April Press Releases

Kungfu Masters from the internationally acclaimed production The Shaolin Warriors have enjoyed a welcome meal at Burton College to mark the start of their first UK tour.

The group who are staying locally throughout the 52 date tour, were catered for in the Lichfield Street campus’s Mulberry Restaurant by Professional Catering students, who prepared, cooked and served a hot and cold buffet, specially devised for the occasion.

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Burton’s Brewhouse has been the venue for a new community drama festival. Organised by Foundation Degree in Theatre Arts students at Burton College, the festival was designed to celebrate a wide range of theatre currently being practised and developed within the local area.

The Unite Drama Festival featured a large range of drama pieces from physical theatre, experimental theatre and devised work to classical theatre, contemporary performance and practitioner specific work, incorporating a mix of genres including comedy, drama and fantasy.

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Learners from Burton College have worked together with Connexions Staffordshire, featuring in a series of images for the service, which provides free information and advice for young people throughout the county.

Photographs were taken of the learners, who are all following the College’s Entry to Employment (e2e) programme, which show young people socialising, engaging in positive activities and getting involved in hands-on learning both as individuals an as a group. These will now be used in a wide range of marketing materials and resources for the service over the forthcoming months including the Connexions Staffordshire website.

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Loudmouth, one of the country’s premier Theatre in Health Education companies, has visited Burton College to raise awareness of Chlamydia in young people through a drama presentation and workshop, encouraging them to take part in a mass screening programme.

Entitled “Trust Me”, the play discussed issues around contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, looking at sexual health and exploring the difficulties many young people face in accessing and using contraception. Following this, there was an interactive workshop aimed at increasing knowledge about STIs and building skills on how to access local services.

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A Team Manager from AirMiles Travel Company has visited Travel and Tourism students at Burton College to provide valuable career advice and give an insight into life in the Tourism Industry.

In her role as Sales Team Manager based at Warrington in Cheshire, Resa Clowes-Read spoke to the second year students about working for the travel company together with the various career opportunities available to them.

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Local children aged between 7 and 15, have attended a presentation morning with their parents and friends to celebrate their achievements in successfully passing national computing qualifications at Burton College.

The children, who had all completed a term’s study at the College’s Computers for Kids Class, received certificates covering a range of computing activities. In addition, a questionnaire quiz on general knowledge was held, with the winners receiving a book token.

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Learners at Burton College have visited the Beatles Story as part of their work towards gaining the ASDAN Towards Independence certificate.

The learners, who are on the Highways route one programme, which is designed for those with learning difficulties, spent the day at the Liverpool visitor attraction learning about the life, times, culture and music of the Beatles in order to help them with the Popular Culture module of the certificate.

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Several new courses are being launched by Burton College, which will be held at local community venues.

Beginning on Tuesday 21 April, Beginners’ Pottery will be held at Abbot Beyne High School for ten weeks. Running from 6.30pm until 8.30pm, the course, which is being led by experienced artist Julia Webster, is designed for those interested in having a go at the craft for the first time.

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Students at Burton College have performed extracts from Tim Burton’s fantasy film “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in two evenings held at the town’s Brewhouse.

The second year National Diploma in Performing Arts students acted in the extracts which were based on the original characters and story of the animated fantasy, horror, comedy film written and produced by Burton, best known as the director of Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Batman and Planet of the Apes.

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Beauty Therapy apprentices at Burton College have attended an expert master-class to help hone their skills in preparation for the heats of WorldSkills UK later this year.

Former UK Silver Medal Winner Diana Brookes, a beauty therapist from Coventry, ran an expert class in Facial Massage Skills at the Lichfield Street campus, providing the chance for the apprentices, who were joined by apprentices from other local colleges, to develop their skills to an outstanding level, giving them an insight into the latest innovation in their field and underlining the world class skills they will need in tomorrow’s workplace.

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A representative from St Giles Hospice has visited learners at Burton College’s EDIT to provide an insight into the work done by the charity.

In her role as Schools and Colleges Coordinator, Jo Walker spoke to the students about the work of the hospice including how funds that people raise are spent.

Based at the IMEX Business Park, EDIT enables disabled and disadvantaged people through the provision of free IT training.

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A presentation has taken place at Kerry Foods to celebrate the achievements of employees, who have successfully taken part in a range of learning opportunities.

In a partnership established with Burton College, tutors from the College’s e-bus have delivered an individually tailored programme of classes designed to the food manufacturer’s specific development needs, including numeracy and literacy, on site at specially arranged times to fit in around work patterns.

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Externally published statistics from the Government’s Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) together with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) have shown that young people studying at Burton College attain high achievement rates, placing the College in the top 10% of General and Further Education (GFE) colleges nationally.

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Three Burton College learners have taken part in Tewkesbury Swimming Gala For People With Learning Disabilities, winning a total of eleven medals between them.

Naomi Marriott (24) from Burton and Hayley Buckley (24) from Swadlincote, learners on the College’s Adult Foundation Programme, together with Learning for Life learner Tom Morley (23) from Hatton took part in the annual, national event organised for people with disabilities.

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Beauty students from Burton College have attended professional training days in order to become fully qualified Nailtiques technicians.

Kerry Sheldon-Jones, a trainer from leading supplier Grafton International, based in London, visited the College to train the NVQ Level 2 students to perform manicures and pedicures using the Nailtiques professional, natural nail care system range of products.

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Foundation Degree in Dance and Theatre Arts students at Burton College have organised a community based dance festival designed to celebrate the wide range of dance styles currently happening in the local area.

The Unite Dance Festival, which took place at Burton’s Brewhouse, featured several different showcases of dance pieces comprising of contemporary dance, ballet, street and break-dancing.

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Imaginative Burton College students have held a party to entertain children from the Lichfield Street campus’s nursery.

The event, which was based around the theme of Easter, was organised by Travel and Tourism students as part of the Food Service With A Smile module of their course. During the afternoon, the children enjoyed a variety of activities including an Easter Egg Hunt together with themed food such as Easter Pizza, stuffed Easter eggs and Simnel cakes.

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The Family Learning team at Burton College has been honoured for its work, receiving a prestigious award from the national Campaign for Learning organisation.

A national charity, the Campaign for Learning champions the cause for lifelong learning including Family Learning, working to build motivation, create opportunities and provide support for learning in families.

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Students from the Faculty of Creative Studies at Burton College have organised a fashion and hair catwalk show in the town centre.

Entitled “Next Innovations” the live show, which took place in Coopers Square Shopping Centre, was organised by NVQ Level 3 Hairdressing apprentices, to showcase the advanced range of skills they have learnt. In addition, NVQ Level 3 Beauty Therapy apprentices provided the make-up for the show, Music Technology students supplied the sound, music and microphones whilst town centre store Next kindly donated various outfits for the models to wear.

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Burton College’s hair and beauty therapy salon Innovations has held a special Male Client Week to increase awareness of the male grooming industry.

In the light of the growing popularity of male grooming the salon offered a variety of treatments including manicures, waxing, pedicures and facials, which can all be adapted to male requirements.

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A local hairstylist and beauty therapy student are celebrating their success after winning prizes in the National Finals of the country's top hairdressing and beauty therapist championships.

Jessica Peters (18) from Burton, a stylist at Station Street’s DJ & Ward salon who currently spends one day a week at Burton College as an advanced apprentice, and full-time NVQ Level 1 Beauty Therapy student Afsana Bi (17) from Derby took part in the UK National Finals of the renowned Association of Hairdressers and Therapists UK Trainee Competition, which was held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

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Local school pupils have taken part in a CITB Challenge Day, which was held at Burton College. The day was one of three Regional Qualifiers with other events also taking place at Stoke and Stafford.

Organised by the College, Staffordshire Partnership and the CITB (Awarding Body for Construction), the event was designed to assist the students in developing a range of key teamwork skills by taking part in a variety of physical, practical and challenging activities whilst having fun.

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Students from Burton College have successfully completed a British Canoe Union (BCU) 2 Star training course in conjunction with Burton Canoe Club.

The fifteen week course, which is designed to cover basic flat water skills, enabled the Public Services students to become competent in both canoe and kayak including paddle strokes, capsize and rescue techniques. The course culminated with a final assessment where the group had to “run” Burton Weir.

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A representative from one of the leading operators on aviation ground services has visited Travel and Tourism students at Burton College to provide valuable career advice and give an insight into life in the Tourism Industry.

In his role as Trainer for Servisair, based at East Midlands Airport, Jeremy Cheshire spoke to the students about working as a check-in agent at the airport together with the various career opportunities available to them with Servisiar as part of ground handling crew.

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