The College will kick off its Apprenticeship tour at Avonbourne School’s student careers event on Monday to showcase why Apprenticeships are a great route after GCSEs to a dream job, followed by a Solent Business employer event at Eastpoint Centre to highlight the benefits to local businesses.

Midweek activities include parents getting involved in practical tasks such as mannequin dressing at the young peoples’ Apprenticeship evening at the Rose Bowl. On Thursday the College’s Apprenticeship team will be Working on an ‘Apprenticeships for Business’ promotional video with New Forest Brilliance in Business and hosting an awareness drop in clinic at Ringwood Job Centre Plus.  

To round off the week on Friday there will be a final drop in clinic at Southampton Job Centre Plus and a student trip to a partner employer, Berthon, to get an insight into what life is really like in the working world. 

Brockenhurst College is celebrating Apprenticeship Week by getting out into the community on a jam packed programme of events everyday next week in a bid to help raise the profile of Apprenticeships amongst employers, learners and their parents.

Brockenhurst College Apprenticeship Coordinator, Claire Boot enthused, “An Apprenticeship is a great option for students to get on the career ladder and gain job-specific skills as well as gaining a nationally recognised qualification and a wage in their pocket. From an employers’ point of view, Apprentices bring key benefits to business including contributing to improved productivity and staff retention. We help develop the talents of Apprentices who can bring enthusiasm and 21st century skills to a business. Apprenticeships attract substantial Government funding and the College offers Apprenticeships as part of its overall training package to employers including Management and legislative courses.”

Brockenhurst College has recently expanded its range of Apprenticeships to include:

Business and Administration Childcare Construction Customer Service Health and Social Care Hospitality Outdoor Education Management Marine Retail Sporting Excellence Supporting Teaching and Learning Warehousing and Storage.

If you're interested in learning more about Apprenticeships please contact our Apprenticeship team on:

01590 625313, or come and visit us at one of the events - we hope to see you there!

Every year the SU works hard to come up with exciting fundraising events to raise money for a charity of their choice. The president of the Students’ Union, Dan Browne said, “We put on events throughout the year such as fresher’s night at a local nightclub which is really great fun for the organisers and the students. We are really pleased to have raised so much money for such a worthy charity and it goes to show how much difference a few students can really make.”

Catriona Morrice, Community Fundraiser at Wessex Heartbeat said, “Wessex Heartbeat would like to thank each individual student for their hard work, determination and support. The money will go towards supporting the Wessex Cardiac Centre at Southampton General Hospital.”

Setting the celebratory tone of the evening, A level student Luke Adams welcomed guests into the Main Hall with a live music performance. The Presentation began with a greeting and congratulations from the Chair of Governors, Mr Dave Yates. The Principal, Di Roberts CBE also congratulated the students whose achievements had surpassed the consistently high results of previous years.

Certificates were presented to returning students, and special acknowledgements were made to a selection of students who had showed exceptional talent and dedication. The Paul White Award for Achievement was won by Jake Durham and Jarratt Isted, both from Pennington, The Chris Campbell Memorial Prize for outstanding coursework went to Andrew Rooke from Christchurch, the Lesley Errington Trust Award for community involvement went to Katie Skipper from Milford on Sea and the Nathan Ridler Award for commitment to helping peers went to Vicky Buckle from Christchurch.

Lesley Errington Trust Award winner, Katie Skipper was delighted to receive the award, and said: “It was quite a shock actually. I didn’t expect it at all! It’s fantastic!”

The gift of giving was in full force on Friday at Brock when over 250 Christmas boxes were collected for Operation Christmas Child by members of the local police.

Brockenhurst College has once again participated in the Operation Christmas Child box collection, where over 250 shoeboxes were filled by students and staff with toys, fun stationery, sweets and other items. For many of these children, it will be their only gift this Christmas.  Last year the Operation Christmas Child project distributed over three quarters of a million boxes to 14 countries, and it is vital that they have support from all over the country to continue their fantastic work.

Students from the college worked together to bring in the items and wrap the boxes, marking them either for a boy or a girl. The boxes were then collected by the local police on Friday as students formed a chain to load the parcels into a van, taking them to a collection centre.  

A special thanks must go to Mathews Shoe Centre in New Milton for providing so many shoeboxes and to the police in Lymington who helped with the delivery. Congratulations to all students and staff who were involved in such a great effort in assembling so many boxes and helping to make it a merrier Christmas for many children. 

Brockenhurst student Lauren Clarke was recently awarded first prize in the prestigious Association of Colleges (AoC)  ‘Photographer of the Year 2011’ award.

The awards, part of the AoC’s Annual Conference and Exhibition was held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on Wednesday 16^th November.

Lauren, from Mudeford, found out that she was shortlisted for the award a few weeks ago, and was named as the overall winner on the night.

“I was shocked and amazed to win” she said. “And really happy!”

Currently in her final year of studying a BTEC in Photography (Art & Design), Lauren hopes to study at the London College of Fashion and make a career in Fashion Photography.

The award-winning snap, pictured, gained these comments from renowned photographer David Weston, who judged the entries: “Love the composition/ framing of the image and the way the photographer captured the moment, and the contrast of the black & white image.”

Lauren is still delighted at her win. “Being at Brock has definitely helped, the tutors have been really supportive and helped me select which photograph I should enter for the competition,” she said.  “The award will be great for making my personal statement for my uni application stand out.”

The Libra Foundation, a charity working with children’s residential centres in Romania will be benefitting from funds raised by Brockenhurst College. Brock students raised nearly £300 from a cake sale held in October, and funds raised will be used to help disadvantaged children in Romania.

The residential centres house many children who are mentally or physically disabled and the children from the Rroma communities are often developmentally delayed, live in extreme poverty and are socially marginalised.

Brockenhurst College has a close relationship with the Libra Foundation, as each summer Brock students travel out to Romania with the charity to work with children in residential centres, providing a number of different activities giving the children opportunities to learn, develop and have fun. Summer camps, arts and craft sessions, sport and music and drama are just a few of the many activities that students get involved in.

Bryona Hayward, a Brockenhurst College student, has been involved in the fundraising.

“We have raised this money so that resources can be provided that will benefit the educational programmes we run throughout all of the different projects in Romania in the summer time,” she said. “These resources provide disadvantaged Romanian children with support for beneficial educational activities such as sport, arts and crafts and quiet activities, which can help to develop their skills, personalities and confidence, “ she continued.

There are further fundraising activities planned for the rest of the academic year, including bag packs at local supermarkets, sponsored cycle rides and more cake sales.

For more information about the Libra Foundation, visit www.librafoundation.org.uk

Funded by Sport England earlier this year, £800k of investment was used for a Full-size Artificial Turf Pitch and a five a side Training Pitch, supporting hockey and football teams. Drainage facilities to all grass pitches were installed to maximize all year round use for football, rugby and cricket teams, and new and renovated changing facilities were built. The new facilities are already beginning to have a huge impact and benefit to Students and the wider community.

Despite heavy rain, the celebrations went on unheeded and in good spirits. The official opening kicked off with a friendly game between current and past Brockenhurst Hockey Academy players, followed by the arrival of GB Hockey players.

GB Hockey Women’s forward Alex Danson, GB Women’s goalkeeper Beth Storrey and GB Men’s forward Simon Mantell held a hockey workshop with Brockenhurst Hockey Academy players and local schools, Brockenhurst Primary and Abbotswood Junior.

Speaking about the new facilities at Brock, Alex Danson said. “In line with the London Olympics, to have a facility like this which enables many young people to get involved in our game, is absolutely incredible and comes at a perfect time where hopefully the Games will be used to inspire them. Having this top facility, where you’ve got a hundred young people running around and playing our sport, the game that we absolutely love, is absolutely fantastic. So for the College, local people and all of the local schools, it’s just a great opportunity.”

The official opening took place at 4:30pm, with Lymington and Pennington Mayor Councillor Anna Rostand unveiling the plaque, followed by a celebratory tea.

Rob Cook, Duty Manager of the Sports Centre at Brockenhurst College said, “Despite the heavy rain all participants really enjoyed themselves. The GB players were fantastic with the young school children and Brockenhurst students, interacting with them superbly and imparting their huge wealth of knowledge and experience.”

Clare Hicks, one of the Heads of Sport at Brockenhurst College, is delighted with the new facilities. “The new pitch has made such a difference to our Hockey Academy students. It allows us to train for 6 hours a week on a high level surface which has really improved players skill levels”, she said. “We are extremely thankful to Sport England for the funding.”

Our textiles students wowed crowds with their eye-catching designs at the recent New Forest Festival. A fashion show, held in September featured a collection from ethical label ‘People Tree’ (the label features designs from Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame) as well as creations from our talented students. The show was based around upcycling, a growing trend involving a ‘make-do and mend’ mentality, using old clothes and materials and creating something new.

It was the first time textiles students have produced a fashion show: ‘‘It’s really given me an idea about what directing and choreographing a fashion show is like,’’ says student Claudia Davies, who coordinated the show. ‘‘Being able to be creative and working to a real-life brief has been a really good exercise.’’ The first and second year A level Textiles students worked in teams to create the designs, and have been busy with the project over the summer.

Tutors Melissa Perry and Megan Cottell have been supporting the students throughout the project. ‘’We’re very excited about this opportunity. Our students have created over 20 garments, all based around the idea of recycling materials – whether it’s newspaper, magazines or old material. We’ve even used old wedding dresses! They’ve been very creative,’’ says Megan. 

The show was received extremely well by the public, who loved the creative ideas from our students. Tanya Mergler, an architect from Bournemouth, commented,

‘’The garments were exquisite, I was impressed to see the students so dedicated and involved in all aspects of creating this fashion show. The garments were absolutely stunning and I was impressed by the wide variety of creative ideas.’’

The show was also attended by Sarah Doukas, the founder of ‘Storm Models’ and agent to Kate Moss and Lily Cole. Sarah has offered the students work experience at the agency, a fantastic opportunity for those students wishing to start a career in the fashion industry.

Maintaining an excellent overall pass rate of 99%, Brockenhurst College is celebrating the success of its A level students today with another bumper year of results.

International Baccalaureate students are also celebrating success with an overall pass rate of 88%, with 72% of students achieving the equivalent of 3.5 grade As at A level. An astounding achievement for all.

Principal, Di Roberts said “These are yet again outstanding A level results for Brockenhurst College students. The pass rate and top grades together with outstanding International Baccalaureate results reflect the ability and hard work of both students and staff in one of the best colleges in the country. I am delighted for our students, their parents and our staff. Congratulations and well done to all”.