Exeter College continue their partnership with the South West based leading law firm Stephens Scown, as they recruit their largest cohort of Apprentice students ever.
Based in the firm’s Exeter offices in Southernhay, Exeter Apprentices will receive a unique insight and direction from senior level management under the guidance of Emma King who oversees the programme and the Managing Partner Robert Camp.
Stephens Scown have long appointed Apprentices in a variety of support roles but this initiative takes their Apprenticeship programme in a completely new and exciting direction through the appointment of Apprentice Data Analysts and Digital Marketers.
Robert Camp, Stephens Scown’s Managing Partner said:
“Our Apprenticeship programme has grown dramatically over the last few years. We now have six Apprentices, five are with Exeter College and we are in the process of recruiting our first paralegal Apprentice. We hope that we can give our Apprentices a great start in their career, but this is not one-sided, we most definitely benefit too. From our marketing department to our intellectual property team, our Apprentices are making an impact across the firm.”
With just over 300 staff including 50 plus partners across their three offices in Exeter, Truro and St Austell, Stephens Scown are a law firm with a regional focus but all the benefits of a big city competitor.
Exeter College and Stephens Scown look forward to seeing their Apprentices develop their careers over the coming years and hope to be able to do the same for many more learners in the future.
Exeter College is an award winning provider of Apprenticeships and is ranked in the national Top 10 for Apprenticeship achievement rates amongst Further Education (FE) colleges, according to national figures. Apprenticeship achievement rates at the college have been measured at 83.1 per cent for 2016/17, significantly higher than the national average of 67 per cent for FE colleges. Meanwhile, the college has also recorded strong growth in Apprenticeships against national trends.
To find out more about how Apprenticeships can help grow your business and develop your staff please call our Apprenticeship team on 01392 400800 or email us at apprentices@exe-coll.ac.uk.
His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester has visited Exeter College’s new £3 million Advanced Engineering Centre- meeting with key industrial partners.
His Royal Highness found out more about the work of the students and staff during a tour of the centre – a leading centre of excellence for robotics and virtual welding.
The Duke was welcomed by John Laramy, Exeter College Principal and Chief Executive, who spoke to His Royal Highness about the ethos of the college and the high standards of training given with state-of-the-art facilities.
During the visit, The Duke also met with employer representatives from Axminster Tools, Arconic, and Hepco Motion showing the very strong links and collaboration between the college and its industrial partners. The visit took place on Tuesday, October 2, 2018.
Alan Styles represented Axminster tools, who were instrumental in the location of industrial machinery for both the machine shops and advanced manufacturing workshop. Elliott Knight represented Arconic, presented the innovative robotics and CNC cell work station. Meanwhile, Maurice Porter, represented Hepco Motion, who have worked with the faculty in the design of a safety cell for the advanced manufacturing workshop.
Alan Styles, from Axminster Tools, said: “It was a proud moment to meet The Duke of Gloucester. We at Axminster Tools are keen to encourage and support Exeter College in any way we can. We’ve worked very closely with the college for several years by sending apprentices each year, providing advice and supplying a number of machines in the Advanced Engineering Centre which students are now able to take advantage of.
“We are delighted to have been involved in the setting up of such a fantastic facility here in the South West – a facility which makes Exeter College one of the best in the UK for engineering disciplines. The machines and equipment together with the high quality teaching will give Exeter College students a head start when it comes to future employment.”
Maurice Porter, from Hepco Motion, said: “Hepco Motion enjoys a valuable partnership with Exeter College. The outstanding teaching and cutting edge resources ensure the HepcoMotion apprenticeship programme remains world class.”
John Laramy, Exeter College Principal and Chief Executive, said: “It was a real pleasure to welcome the His Royal Highness to Exeter College, he spent time with students, staff, stakeholders and employers. The Duke is clearly interested in engineering and robotics.”
The Duke also met a number of other representatives during his visit, including the Lord Mayor, the police, and David Allen OBE, Chair of the Board of Governors, Exeter College.
The new £3 million Advanced Engineering Centre was officially opened by CEO of Flybe in July. The centre is a 780 square extension to the Exeter College Technology Centre on edge of Exeter and is meeting the growing demand regionally for skills in engineering, automated manufacturing and robotics.
The centre is partly funded from the Heart of the South West LEP’s Growth Deal funding. The centre has also benefited from a grant from the Arconic Foundation of $51,000.
Every year it is a college tradition for students and staff at Exeter College to select a charity to become the college Charity of the Year. This year we are excited to announce that our chosen charity is homeless charity, Nightstop.
We will now be working hard to raise as much money as we can for this charity. Past charities have included Mind and Devon Air Ambulance. In 2017/18 the college raised an amazing £19,000.36 for Mind.
Nightstop provides emergency overnight accommodation for young homeless people who are facing a night on the streets or sleeping in an unsafe place. Communities and charities run Nightstops in more than 30 locations around the UK, led and supported by the Nightstop team at Depaul UK.
Sarah Lakey, Senior Community and Events Fundraiser said;
Nightstop Devon is a community response to a community problem and it is fantastic to see Exeter College students passionate about supporting young people, of the same age, in a homeless situation. We are excited to be working with Exeter College over the next academic year to help raise funds and awareness of the service we provide and reasons why young people come into our project. Every pound raised by Exeter College will be helping to provide an opportunity to support local young people who are in urgent need.”
Our Student Representative Committee will be collecting money for Nightstop at the colleges Festival of Carols on Wednesday 5th December. The service is free to attend and open to anyone who would like to come along and celebrate with us.
At Exeter College we offer a wide range of onsite services to ensure our students are safe and happy, you can find further information about how we support our students here.
Great Western Railway (GWR) and Exeter College are celebrating the first anniversary of their Apprenticeship Partnership.
If you are one of the millions of passengers travelling with Great Western Railway (GWR) between Penzance and London Paddington each year you may very well come across one of GWR’s Apprentices studying with Exeter College, providing assistance with tickets, manning the gate line or serving on-board refreshments. Other Apprentices are working hard behind the scenes at GWR stations and depots, being guided to be the managers and engineers of the future.
Ofsted Outstanding Exeter College is the single source of Apprenticeship training for GWR. Under the programme, Apprentices across the South West, from Cornwall to Reading, are being trained as they earn.
Speaking about the success of the partnership, Joe Graham, Business Assurance Director, Great Western Railway (GWR), said: “GWR invests heavily in training for all staff, including our Apprentices. We expect our teams to deliver excellent customer service and, in return we expect this from our partners. Exeter College are an outstanding provider and it is an exciting development for us to be partnered with them for our Apprenticeship training.”
Rob Bosworth, Vice Principal at Exeter College said: “The opportunities that GWR affords its Apprentices are second to none. We are delighted to be partnered with them to deliver the new Passenger Transport Apprenticeships which will enable GWR apprentices to gain the knowledge, skills and behaviours required by the industry and meet the standards.”
Mike Blakeley, Director Apprenticeships and Employer Engagement at Exeter College added: “The College has successfully adapted its traditional delivery model in order to become more agile and flexible – delivering a wide range of Apprenticeships of the highest quality standard across multiple sites. Working from Paddington to Penzance is an exciting development for us.”
The impact on the lives of young people on the GWR Apprenticeship programme cannot be underestimated.
As Thomas Hicks, Operations Apprentice, from Cornwall said: “After sixth form I wasn't too sure about what I wanted to do in terms of my future. I started working for GWR as a part time station assistant at Newquay station. My manager encouraged me to apply for a position on GWR’s Operations Apprenticeship Scheme.
Now I am on an 18-month programme with GWR and have never looked back. The programme has enabled me to learn all about customer service both on trains and at the station – from serving on-board refreshments through to checking tickets at the gate line. My future ambition is to go onto becoming a Train Manager.”
He added: “Being an Apprentice has opened up new opportunities for me and I am on track for a successful and rewarding career on the railway.”
For further information about Apprenticeships contact Jenny Vince Apprenticeship Partnership and Development Manager at Exeter College 01392 400800 or email apprentices@exe-coll.ac.uk
Join us for our annual Festival of Carols at Exeter Cathedral, with fantastic performances from college students. The evening starts with a candle lit procession through the Nave followed by performances by the Exeter College students, orchestra and choir. All proceeds will go to our college charity of the year, Nightstop Devon.
We are proud to support Nightstop Devon, a unique project which relies on community hosting to provide a safe, welcoming place for young people in crisis. Volunteer hosts, who are ordinary members of the community, open their homes to young people aged from 16 to 25 years to offer a private spare room, a hot meal, a shower, laundry facilities and a listening ear.
Hosting the Festival of Carols each year enables us to boost donations to our charity of the year but more importantly show off the exceptional talents of our students across a number of faculties including Foundation Studies, Media and Performing Arts and from our Centre of Music and Performance.
John Laramy, Principal of Exeter College said:
The Festival of Carols provides an opportunity for us to recognise the start of the festive season and celebrate the talent of our student musicians, readers, staff and college community.”
This year the Festival of Carols will be held on Wednesday 5th December with doors opening at 6.30pm.
The service is free to attend and open to anyone who would like to come along and celebrate with us.
Time: Doors open at 6.30pm, Festival of Carols starts at 7.30pm
This year we are proud to introduce WHAM; our wellbeing service at Exeter College. With a strong focus on Wellbeing Health Activity and Motivation across the college, we hope to widen accessibility to essential wellbeing information and equip students with skills to boost their emotional resilience.
WHAM information and advice is designed to help our learners succeed and our team are available in Greystone House to support learners during term time. There is a WHAM drop in service as well as a blog with video content, podcasts and a range of other resources including inspiring talks to help boost learner wellbeing.
Learners with health or wellbeing needs are encouraged to visit the team to ensure they receive appropriate help or consideration at college. They can also access a whole host of information on the student portal or our website.
Watch out for our upcoming promotion of World Mental Health Day 2018 where we will be encouraging our learners to share what’s #BehindTheMask in an attempt to get our young people talking about how they’re really feeling.
If you want to know more about what support is available outside of the college then there are some useful links here and below.
The focus at Exeter College is always on teaching, learning and supportive tutoring which meets the needs and aspirations of our Learners. As part of this, we provide students with an opportunity to attend Big Tutorials across the academic year including a road safety education event called Learn2Live. This event is run by road safety teams made up of representatives from local government and emergency services including, among others, Devon County Council, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and Devon and Cornwall Police. To date over 100,000 Devon and Cornwall students have seen the presentations.
In the South West young drivers have the highest crash risk of all age groups. This is true for all types of crashes, from those involving only minor property damage, through to those causing injury and death. The risk is greater in the first few years of driving, when limited driving experience, and risk taking behind the wheel, can result in disaster.
Providing our students with an opportunity to attend this event will provide them with invaluable skills and knowledge to prepare them for the future. The Learn2Live event this academic year is taking place on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th November. The Learn2Live event carries powerful messages and can create emotional responses from the audience, both tutors and students. While the audience will hear stories relating to real collisions, L2L works hard to ensure that their audiences come away with positive messages and practical ideas of how to keep safe on the roads, either as drivers or as passengers. Students will all attend with their Tutor/Subject Lecturers who will be able to offer information and support. The event is also attended by the College’s Wellbeing Team who are available to support students during and after the event.
All students attending will also have a tutorial before the event, the presentation for this can be found on the L2L website, along with more information and resources. The event will then be followed up with an opportunity for students to attend Road Safety tutorials to ensure the knowledge and skills they learnt at the event are embedded. For more details please contact megansnell@exe-coll.ac.uk.
All 2nd year students applying to university should now have their UCAS applications underway. UCAS has now opened the application cycle for this year and we encourage students to make an application as soon as possible. Increasingly there is a trend across the country towards making early applications. Students should keep in regular contact with their tutor if making a UCAS application and check their college email account regularly for updates on UCAS support, deadlines and key messages, and events.
To support this process we run regular UCAS drop in clinics. These are currently taking place daily 12:00-2:30 in the Progression and Employability hub, Tower Foyer. As we near the UCAS deadline these will reduce so please encourage your son/daughter/young person to check their college emails for Progression and Employability updates.
Students can attend a UCAS drop in for support with:
Researching university courses
Completing the UCAS application form
Personal statement writing
We also look forward to hosting a number of university institutions at the college for bespoke sessions throughout October and November, together with our own sessions to support students with studying abroad, medical applications and personal statements for all courses.
The Exeter College Medical Society has been supporting with various activities in partnership with Exeter Medical School and we are also now pleased to be partnering with the Exeter RD&E to offer all of our students, particularly those with interest in medicine or the healthcare professions, volunteering opportunities. Students interested in a medicine, veterinary or dentistry pathways are encouraged to email the progression and employability team in order to join our extra-curricular medical society, if they have not already done so.
If UCAS is new to you, or you’d like to make sure you’re up to date with the college process, please view the Parents Talk that we gave in June 2018 ready for this cycle.
Receiving offers from universities and making choices
After submitting their UCAS form, students will start receiving decisions from universities via their online ‘track’ account. Students are only able to keep two offers from the maximum of five original choices applied for. It is recommended that students ensure that they are happy with their programme choice, university location and accommodation before applying and certainly before accepting an offer. Should students fail to receive offers from their first round of applications or change their choice of course they can take advantage of UCAS ‘Extra’ which starts in February 2018. This enables students to make additional choices. Students can visit the UCAS website for how this system operates or talk to the progression and employability team.
Higher education student finance
It is important for students and parents to be aware of the financial implications of going on to higher education, not only in terms of the loans which will be accumulated over the period of study, but also the level of repayments and the availability of university specific bursaries and scholarships. The Student Finance England website contains information on the financial support available to students. There is also a calculator on the site which will assess how much support applicants can expect from the Government and higher education institutions that they are applying to. All 2018 UCAS applicants will need to make an application for their student finance package. This can be done online from January 2019 and should be completed by the end of May 2019 to ensure arrangements are in place for the beginning of the university academic year in September.
Did you know Exeter College offers a wide range of university level courses?
Working in partnership with other educational institutions, including Plymouth University, University of Exeter and University of St Mark & St John, we deliver a variety of higher national certificates (HNCs), higher national diplomas (HNDs), bachelor of arts (BA Ord) and bachelor of science (BSc) degrees and foundation degree (FdA and FdSc) programmes. To find out more visit our website or contact our higher education adviser, Candice Tooze, on 01392 400909 or headviser@exe-coll.ac.uk
Other news from the progression and employability team
This term we have been working with the National Citizen Service to promote this fantastic programme to our students. We have had several visits and presentations from the local NCS Team. This programme is designed to support students in enhancing their personal development through an exciting programme consisting of:
Adventure activities (as part of a residential)
External speaker workshops and mentoring
Community engagement project
For more information please visit the website or contact the progression team.
Our dedicated progression and employability team offers advice to all students, whether they are considering university, a foundation degree, an Apprenticeship or a job or training after college. We encourage any learner who feels they need help and support in finding the right direction to come and talk through their options. Students can book an appointment during their free periods via the homepage of their eILP (their student intranet).
For more information and advice the team can be contacted on 01392 400330 or progressionteam@exe-coll.ac.uk.
Exeter College Apprentice Ella Fielding has been announced as a South West Finalist for the National Apprenticeship Awards 2018.
The National Apprenticeship Awards celebrate the best Apprentices, committed Apprenticeship employers and individuals who go above and beyond to champion Apprenticeships across England.
The national awards identify and commend incredible achievements and challenge applicants to show how Apprenticeships have made a difference to their organisations and their careers.
From over 1,000 applications, Exeter College Apprentice Ella is one of 48 Apprentices and ‘Apprentice Champions’ to have been announced as a regional finalist across England.
Ella, who lives in Exeter, but is originally from Ottery St Mary, has been recognised as one of the best in the South West for the work she has done for Apprenticeships, the impact she makes and the impact her Apprenticeship has had on her career.
Ella, 21, said: “After three years of commitment to Apprenticeships and to my various roles within the Apprenticeship world, it is amazing to receive this recognition. To be named the South West Apprentice of the Year would be incredible.”
Mike Blakeley, Director of Apprenticeships and Employer Engagement at Exeter College, said: “The positive impact Ella creates is remarkable. So much so, people often associate Exeter College’s Apprenticeships with her more than myself, an imbalance I actively promote.
Seeing the younger generation develop and flourish within our organisation is key for us all and Ella’s nomination is testimony to the hard work and endeavour she puts in to everything she does.”
Currently studying a Higher Level Apprenticeship in Digital Marketing, Ella has gone from strength to strength in the last three years of employment at Exeter College. In May this year Ella won ‘Apprentice and Young Employee of the Year’ at the Pride of Devon Awards.
She is also the chairperson of the Devon, Cornwall and Somerset Young Apprenticeship Ambassador Network, a national government initiative in which young people use their own Apprenticeship experiences to inform and inspire as positive advocates for young people beginning their employment.
Following the exposure and recognition of the awards, previous winners have gone on to become inspirational speakers for national events, appeared in campaigns and progressed considerably in their employment.
The South West finals will be held at DoubleTree by Hilton Cadbury House, in Bristol, in September and the winners will have the chance to contest as national winners.
Follow in Ella’s footsteps. Kick-start Your Future – Think Apprenticeship. Call our Apprenticeship Hotline 01392 400800 today.
We are delighted to announce Mill Water School as our Employer of the Month this September.
We spoke to Gail Evans, Business Manager at the school.
How many Apprentices do you employ, what do they do and what courses are they on?
We have five Apprentices working as Teaching Assistants. They are all following Teaching and Learning in Schools (STLS) courses at either Level 2 or Level 3. They work within our class teams, supporting children of all ages with their learning, behaviour and personal independence.
Why do you employ Apprentices in your company?
It is not always easy to recruit staff who are ready trained, with the depth of understanding of SEN that we require. Taking on Apprentices enables us to develop teaching assistants who, at the end of their course, will have a good understanding of the wide range of conditions, learning difficulties and challenges our pupils face. After working with us for one, two or maybe three years, we hope that our Apprentices will become familiar with our ethos, safe working practices, methods of assessment, how we communicate with nonverbal children and how we manage behaviour. This makes them ideal candidates for permanent positions.
How do Apprentices add value to your business? What do they bring to your team?
Apprentices bring energy, enthusiasm and a desire to learn as much as they can whilst they are with us. They are able to participate in the very practical aspects of the job, whilst being taught the theory at Exeter College. Whilst there is no guarantee that we will have vacancies, we will always consider our Apprentices for permanent positions once they have completed their courses.
