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News
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited Penzance
Mature students from Penwith College attending the Access to HE courses have gained great confidence...
Lucy Payne is the English Thai Boxing Champion!
John Rankin, renowned locally for his work at Penair School...
Two beauty therapy students represented the college at the regional heats of the UK Skills Challenge in Plymouth ...
Students at Penwith College put on a show for local people . ...
Childcare and Education student Katie Williams has led a campaign to raise money for Scope....
Penwith College student Katy Talbot has been offered a place to read medicine at Cardiff University...
Businesses from across Cornwall converged on Penwith College this week ...
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Exceptional Penwith College student Katy Talbot, originally from Humphry Davy School, has been offered a place to read medicine at Cardiff University. Having studied Biology, Chemistry, History and Maths A level, Katy left college last year and has had a gap year gaining some work experience and saving for university. Katie said, “academic study at Penwith College was really good. I was given a lot of personal attention and extremely supportive tutors.” BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Level 3 Childcare and Education student Katie Williams has led a campaign to raise money for Scope, the leading UK disability charity for children and adults with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects movement, posture and co-ordination. Katie, aided by her team of willing volunteers from her course (pictured) organised a mad hair day on the last day of term and a cake sale and raised £130 for this worthy cause. BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Students following the Performing Arts pathway of the Creative and Media Diploma at Penwith College put on a show for local people celebrating the songs of the 1930’s entitled , ‘Anything Goes at the Wintz’. The students interpreted the stories of five young women getting ready for a magical night of dancing at the Winter Gardens which intertwine love, happiness, heartbreak, tragedy and friendship. This was developed from conversations with residents of Penzance, including people from the Pengarth Day centre who shared their stories and memories of Penzance in the 1930’s. The audience enjoyed a cream tea prepared by year 10 students on the BTEC 1st Diploma in Catering and were able to experience the first performance in the new theatre. BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Two beauty therapy students represented the college at the regional heats of the UK Skills Challenge in Plymouth earlier this month. Verity Richards, formerly of Helston School was in the Advanced category (Level 3) and Abigail Attwood, formerly of Camborne Community College, the Intermediate (Level 2) - both gave their all and met the high standards that the competition expects. So much so that Abigail won second place, leaving her with a chance to attend the national heats later this year. Their tutor Sarah Pratt said, “We are extremely proud of both these girls for having the commitment and drive to succeed at this stage in their chosen careers". BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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John Rankin, renowned locally for his work at Penair School where he has completely reformed the menu and the opinion about school meals and increased school dinner output from 40 -400 in two years, has spent time with the students from Humphry Davy School who come to College every Wednesday as part of their 14-16 education undertaking their Level 2 Diploma in Catering. He spent the afternoon taking to them about healthy eating, local supplies, seasonal cookery and sustainability. The Catering students hope to get their own kitchen garden up and running soon under the guidance of tutor Jaime Gaspare. She says, “John is just so passionate about food and helping students to understand where the food comes from and the cost whether it be financial or environmental of certain produce. We are delighted that John has been able to share some of his wisdom. We hope to have him back again as a guest lecturer.” BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Lucy Payne, originally from Mounts Bay School, is a level 3 beauty therapy student at Penwith College. She also has an alter ego as the English Thai Boxing Champion at 60kg weight. Lucy has been kickboxing for about 4˝ years and is part of the Touchgloves Club based in Penzance. She trains every day and is a very dedicated to her fighting. Lucy says, “People don’t expect beauty students to be championship fighters! It is good to challenge the stereotype that people have of beauty students – I love Thai Boxing and I love beauty!” BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Mature students from Penwith College attending the Access to HE courses have gained great confidence and have really enjoyed the experience of returning to education. The courses are very popular with mature students who have been out of the classroom for a number of years, or who do not have the normal entry qualifications for University. Many of the students said that they felt quite nervous about coming back into education, and some people had not studied for over 30 years, but the support of the staff and their fellow students really encouraged them and they are well on their way to success. One student who dropped out of school at 15 said, “There is a lot of pressure put on young people to make decisions which affect their future. I am proof that, despite the fact that I didn’t finish school, I made the decision to go back into education to give myself a better chance for the future, and I am really enjoying being a student again. The Access course has given me the skills and I know I can give 100% effort; I am going to study an English degree in September.” Having been a full time mum for a number of years the next student said, “I did the Access course to see what my capability levels were as it’s a long time since I was at school. I wasn’t necessarily dead set on a university place but wanted to get my brain working and some more qualifications now that my children are older. The course has really increased my confidence and helped me believe in my abilities. My life has had a complete turnaround and now I am enrolled at Falmouth University for September to study BA English and Creative Writing. I can’t thank the staff here at Penwith enough for the support they have given me; I feel confident in my own abilities and have made lots of new friends.” Finally a mother of two on the Access to Health and Social Care course said, “I thought that it was going to be difficult, getting back into learning and juggling a young family, but the hours of the course have been set to fit in with the school day which helps me out immensely. Having done this year and been successful I am now going to continue studying for a degree in Social Work this September. I think it is great that all of the colleges in Cornwall offer Higher Education courses so that people like me can study without having to relocate or travel long distances.” Anyone interested in Access to Higher Education courses should contact either Gill Doble for the Humanities route or Luci Maggs for the Health and Social Care route at the college on 01736 335000. BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Businesses from across Cornwall converged on Penwith College this week not only to view the new buildings and admire the far reaching views over Mounts Bay offered, in particular, by the Zennor Building, but to attend the quarterly Cornwall Business Club event hosted by the Truro and Penwith College Business Centre in association with Business Link. The guest speaker, Paul Davies, Digital Design Director from Gendall Design gave an inspirational speech titled ‘Business Evolution - The Digital Revolution’. Paul gave a very interesting insight into the future of technologies and praised the £130 million convergence funding being used to upgrade broadband using fibre optic cables to increase the speed and reliability across the county. This will help small local businesses make more of the internet, not only creating websites to represent their business but by the increased use of social networking sites to promote business. He spoke about how future changes in technology will move businesses away from having their own personal website to a new way of thinking where businesses push information and data about their organisation, their products and services out into the virtual world where it would be combined with other relevant information and presented in a usable format. Some of the ideas for the future were very “Harry Potter” in that film could be incorporated into newspapers using augmented reality or that you could visit places and have a full experience of being there without leaving your desk! The mobile phone seems to be the key for accessing much of this new technology and will be not only a phone and a camera in the future but the portable hub of your business and social digital world. The session was very enjoyable comments included, “Some of the up and coming technologies are just fantastic, like something out of a film.” “I find it fascinating that 5,000 days ago there was no internet, today we rely on it so heavily every day and in the future the changes to the way software will be sold, the equipment that will be available it will be so much more accessible to all businesses large and small enabling us to compete on a much more event playing field.” The next meeting of the Cornwall Business Club will be held at Truro College on 17th June where the guest speaker will be Chris Dawson from The Range. For more details and to book your place please visit www.trurocollege.ac.uk/cornwallbusinessclub BACK TO HEADLINES >>
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Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited Penzance to open the first phase of the redevelopment of Penwith College, a part of Truro and Penwith College. Her Royal Highness spent two hours touring the new buildings of Porthcurno and Zennor viewing the new facilities and talking to students and staff from a variety of subject areas. The first phase of the redevelopment also includes new buildings Halldrine and Penberth and the refurbishment of Treneere Manor and the installation of a new Synthetic Turf Pitch. The Princess Royal viewed the progress of construction of the second phase of the redevelopment as Gwenvor, Lamorna and Sennen buildings are to be completed next year alongside the refurbishment of the Old Grammar School, now named Nanjizal. The new development funded by the former Learning Skills Council , European Regional Development Fund, Convergence through the Combined Universities in Cornwall, the Regional Development Agency and the College’s own money, will revitalise the further education provision in the west. Truro and Penwith College is one of the best colleges in the country for its excellence in high quality education and training and new centre in Penzance will provide the best facilities to match those at Truro. Students will benefit from cutting edge facilities and resources on their doorstep. The first stage includes the flagship Zennor building which will house a multi-purpose theatre, a training kitchen, music practise rooms, hair and beauty salons and additional teaching rooms. Porthcurno building, also part of this phase, will have facilities for sport, science labs and further teaching accommodation. The new structures will sympathetically provide visual links to the retained buildings and the surrounding areas reflecting themes rooted in the Cornish landscape. Features will include circular windows and the circular amphitheatre in the central courtyard. A sustainability strategy is in place to include ground source heat pumps, solar water heating and rainwater harvesting. Carleen Kelemen, Director of the Convergence Partnership Office for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly said, "The essence of the Combined Universities in Cornwall activity is to provide access between Further and Higher Education whilst extending new pools of knowledge to our businesses. These buildings form part of an ERDF Convergence investment that firmly establishes the Penzance campus as an integral part of CUC ambitions. For West Penwith it means access to higher education whilst widening the choice of training and support for people and local businesses." Midas Construction’s Operations manager, Kevin Bate was enthusiastic about handing over Phase One of the project and completing Phase Two on time in early 2011. He said: “It has been very rewarding especially because of the close working relationships and mutual understanding we have established with the College and their design team. “We are especially pleased with the environmentally positive aspects of the project including the 100Kw wind turbine, 150 metre deep bore holes to provide ground source heat and a complex of seven really significant buildings that have or will achieve wither Breeam Excellent or Very Good status.” Principal of Truro and Penwith College, Jonathan Burnett said “We are creating in Penzance one of the very best college campuses in the whole of the country. The setting above Mounts Bay and the mix of exciting new buildings with excellent older buildings such as Treneere Manor works really well. The quality is excellent and the range of specialist facilities is superb. We are able to say that the College resources now available to people in the west of Cornwall are second to none. The College will make a real contribution to the community and is already the first choice destination for growing numbers of 16-18 year old students” Her Royal Highness officially opened the first phase of the redevelopment with the unveiling of a plaque in the Zennor building and was then presented with a posy by Kerra Buzza, aged 5. BACK TO HEADLINES >> |