West Life

At West Kent College we print and publish a monthly newsletter called West Life. It’s aimed primarily at our staff, who provide the content, but we love the students to read it too as most of the stories are about them. West Life is filled with interesting stories from in and around the College and local community, there’s current news and upcoming events, the latest happenings with our Campus 21 regeneration and a lot more to keep you up to date with everything happening here at the College.

We have now made all the issues of West Life from 2009 available to read online. You can see them all here. In the December issue you can see the fun things that happened for Children’s in Need, see the winners of the Equality and Diversity bookmark competition and read a great story about our ‘Reining Champion’, Antony Irens, plus lots more.

We are also setting up a new magazine which will be ‘by the students, for the students’. Any learner can get involved with any stage of the publishing process – writing, editing, photography, graphic design, marketing. Hopefully we’ll soon be able to show this off online too.

Happy reading!

First Shoots Film

As part of our Campus 21 regeneration we plan to hold a number of events showcasing the College. On October 19th 2009 we held the first of these, a take on the traditional ‘Topping Out’ ceremony, where builders celebrate reaching the highest point of a new build, which we called First Shoots.

The First Shoots event featured a reception in the Media and Arts Centre, a tour of the impressive new build and then a tree planting with College Principal, Bill Fearon, Cllr. Sue Murray, Mayor of Tonbridge and ex-West Kent College student, Richard Saward from Galliford Try and current National Diploma construction student, James Andrews. We reported the news initially here but now we have an update: a video recorded at the event with lots of great comment from our guests. The short film also features a composition from music student Andy Frasier.

Click here to visit the West Kent College Youtube channel.

Snow Day!

On Friday 18th December it snowed. It snowed so much, in fact, that we had to close the College for the day, but we still managed to get a few photos of the Brook Street Campus.

The Campus is still very icy so please take lots of care while walking around.

And here are a couple of pictures of Tonbridge looking great in the snow.

Reining Supreme

In October, Year 1 Built Environment student Antony Iren competed for Great Britain in the FEI European Reining Championships in Germany, finishing 5th out of 180 riders.

This is the second year running that Antony has represented Great Britain in the Young Riders category. Reining is known as the Western form of dressage and it’s a discipline which requires the rider to perform one of a set of patterns with smoothness, correctness and control, all done at galloping speed. Antony started riding lessons and soon became interested in the Western style of reining, as he says, “it’s really fast, all action and you can be casual and wear jeans, breaking from the traditions of English riding.” Antony also explains how, because they are raised as working horses, “it’s a natural style of riding which is much less stressful for the horses.”

Here’s something you might not know: reining is the fastest growing sport in Europe, with 18,000 people taking part this year compared to just 3,000 last year. Robbie Williams is a fan as is racing-driver Michael Schumacher’s wife (who offered to buy Antony’s horse off of him – he said no, of course!).

Well done Antony, it’s a great achievement.

Panto Promo Film from WKC Students

Recently a group of media students from West Kent College got the chance to help out with a promotional video for the Tunbridge Wells Christmas pantomime, Peter Pan.

Adrian Smith, the Course Leader FD Art and Design, and his students recorded this video of the show’s star, Ray Meagher (who is best known for playing Alf Stewart in Home and Away). Ray plays Captain Hook in the panto which is on at the Assembly Hall Theatre from the 12th December 2009 to the 3rd January 2010. The show also features Sarah Jane Buckley, Jessica Punch and Christopher Pizzey.

Here’s a picture of Ray and our students during the shoot.

Children in Need 2009!

Friday 20th November was Children in Need and despite the rain lots of exciting things were happening around the College. We had students and staff in fancy dress; guess the number of sweets in the jar in reception; guess the number of balloons in the car; fun and games in Tudeley diner; a triathlon by Open Door learners who cycled, rowed and walked the distance from Tonbridge to Calais in the gym (a total of 85 miles between them!); some deliciously themed cakes in The Gallery; the Beauty Therapy students gave Indian Head Massages to some of the guys from our building contractors Galliford Try and College band Ross and the Wrongens played a great lunchtime gig. So far we have raised over £400!

Diversity Bookmark Competition

The LRC recently ran a very successful diversity bookmark competition, which invited learners to design a bookmark depicting what diversity meant to them. There were over 70 entries which demonstrated a real engagement with the subject of diversity. Many of the themes focused on understanding difference, such as people’s faith, politics, race, culture or economic status. The message from learners was quite clear: we are all different, let’s learn from each other and celebrate this.

The judging was tough but Sharon Hocking, Elaine Scutt, Nick Guyatt and Sharon Corden managed to pick their winners. Sharon Hocking, Quality and Diversity manager, commented, “I was really impressed with the range of themes explored in the competition. Diversity clearly means many things to many people. It was difficult to choose two winners from such a wealth of material.”

The panel awarded first place and £30 to Elizabeth Samms (Childcare and Education) who depicted a jigsaw of different, diverse pieces coming together as a strong and cohesive whole. Second prize and £15 went to Kerrie Chamberlain (Alternative Curriculum) who designed a simple and striking bookmark on the theme of racial diversity, with the powerful message of “Make things change”.

The panel would also like to offer special commendations to Scarlet Wilson (Childcare and Education), Matt Daly (Alternative Curriculum) and Lisa Rogers (Early Years) for their excellent designs (which won them a box of chocolates each!). Two other entries were praised for capturing the Diversity theme very well and they will be used for posters within the College: Jade Brazier and Emily Kift.

An awards ceremony was held on Monday 16th November in The Gallery Restaurant where all the winners were present. Bill Fearon, Principal, presented the prizes and said, “I’m very impressed with the wide range of styles, colours and shapes with Equality and Diversity as a strong theme.” The catering students also provided a delicious feast of Asian food with curries, kebabs, breads and dips which everyone enjoyed.

Copies of the winning bookmarks are available in all of our LRCs, where all the entries will also be on display.

We're Getting There!

Above is the artist's impression of how the front of our new campus will look. Below is a picture that was taken a few weeks ago and, as you can see, things are taking shape.

Drumming for Anastacia

College Drum Teacher Tom Mitchell is playing drums on ‘Stalemate’, the new single from Ben's Brothers, featuring Anastacia. The video is available on Youtube, where you can see him clearly from 0:50-1:10 and 3:20-3:30, or just watch below!

First Shoots

On Monday 19th October we held an event to celebrate the progress of the College build so far. We called it 'First Shoots' and it shows how our 'new roots' are growing and developing. We made this video (edited by our Design Unit apprentice Emma Needham), to be played as our guests arrive, to show a few views from around the impressive build.

Equality of Opportunity!

For Barbara Leadbetter (66) and Laura Majko (18), successfully achieving their first qualifications with West Kent College shows how we offer equal opportunities for all. After a successful career in floristry, Barbara joined the Thames Valley School as a Teaching Assistant and has just gained her L2 NVQ in Supporting Teaching and Learning. For Laura, her first job at Little Sunflowers Nursery gave her the opportunity to continue with her education through a L2 apprenticeship programme in Children's Care, Learning & Development. Pictured at their recent Awards Evening hosted by delivery partner SET Training, John Grafik, Business Development Director, says, “Laura and Barbara exemplify the inclusive nature of qualifications that are delivered in the workplace. They are to be congratulated and encouraged to progress to even greater heights.”

Welcome to West Kent College!

This is the blog for West Kent College in Tonbridge.