligibility criteria and further information on bursary. Click here.

The next deadline date to get applications approved in order to receive January 2022 bursary is Tuesday 11th January 2022.

For further information regarding support available please speak to a member of the Student Services team.

West London College

Work Experience Work Experience This week our Level 3.2 Travel and Tourism students went on their Work Experience Placements, this was a fantastic opportunity for them to develop their employability skills and learn more about working in the Travel and Tourism industry.

Abdirisaq- Hilton Hotel Metropole, Edgware Road “I have experienced him as a very pleasant, very polite young man. He was always on time, fulfilled his daily hours and was wearing appropriate clothes for his work experience. Whereas he seemed rather shy and introverted he still tried to engage with the Team and shadow/assist where possible. He asked a few questions and shared his future plans, working for a travel agency, with me and seemed very interested in the Hospitality business and what we’re doing at the Metropole. I am more than happy with him and hope he enjoyed his experience with us.” Louisa Greis, Front Office Coordinator.

Kacper- Double Tree Hilton, Ealing Common “Kacper did good, came on time and was really good in responding to the work and he even told me that he liked the place as well and the people.” Udit Shah

Maria- The Clayton Hotel, Chiswick “Maria has been doing well and has reported for work on time for all 5 days. She has been attentive and is listening and observing the team after which she is invited to have a go at checking guests out on reception and serving breakfast in the restaurant. Maria has been a pleasure to work with over this week and has displayed a positive attitude throughout her time with us.” Damian Spillane, Human Resources Manager

West London College

Work Experience Abdi- I worked in both the reception and concierge areas and learnt a lot from the staff. My Work Experience at Hilton Hotel increased my confidence with talking to different people. I enjoyed meeting new people, doing new things and gaining insight on what working in hospitality is like. I developed a lot of skills such as teamwork, leadership and communication.

KacperI was mainly in and around the Food and Beverage department, where I was serving customers and cleaning which I enjoyed. I really liked and appreciated how welcoming and helpful the staff were. I also enjoyed making the keys for the hotel rooms when I was working on reception. I feel like this placement tested my speaking, teamwork and problem solving skills.

MariaI was placed in reception for my first 3 days and they were showing me how their system works and they let me check our guests. The last 2 days I was placed in the Breakfast area and the bar. I was asked to greet guests and find their place in the restaurant. I collected plates and cleaned the tables at the end of service. I enjoyed my whole experience and the staff were very helpful and pleasant. On the last day the manager gave me a card with chocolates and was very pleased with my work.

The skills I developed were speaking, listening, team work, staying positive and aiming high.

West London College

Work Experience

Twelve of our amazing Level 3 Health and Social Care learners have recently completed two weeks of Work Experience at Charing Cross Hospital. This Work Experience Programme started during the pandemic where our students were invited to support on the wards as normal staff members had been redeployed to Covid Wards. We will be continuing to run this Work Experience programme throughout the year.

West London College

Norwegian Students

This week we will be saying goodbye to our wonderful Norwegian students after a month at WLC. The students joined our Health and Social Care and Business classes and then attended Work Experience Placements 3 days per week. It has been fantastic having them here and we look forward to welcoming back a new cohort of learners next year!

West London College

Student Voice

We are really excited to announce that we will be hosting our first Student Voice at our Ealing Campus on Wednesday 26th January at 1pm. All Class Representatives and Student Union Council Members from Ealing will be invited to attend to voice your thoughts and opinions on life at Ealing Green. This Student Voice will be about College life not curriculum (Student Services, Enrichment, Careers, WEX, Canteens, Security, Safeguarding, Pastoral etc). Please make sure you speak to your Class Rep or Student Union about any issues, thoughts or feelings you have so they can bring them up at the meeting!

Enrichment Human Rights Day Human Rights Day is celebrated internationally every year on 10th December.

On this day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This milestone document highlighted 30 rights and freedoms that all humans are entitled to, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. The UDHR is available in 500 languages and is the most translated document in the world!

It is essential to highlight the importance of Human Rights and understand how they impact you in your day to day life.

Human Rights Explained In A Beautiful Two Minute Animation For more information please visit www.un.org/en/observances/human-rightsday

Enrichment Christmas Jumper Day On Friday 10th December millions of people in the UK will be putting on a Christmas jumper to help raise money for Save The Children.

Here at WLC your Student Union will be encouraging you to do the same, they will be doing a collection on each site this friday so we can raise money to help those in need and spread some Christmas cheer!

It really is simple, all you have to do is….

Wear a Christmas Jumper on Friday 10th December Donate £1 or £2 to help a child in need.

Feel fantastic because you supported a great charity!

Don’t have a Christmas jumper? Well that's ok too, you can still help support this great cause by donating whatever you can :)

For more information on how you can get involved please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk

West London College

SkillBuild National Final 2021 Stretch Test Huge congratulations to Tommy Falco who has won the 'SkillBuild National Final 2021 Stretch Test' in the 'Plastering and Drywalling Systems' category. The stretch test is a time, efficiency, and accuracy test, where all 6 competitors were given a drawing and had to carry out a certain task.

Tommy says: "For my test we had to cut put 2 plug sockets and a pipe hole out of the wall. These needed to be cut out in specific places and dimensions which was shown to us through the drawing. All competitors start at the same time and have 20 mins to complete. Whoever completes the test in the quickest time with the most accurate dimensions, wins. And I won!"

Sports

Huge congratulations to Sports Level 2 student and a member of the College's Boxing Academy, Desharn Fearon, who has won the London Junior 'Development' 60kg championship Desharn boxed twice in two days at Hereford Sixth Form College. Organised by England Boxing, the semi-final was held on Saturday, 30th October, and the final was on Sunday the 31st.

Desharn is pictured here holding his trophy and medalstanding alongside Boxing Academy coach, Douggie John, and some of his fellow Boxing Academy members.

We're so proud of you Desharn!

Student Newsletter December 2021