The last day of West Kent College!

As tomorrow sees the launch of the newly merged College, it means today is the last ever day of West Kent College!

Not much will be changing in terms of the College - we’ll have new ID cards, a different email address, things like that - but the day-to-day teaching will be unaffected and we’ll just be the same College with a different name.

A number of people have asked why we need to change the name and we’re doing it because we feel that the new, merged College of South Kent and West Kent needed a new name and identity to take forward as one brand new College, taking the best of both and hopefully moving forward to be the best in our field.

As it’s the last day why don’t you share your thoughts and memories of West Kent College by adding a comment below. What was your best moment here? Have you made great friends here? Met your future husband or wife? Worked here? Many thousands of people have studied and worked at West Kent College so let’s not forget the great times that people have had here.

Here’s to West Kent College!

Open Day – 13th November

The launch event on Saturday 13^th November is when we’ll announce our new College to Kent and beyond and we’re planning an exciting day at our Ashford, Dover, Folkestone and Tonbridge campuses, but it’s also our main Open Day when anyone can come and have a look at the College, see the facilities we have and the courses we offer, plus it’s a chance to talk to tutors and ask any questions you might have.

It’s from 10am to 4pm at each site and there’s food and drink available so feel free to stay for a few hours, look around, talk to members of the teaching staff and take in some of the fun events taking place on the day. To see what courses are available at each site, please see this link. We do offer many courses at our Tunbridge Wells campus but this will not be open on Saturday 13^th November and instead all the tutors will be at Tonbridge.

To see a schedule of the events and performers (which includes X Factor stars!) for the day then you can check the facebook page. There’s also still time to register for the chance to win £100, but make sure you also ‘like’ the page to keep up to date with all the latest news. You can also register interest in the open day on this page.

We hope to see you there – it’s an exciting day for us when the colleges of South and West Kent finally come together under the same name and identity, but it’s also the chance to find the perfect College and course for you.

Win Backstage Passes for The Main Event!

On Saturday 13th November we’ve got the launch event to celebrate the merger of South & West Kent Colleges. The whole day will be a showcase of what we have at our campuses across Kent in Ashford, Dover, Folkestone and Tonbridge (we’ve also got a campus in Tunbridge Wells but there’s no event there on the 13th) and we’ve got a big open day featuring a chance to look around the campuses and see what we’ve got to offer for you or friends and family, we’ve got a chance to win lots of prizes and we’ve got X Factor stars Lloyd Daniels and The Reason, plus Nicole Jane and a number of great College performers to keep you entertained throughout the day!

All the details are on the facebook page – www.facebook.com/kentsnewestcollege - and this week we will be running a competition each day to win backstage passes! We’ve got five passes for each location and each day a different town will have their allocation up for grabs. Entering the competition is easy… each day a different photo will be posted to facebook and anyone who wants to enter needs to ‘tag’ themselves anywhere in that photo. We will then randomly draw five lucky people from everyone who tags the picture to win the passes. Each picture will have a 24 hour time limit on it and any tags made after that time won’t count. The winners will be announced soon after the time runs out! Got it? It’s simple!

If you haven’t signed up for it yet then you can do so on the facebook page where all the information about the event is and all the latest news is posted. The schedule is now on there and we’ll be adding the College performers to the list very soon, plus you can see directions of how to get to each campus. If you sign up then you could also win £100!

We hope you can make it to one of the campuses on the 13^th November – we can’t wait for the day, it’s going to be lots of fun!

Oh, and we’ll also be announcing our new name to the College on the day…

Maritime for a Career at Sea

Principal Bill Fearon with Performing Arts students from Folkestone

Opening eyes to careers at sea, the Kent Maritime Festival attracted thousands of school pupils from across Kent who spent the day at Cruise Terminal 2 in Dover on Thursday 14 October.

The College was a key sponsor of the event with Principal Bill Fearon telling ITV Meridian that the town was central to future plans for the College: “I can’t think of a better place than Dover to meet the needs of employers in the maritime industry. We want a national reputation for our College in Dover for training for this sector.”

Bill said the College was working with the Council in Dover to match training to employers’ needs. “There is nothing more important than upskilling adults and training young people in an area where there are jobs. People in the town will really notice a new emphasis on maritime skills at the College from next September, but we can, and do, offer short courses to local employers now.

The Kent Maritime Festival sets out stalls where 14-19 year olds may be inspired to consider the Marine and Maritime sectors for their future working life. There were more than 75 interactive stands from Marine engineering to extreme water sports, as well as specialist workshops in subjects like logistics and navigation. The College had stands and exhibitions from a range of departments and disciplines including Catering, Engineering, Body Workshops, Travel & Tourism, Creative Arts, Performing Arts, Hair & Beauty and Furniture Studies.

Organised by the Education Business Partnership (EBP) in Kent, which works to bring together schools and employers, the day provided youngsters with the opportunity to work with marine employers and take part in hands-on activities with the overall aim of promoting careers in the maritime industry, a broad and varied area of work.

You can see a video of the event, including Bill Fearon, on the Meridian website here.

Kent’s Newest College: The Main Event!

...it's coming very soon!

X Factor stars Lloyd Daniels and 2010 boyband The Reason are coming to the launch of Kent's Newest College on Saturday 13th November and you can see them for FREE!

You may have seen the news that Kent’s Newest College is coming soon… Since South Kent College and West Kent College merged in April 2010, we’ve been working together to establish one College and in November we’ll be launching the new College name.

Lloyd Daniels

The Main Event will take place across Kent in Ashford, Dover, Folkestone and Tonbridge and at each place we’ll have music from Lloyd Daniels and The Reason, plus College bands and performers. There’ll also be competitions, the chance to win £100 and an opportunity to look around the campuses and see what courses we can offer to you… and it’s all free!

The Reason

We’ll also have a brand new name (so we won’t be West Kent or South Kent anymore!) and new logo… but we can’t tell you what that’s going to be yet and we’ll be keeping it a big secret until the day – you’ll need to be there to find out what it’s going to be called!

It takes place on Saturday 13th November from 10am until 4pm and it will be at the campuses in Ashford, Folkestone, Dover and Tonbridge. A full schedule will be published on our facebook page soon but get the date in your diary now – you don’t want to miss this!

You can pre-register for the event on the facebook page here – everyone who registers stands the chance to win and we’ll be giving away £100 at each site. And make sure you ‘like’ the page to keep up-to-date with all the latest news! And you can follow us on twitter - @kentsnewcollege. We’ll be using these in the run-up to the event and on the day so follow us, like us, say hello and tell us if you'll be there!

See you there – it’s going to be a great day!

Tonbridge Arts Festival is coming - 15-24 October

Tonbridge Arts Festival is less than two weeks away… beginning on Friday 15th October, it runs until Sunday 24th October with fantastic events such as The Original Bucks Fizz, internationally-renowned magician Jonathan Shotton, bestselling author Josephine Cox, 'Grumpy Old Man' Arthur Smith, sculptor Guy Portelli and Phil Collins cover band, No Jacket Required.

The Original Bucks Fizz

The festival aims to bring the joy of the arts to the people of Tonbridge and beyond and will focus on literary, performing arts and visual arts events. The festival is being organised by a committee of representatives from Tonbridge School, Tonbridge Library, West Kent College and Hillview School for Girls with the support of Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council and events will take place in a wide variety of venues including the Media and Arts Centre at the College, Tonbridge School, a number of bars, restaurants and pubs in town, the E. M. Forster Theatre, the Angel Centre, Hillview School, the castle and more!

Arthur Smith

As reported by Tonbridge Blog, there were 13,000 programmes printed but they seem to have got lost somewhere… If you’ve seen them then let us know! In the meantime a list of events is on the Tonbridge Arts Festival website so you can see for yourself some of the fantastic things that will be happening around town. It’s not to be missed!

Here are some of the headlining shows taking place at the College:

No Jacket Required: Friday 15th Oct: Doors open 7pm

Arthur Smith: Tuesday 19th Oct: Doors open 7pm

Josephine Cox: Friday 22nd Oct: 2.30-4.30pm

Jonathan Shotton: Saturday 23rd Oct: 2.30pm & 7.30pm

The Original Bucks Fizz: Sunday 24th Oct: Doors open 7pm

The College’s music department is also holding an event on Friday 22nd Oct at Tonbridge Boys Main School. See the poster here.

Special Invitation for our Neighbours

The Media and Arts Centre at Brook Street

The Tonbridge Arts Festival runs from 15-24 October with a number of events taking place at the College. As an exclusive invite to our neighbours we’re offering 50 free tickets to the opening night on Friday 15th October, plus a meal in The View restaurant.

The invite will combine a tour of the campus with the chance to talk with us and ask us any questions you might have. You will then be treated to a two-course dinner before seeing the Phil Collins Tribute ‘No Jacket Required’ in the Media and Arts Centre.

Join us from 4pm for the tour with dinner served from 6pm. The tickets are only available to residents who live in the Brook Street and Quarry Hill area, including all roads leading off of College Avenue, Masefield Way and Molescroft Way.

If that’s you and you’d like to attend then RSVP to Alison Prangnell on alisonprangnell@wkc.ac.uk with your name and address. There are only 50 tickets, and it’s limited to two per person, so act fast!

Here's the invite - click to enlarge. No need to print this out, just contact Alison who will tell you everything you need to know.

Freshers’ Fair Video!

Here’s a short video we made from Freshers’ Fair at the Tonbridge campus. It’s a little walk around of all the stalls which were there on the day plus some of the fun that was going on. It was all recorded on a flip video camera, which the College has been using for a while in some curriculum areas. The backing music is taken from the day and is by a group made up of Level 3B Access to Music students.

To see the video on youtube click here.

Freshers’ Fair 2010

This week saw the Freshers’ Fairs across all the College campuses. Ashford took place on Tuesday, Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells and Folkestone on Wednesday and Dover on Thursday. A wide variety of exhibitions were on offer for students who attended with stalls spread around each College.

In Tonbridge the sun shone which meant the Fair could take place on the front plaza where there was a great atmosphere. College bands and artists performed on the main stage, among them were James Cook, Felicity Smithers, Simon May and Will Townsend, Snatch Banjo, Circle of Fists, Guy Osborne, Audio Whores, In Arcanium, Nicole Stanbury, Sophie Durdant-Hollamby, Christianna McCormick, Georgia Swallow, Billy Jupp and Rob Harvey. Kiera Bell, a finalist from the 2009 Kent’s Got Talent competition, also performed.

As well as the music, Optimise Fitness demonstrated one of their classes, the police, navy and fire brigade attended, there was a stand for juggling and circus skills, an ice cream van, sumo wrestling (in padded sumo suits) and a bouncy bungee run. Various health promotion agencies were on hand to give advice and guidance on drugs, alcohol and sexual health. The local Primary Care Trust (PCT) brought their double-decker bus. The Sports Academy enrolled members, the Student Union had a stand where students could get online NUS cards and sign up if they’re interested in getting involved, there was a diversity and equality stand and a Learner Voice corner where a life-sized cut-out of our Principal, Bill Fearon, was there for students to give their feedback on the College.

In Ashford, Folkestone and Dover, various health promotion agencies were there including district sexual health nurses providing free Chlamydia testing, KCA offering drugs and alcohol advice and the College counsellors advertising their services. The police and local PCSOs, the Army recruitment service and RED driving school also attended.

Student ambassadors from Kent and Canterbury Christ Church universities were there along with representation from the University Centre Folkestone at the Folkestone campus. The College gym in Folkestone demonstrated fitness activities and signed up students up for membership. Bannatynes Gym was in Ashford doing fitness and health-related activities and tests and giving information on any deals for students. FESCO were there to advertise sporting activities within the College.

Other exhibitors included Porch Light (housing), Connexions and the National Trust, as well as internal exhibitors Aimhigher, ALS and the Student Union providing information about how students can access their NUS cards. College Learning Centres ran their annual Freshers book competition.

Some of the photos from the Ashford and Tonbridge Freshers' Fairs are here. For lots more photos of the Tonbridge ceremony then have a look at the facebook page.

Higher Education Awards Ceremony 2010

The Higher Education Award Ceremony took place on Friday 17 September in Tonbridge with around 80 students and their guests attending. The graduates were all on courses accredited by the University of Greenwich which the College has had a strong partnership with for over 10 years.

The ceremony took place in St Peter and St Paul’s church before the procession, led by macebearer Elaine Scutt, Head of Learning Resources in Tonbridge, Bill Fearon, Principal, and Professor Simon Jarvis from the University of Greenwich, walked down Tonbridge High Street and into the castle where they posed for the traditional hat throwing picture and then enjoyed a reception with food and drink and live music from a College group.

The guest speaker for the ceremony was local businessman and entrepreneur Simon Hume-Kendall. In his inspirational address he spoke about his own career as well as extolling four key qualities of employability – reliability, enthusiasm, ingenuity and honesty (which neatly forms an anagram of hire).

He said of the current job market: “Whatever the economic climate, there will always be opportunities. Employers will always be looking for staff with good qualifications.”

Recessions come in cycles and he advised students not to believe all they read about the jobs market. “Even if there is 5% up to 10% unemployment, that still means there’s 90% to 95% employment, so times are tough, but they will settle again and people with qualifications like yours will be in the best place to help restore the economy.”

Many graduating students spoke of the impact of studying locally on their finances, explaining how they got more personal tuition and support without going into debt. Sarah Baker, 21, who studied for her Foundation Degree in Early Years while working, said: “A lot of my friends are very jealous because it has cost them so much to get their degree at other universities.”

In Performing Arts, Rebecca Thompson, 20, who was nominated for an Outstanding Performance Award by her lecturers, said she turned down the opportunity to study in London to stay at the College. “Everyone here is so lovely,” she said. “I stayed here because of the quality – it is so good. There are great teachers, I have a passion for dance and am now setting up my own dance company.”

Principal, Bill Fearon, congratulated students, saying: “The qualifications you leave here today with will stand you in good stead for the rest of your life.”

The day was a great success and a real celebration of the hard work put in by students and staff. A selection of images from the day are here. We've also posted some to our facebook page (if you see yourself then make sure you tag it, particularly the great hat throwing shot!) and there's a large gallery on the College website (including a great animated shot of all the hats being thrown in the air!).

You can see about the Higher Education courses taught at the College here.

Still looking for a course?

Are you looking to start a course this month? The College has some places available across a number of different areas.

There are Apprenticeships which are a great way of getting practical job experience while studying for a qualification at the same time. We’ve got a variety of different positions in different industries.

Feeling creative? What about Art & Design? The College has great facilities and classes take place in a bright and inspiring environment. The end of year shows get hundreds of visitors and are a brilliant showcase of student work.

We’ve also got places on the Travel & Tourism course. These are great for anyone interested in the travel industry and the course includes the business of travel and tourism, organising travel events, learning about customer services and much more.

There’s also space on some Sport & Leisure courses. You’ll focus on your chosen area, while looking at the sports industry and health and fitness, you’ll also be able to study towards coaching awards and a first aid qualifications. The College has a great gym, too.

Or maybe Public Services where you can learn the skills required for jobs within occupations such as the Armed Forces, Police, Prison Service, Paramedics, Fire Fighters and Local Government Administration. It’s a great course to kick start your career.

Any of these sound interesting? To look at our prospectuses then click here. To read more about the course above then just follow the links to see what we can offer to you!

A Level Success!

The A Level results are in and it’s been another great year for the College, improving again on the previous year’s results. Roy Matthews, Curriculum Leader for A Levels and Science, says: “We are delighted with this year's A Level results, with an overall pass rate approaching 97%, which continues the upward trend in performance from last year. Particularly pleasing is the improvement in the proportion of high grades (A to C) which at 80% is 12% higher than last year, with some students achieving the new A* grade. This has enabled many of our students to progress successfully on to university.”

Among the successful students collecting their results today were: Chris Jackson (pictured above) who achieved three As and is now going on to London Metropolitan University to study Creative Writing; Francesca Daly, who achieved two As and a B and is going to Cardiff University in September; Adam Dunworth, who hopes to join the RAF with his A*, A and B; Shanisa Emmons (pictured below), who achieved an A*, A and C and is going to either Loughborough or Oxford Brookes University next year; and Richard Goodyear (pictured below), whose A* and A leads him into a Politics and International Relations degree at the University of Kent with a year in Japan.

Well done to everyone who took their A and AS Levels this year and whether you are returning to the College, going to work or on to university, we wish you all the best of luck and success.

To see more about all the courses on offer at the College, look here. 

Celebrating Success

The Vocational Academy at West Kent College provides inspiring provision for 14-16 year old students. Participating schools in the area allow students to attend a day release programme, studying a course in Construction, Motor Vehicle, Catering or Hairdressing.

These courses offer a taste of their options for the future, encouraging them to progress further in their ambitions and realise their direction before finishing secondary education.

The 14-16 department at West Kent College strives to recognise the efforts and achievements of all their students by holding an annual ‘Celebrating Success’ event. This is a very motivating, exciting and prestigious occasion, where representatives from participating schools, College staff, parents and guardians and the students themselves attend.

Celebrating Success 2010 was a hugely successful event. The awards were presented by Mark Hicks (pictured top), a self-made businessman from Cable and Crimping Services Ltd, who after leaving school with very few qualifications returned to West Kent College to study engineering. The students were not only recognised for completing and achieving a qualification, but were acknowledged for their dedication and commitment to the course. Most students are now hoping to continue their studies at West Kent College.

The students that attend the Vocational Academy develop, mature and complete the programme with a positive attitude and direction for the future. Now that’s a success to celebrate!

Best of SkilledUp Final

Pupils from colleges across Kent converged upon the Tunbridge Wells campus at North Farm on Wednesday 23rd June for the Best of SkilledUp Final. SkilledUp is a competition for construction craft students to complete a specific project, competing against each other and against the clock. The final showcased the work of each college’s finalist in the four trades: Brickwork; Carpentry; Joinery; Painting & Decorating. The five colleges participating were: West Kent, South Kent, Mid Kent, Thanet and North West Kent.

The 20 competitors worked tirelessly throughout the day to produce excellent examples of their trade. Winners were: Brickwork – Adam Rigden, Thanet College; Carpentry – Charlie Connor, North West Kent College; Joinery – Chris Ward, MidKent College; Painting & Decorating – Aron Baker, North West Kent College.

Thanks go to the fantastic local employers and sponsors of the event: Wates Group, Makita, Brewers, Simpsons York and Galliford Try for supplying judges, prizes and awards presenters.

The Mayor of Tunbridge Wells, Councillor David Jukes, visited the event and commented: “I was very impressed with the standard of work being produced by the students today and by the traditional construction industry skills that they have acquired. Although things have moved on since I was a craft apprentice, it was encouraging to see that the skills required to produce items of quality have not diminished. Well done to all of the students and also to the staff, whose enthusiasm is infectious and encourages the students to be proud of their achievements. Well done also to the companies still offering apprenticeships, as without these dedicated people the depth of skills that we still harbour in this country will be lost."

The new building in Tonbridge - come and see for yourself!

The new building at Brook Street opened last month and here’s a selection of photographs taken by National Diploma Photography students to give you a flavour of what it’s like inside and out.

Their tutor, Nigel Carr, said: “The students had been set a project titled 'Structures, Constructions and Deconstructions' and I thought the new building was an ideal opportunity, for those that were interested, to research innovative photographers work and explore photographing architecture… Only this morning I found two of the students taking self motivated photographs of the building.”

The photos were taken by Dan Wheeler, Andy Robertson, Kieren Plowright, Carrie Coupland and Ele Parkman-Mayne.

The large, modern college building already feels like home and we’ve had fantastic feedback from students, staff and visitors. Inside we are using the latest technology to support students in bright and airy classrooms with numerous open learning and breakout areas. We also provide opportunities for people outside of the College to use our facilities with a 500-seat art centre, a restaurant which is being run by Whiting & Hammond, hair and beauty studios, Costa coffee and Optimise gym.

If you’d like to take a look around the new building, whether you want to study here or use it for business, then we have an Open Day on 3^rd July from 10am-4pm. Alongside this we have a number of exhibitions including the excellent Art and Media Show and Enterprise Factor (look out for the windmill and robots). Everyone is welcome. You can read more about the Open Day here. We are running simultaneous Open Days at all our campuses – North Farm at Tunbridge Wells is also open from 10am-4pm where the Motor Vehicle and Construction Crafts courses will be on display. Ashford, Folkestone and Dover will be open from 10am-1pm.

For more details about the Photography courses available at West Kent College then read here.

The final building work at the College will be finished by September 2011 - exciting times ahead!

Art and Media Show

The Art and Media Show takes place in Tonbridge from Wednesday 30^th June until the Open Day on Saturday 3^rd July. The show is part of the annual end of year celebration and there will be displays of Photography, Fine Art, Fashion, Graphics, Animation and Media work. The show will take place in Speldhurst, Ashurst and the new building - ask at reception for details of what's going on where. It’s open from 10am-4pm daily and everyone is welcome.

See you there!

For more information about our Art and Design courses then see here. For anyone interested in joining the College on one of these course, this is the ideal chance to see what sort of things you could be doing as part of your course.