Eluned Watson

An intrepid 16 members of staff from Derwen College walked up Snowdon, yesterday, to raise funds and awareness for Derwen College Charity.

Most of those walking for Derwen College Charity had never attempted Snowdon before, making this a daunting challenge.

Weather conditions were cloudy, wet and windy, but that did not deter the team who made great progress and reached the summit on schedule.

This was the second Derwen staff Snowdon walk – the first took place three weeks ago.  In total, 36 staff have completed the climb to raise funds for the charity.  The total funds raised to date is £1280.48.

Walk leader, Ben Leonard – who took part in both walks –  said he was proud of everyone who took part.

“It was a great day, everything went well and everyone worked really hard to reach the top of Snowdon. It was a shame the views were not great from the summit, but the clouds parted on our way down and we finally got to enjoy the breath-taking views of Snowdonia.

“Everyone helped each other to keep going, and that made a big difference.”

Money raised for Derwen College Charity goes towards supporting students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their education, work experience and independence skills learning.

Anyone wishing to support this event can make a donation via the on-line donation page

More pictures from the walk are available on our Facebook page.

It’s not too late for day students to enrol on a life-changing learning experience at our award-winning college for this September. Potential day students can still enrol to learn work and independence skills with us.

Families of students aged 16 to 25, with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), still have time to sign up with us – Specialist Provider of the Year in the nationwide TES FE awards 2021.

We have spaces for September 2021 in pathways in Retail & Enterprise, Hospitality & Food, Performing Arts, Horticulture and Sports & Leisure. For students with more complex needs, we also provide Learning for Life and a Nurture programme for students with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

Families can still apply to join our sites in Gobowen, near Oswestry, Derwen at Walford, near Shrewsbury, and one in South Shropshire. Students across the college’s sites, are offered a full timetable including employability skills, work placements, skills for life and sports and leisure activities.

Derwen College prides itself on providing real work and independence skills to students, including work placements at the Gobowen campus’s garden centre and gift shop, charity shop, café, print shop. Many students at Walford also work at the Leaf It To Us horticulture enterprise and have been involved in many important community projects.

Head of Curriculum Zoe Wood said:

‘Families may not realise it, but there is still time for day students to apply for a 2021 place at one of our sites at Gobowen, Derwen at Walford and south Shropshire. Students from Shropshire, north Wales and Cheshire enjoy the day student experience, which offers award-winning learning and social life in a packed daily timetable.

‘We are very proud of the successes of our day students from Shropshire and the surrounding counties, many of whom go on to find employment and supported living after graduating from Derwen.

‘We are also welcoming enquiries from residential and day students for 2022 and beyond.’

The Admissions team are on hand through the summer to deal with enquires regarding potential students. Telephone 01691 661234 ext 401 or email admissions@derwen.ac.uk, for information.

Well done to all our students for the wonderful successes and achievements over the academic year. We have been inspired and proud to see you all grow, and learn, demonstrating work and independence skills which will help you reach your future goals.

Derwen College end-of-term prize-giving wasn’t the big event that we’ve been able to hold in previous years, but that didn’t stop us celebrating everyone’s hard work.

Departments all held their own smaller prize-giving ceremonies which celebrated success with cheers aplenty.

The students named as Students of the Year – making the most progress in their subject – were:

Retail & Enterprise: Nadia Alrawi

Horticulture: Billie-Jo Bailey

Hospitality & Food: William Chapple

Performing Arts: Nicole Williams

Learning for Life: Andy Curtis

Performing Arts students have been in the limelight yet again. This time, they’ve been working on an NHS project to encourage people with learning disabilities to take up their annual healthcare checks.

Students and staff partnered with Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to create the educational video. The campaign video had an important message for people with learning disabilities. It also provided valuable work experience for Performing Arts students.

The film uses our students’ own words, which were delivered beautifully. Thank you to students Georgia, Ben, Anais, Nicole, Rachel and Amy who took part.

Teacher Tara Edwards directed the video and co-ordinated the whole work experience project. Jess Vaughan helped to film and edit the video.

Speaking about the project, Jess, Pathway Leader for Performing Arts, said: “This has been a fantastic project. It is something that our students and staff have both been pleased and proud to be a part of.

“The opportunity to create a partnership with the CCG has been great. It fits well with our curriculum and gives our learners the opportunity to work with NHS professionals, tackle important issues and gain valuable work experience. These kinds of opportunities are particularly important during these difficult times when opportunities have been very slim.”

“We all enjoyed filming across the college campus, especially because the project has been on hold for 12 months. It is great to be able to come together and get the students stuck into their work experience once again. We are all very pleased with the result.”

Claire Parker, Director of Partnerships at Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin CCG, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with the healthcare video. We would like to congratulate the six students featured in the video and the staff at Derwen College who have worked so hard to produce such a great resource for young people with learning disabilities.”

Watch the video at Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin CCG

Video created by inspiring young learners encourages others to book an annual health check