Posted: Tuesday 30 March 2010

Partnership Praised at Awards Ceremony

Partnership Praised at Awards Ceremony

A partnership between Kilmarnock College and James Watt College was praised at an awards ceremony hosted by Skills Development Scotland at the Park Hotel in Kilmarnock on 24 March.

The Skills Development Scotland Awards, which recognised Learning Partnerships Across Ayrshire, praised Kilmarnock College and James Watt College for their School/College collaboration, commending their joint Winter Leavers’ programme as an example of good practice. The Winter Leavers’ programme is designed specifically for school pupils who are too young to leave school after fourth year, yet do not wish to stay on for fifth year.

The Winter Leavers’ programme, which is now in its second year, introduces students to vocational courses on offer at college and gives them the opportunity to sample options for future study.

Through teaming up, Kilmarnock College and James Watt College were able to introduce the North Ayrshire students to a wider amount of choice for future study. By spending half of their week at the Kilmarnock College Holehouse Road Campus, and the other half at James Watt College’s Kilwinning Campus, students also had the opportunity to experience two different learning environments.

Carol Nisbet, Head of Widening Access and Participation at Kilmarnock College, said: “Our partnership with James Watt College has been fantastic and we look forward to building on this by continuing to maximise choices for young people throughout Ayrshire.

“We are now in the second year of this partnership and have seen many students progress on to full-time courses within Kilmarnock College and James Watt College. Our pupils have demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment throughout and their commitment has been further proven through their travelling between campuses - we even had one young man travel from the Isle of Arran!”

Joyce Stirton, Student Support Team Leader at James Watt College, added: “We have received excellent feedback from our students involved in the Winter Leavers’ programme who love the variety of courses available to them through our partnership with Kilmarnock College.

“Here students can study subjects including computing, art, photography, hairdressing and bricklaying, and at Kilmarnock they can study areas including hospitality, motor vehicle engineering and beauty therapy. We designed this partnership to make young people more aware of the choices available to them and we were all delighted that Skills Development Scotland has recognised the importance of this programme.”

For further information on the Winter Leavers’ programme through Kilmarnock College and James Watt College please contact Carol Nisbet on 01563 523501 ext 4122 or Joyce Stirton on 01475 724 433 ext 3004 respectively.

For further information on all other courses available at Kilmarnock College and James Watt College, please visit www.kilmarnock.ac.uk or www.jameswatt.ac.uk.

Pictured (l-r): Carol Nisbet, Kilmarnock College; Joyce Stirton, James Watt College

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For more information, contact:

Sarah McDaid, Halogen Communications, (T) 0131 202 0120 (F) 0131 225 3757 (E) sarah@halogencom.com         

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