Earlier this year, Keighley College teamed up with Camp America to offer up to 90 students across Luminate’s further education colleges a once-in-a-lifetime work experience opportunity in the United States over the summer.
The placements were offered through the Turing Scheme, a UK government programme for overseas study and work. The trip, designed to hone students’ employability skills as they look after and become role models to children at the camp, included travel, accommodation and living costs.
Keighley College’s principal, Kevin O’Hare, travelled out to see how the camp counsellors were getting on across the various sites they were sent to, what they were learning from their experiences and what their plans were following on from their placements.
His trip took him to Camp Laughing Waters in Gilbertsville, East Pennsylvania; Camp Herrlich on the border of New York state and Connecticut; and French Wood Sports & Art Camp in Hancock, NY. In each, he found the students who have taken advantage of the offer having the time of their lives.
Alongside teaching and sharing skills and knowledge with young campers, they have been making friends with the international cohort of camp counsellors and planning a number of subsequent adventures.
In a world in which, as it becomes more global, there can be seen a parallel stream of parochialism rising to the surface, making these connections with other cultures and people is an essential experience which we are proud to have been able to offer our students.
Students from Leeds City College have created a ‘stunning’ sustainable fashion display for one of the city’s highest profile stores.
The striking window exhibit at John Lewis features clothes, and art pieces, that have all been created by Fashion and Textiles students out of previous garments or recycled materials.
The students produced the clothes through their Make an Impact Project which, as the text on the window display explains, is all about pursuing upcycling and sustainability in fashion.
That scheme received a major boost after refugee support charity Yorkshire Aid got in touch to offer some donated clothing that it had been unable to use.
The college then jumped at the chance to team up with John Lewis – and the students are now ‘buzzing’ at the results.
A SHOWCASE FOR CREATIVITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Visual and Digital Arts teacher at the college’s Quarry Hill campus, Amelia Johnson, said: “The students’ brief was called Make an Impact, and they have done just that!
“They have been buzzing and are feeling very proud about seeing their work in the store’s windows on their walk into college.
“They are eager for more opportunities like this and it has clearly motivated them after what has been a very challenging time in their education.
“Some students also gained work experience through dressing the windows, and the John Lewis staff were very supportive while allowing them creative freedom.”
Leeds City College students outside their sustainable fashion display at John Lewis
Laura Prince, from the college’s Events team, said: “This has been a fantastic opportunity to showcase the Make an Impact project in our city’s John Lewis store, giving our textile learners the chance to both design and dress the windows.
“We are thankful to the John Lewis staff for helping and mentoring the learners during the window dressing, and for supporting their work from the offset. It has helped our students feel proud of their designs and accomplishments.”
Partner & Events and Marketing Coordinator at John Lewis Leeds, Natasha Whalley, was full of praise for the students’ efforts.
She said: “The team was really grateful to have the opportunity to collaborate with Leeds City College and exhibit its Make an Impact Project.
“It was a pleasure working with the students and we hope the experience they had installing their work gave them a real insight into working in a live retail environment.
“They worked in a professional manner and contributed to the creative aspect of the installation, which ultimately resulted in a well executed window.
“The sustainability message ties in with our brand vision and has gained great feedback from our customers and partners. We are excited for future opportunities to collaborate with Leeds City College.”
Yorkshire Aid collects items to send to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in need. For more information visit https://yorkshireaid.org/
We have received £51m funding from the government to replace and upgrade some of our buildings.
The investment will ensure that we can create great spaces for our students so that they have access to modern, fit-for-purpose facilities.
Work will begin at Mabgate later this year and part of the expansion will include the development of new higher level technical and apprenticeship courses. There will also be a purpose built Adult education building, which will replace Leeds City College’s Enfield Centre.
As demand for student places continues to grow, the expansion programme for Mabgate will create much-needed community facilities and will add to the group’s portfolio of city centre bases.
The campus will also create space for University Centre Leeds and Leeds Conservatoire – bringing together the group’s further and higher education provisions.
There are also significant refurbishment plans for Park Lane Campus. Major works will also be carried out at Harrogate College and plans include the demolition of the old A block building, which will be replaced with a net zero, purpose-built building.
University Centre Leeds and Leeds Conservatoire are celebrating achieving the highest student satisfaction scores, in their respective categories, of all the higher education providers in the city.
In the newly published 2022 National Student Survey (NSS) Leeds Conservatoire achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 80%, significantly higher than the sector average of 70.79%. The 85% satisfaction rating achieved by the University Centre (UC Leeds), meanwhile, made it the highest performing institution of its kind in Leeds – and one of the highest in Yorkshire.
Both institutions scored highly, and above the sector average, in many of the individual categories in the survey, too. In the conservatoire’s case, particular highlights were in teaching (82%), academic support (78%), learning opportunities (80%), assessment and feedback (78%), and learning community (77%).
Students also rated UC Leeds, which was registered under Luminate Education Group for the survey, very highly in specific areas. Those included: teaching (90.4%), learning opportunities (88.6%), academic support (87%), learning community (83.7%), assessment and feedback (83.5%), student voice (81.1%), and organisation and management (80.5%).
A testament to the dedication of our staff
The results delighted Janet Faulkner, Dean of Higher Education at UC Leeds, and Leeds Conservatoire Principal, Professor Joe Wilson.
Janet said: “These tremendous results are a testament to the continuing, and improving quality of our teaching and curriculum.
“Our staff are continuously looking at ways to enhance our courses and give students exceptional opportunities, so they leave here with the confidence and skills to aim high.
“Over the past year, we have welcomed a string of influential guest speakers and taken a group of learners to London for some invaluable experience at the Department for Transport. Other students have benefitted from an Erasmus+ trip to Greece, where their work in a hotel gave them an insight into the tourism, hospitality and food and drink sectors.
“Our students, as these impressive survey results indicate, clearly appreciate such efforts which is wonderful to see.”
Joe said:“We are very proud of the excellent NSS results for Leeds Conservatoire. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, and we would like to thank our students for recognising the conservatoire with this fantastic feedback.
“Our programmes are characterised by inspirational training with experts in a huge variety of specialisms, supported by bespoke workshops and masterclasses by visiting practitioners. Our facilities are industry-standard, our curriculum is designed around industry practice, and students have access to a wealth of professional partners and expert knowledge both within and outside our curriculum.
“We value excellence and elite training in all forms of music and performance making, and so offer the broadest range of genres of any conservatoire in Europe, giving our students unrivalled opportunities for collaboration. We are the only UK conservatoire to offer degrees combining two performance/production disciplines, reflecting the increasing focus on multidisciplinary practice in the music industry and offering even greater opportunity for students to expand their creative vision.”
Managed by the Office for Students, the NSS is one of the largest surveys of its kind and had almost 325,000 responses across the UK this year.
The survey gathers students’ opinions on the quality of their courses. That data is then used by prospective students to guide their choices, and by the education providers to shape and improve their offerings.
