Eluned Watson

Two Derwen College Charity champions are dusting off their walking boots and donning their Santa hats to launch a charity challenge from Gobowen to Lapland this December.

Tom Alexander and William Chapple, who are both students at the Shropshire specialist further education college, near Oswestry, are urging fellow students, their families and supporters to take part in a brand new fundraising venture to travel the distance from Derwen to Lapland.

The college is launching the Derwen to Lapland Challenge, following in the footsteps of Father Christmas to cover 1,989 miles from 1^st to 10^th December.

They are asking as many people as possible to join in to walk, run, cycle, swim, or wheelchair as far as they can to support the challenge. Every mile completed and every penny raised counts.

Registration is free, and every participant receives a medal, designed and printed at Derwen College’s Karten print shop.

During the summer holidays, Tom and William became true ambassadors for the college charity when they walked hundreds of miles, raising thousands of pounds in the college’s virtual Land’s End to John O’Groats Challenge.

Fundraiser Anna Evans said: “During the summer, teams of six walked the length of Britain in our Derwen LEJOG Challenge. They raised an amazing total of £6,500. Tom and William, along with their families and supporters, were absolute super stars.”

The more, the merrier!

“This time, our Derwen to Lapland Challenge will be slightly different, as we’ll all be working together to cover 1,989 miles in 10 days. It’s a long way, so we’re hoping to get as many participants as possible signed up. The more, the merrier!”

Derwen College is a specialist college for young adults with special educational needs and disabilities. Students learn work and independence skills which provide them with the tools for a more independent life after college.

All donations from this event will go towards the Agnes Hunt Village project to refurbish and renovate the Agnes Hunt Village bungalows which are used by students to learn and develop their independent living skills. Both Tom and William live in the Agnes Hunt Village whilst at Derwen College.

Registration is free. Contact Anna Evans on anna.evans@derwen.ac.uk or telephone 01691 661234 (ext 395).

Vintage bargains, Christmas hampers and unique festive cards are all just a click away thanks to a new online shop run by students and staff at Derwen College, a charity near Oswestry.

The further education college which supports young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) into work, is keeping students busy by opening up an exciting new shop on auction site eBay.

The College offers vocational training for 16 to 25-year-olds. However, during the second lockdown, it has again had to close its commercial areas where students learn work skills. As well as being temporarily unable to work in the College’s Garden Centre and Shop, retail students have been taken out of their usual off-site work placements. The College has responded to this challenge by moving commercial activity online.

The College has launched an eBay shop. It has also opened a Garden Centre and Shop collect and delivery service from the Gobowen site which includes Christmas cakes, seasonal plants, hampers and gifts. Telephone 01691 661234 ext 221 for orders.

Fundraiser Anna Evans says that the eBay shop will help raise funds for Derwen College Charity as well as providing valuable work experience for retail students.

Hampers, Christmas cards and vintage fashion

She said: “The eBay shop features beautiful clothing and accessories donated by our wonderful supporters. All items on the web have been hand-picked by students and are in excellent condition, many of the items are brand new.”

“The shop also sells Derwen College festive Christmas hampers and hand-made Christmas cards, designed and made by students.”

Retail pathway lead Sioned Davies said she was really pleased with the online eBay shop which was offering retail students at Derwen work experience and training during current lock-down measures.

She said: “Due to the Covid pandemic, students have been unable to access their usual off-site work placements. We have had to think of new ways of offering relevant work experience to our students in many different ways whilst keeping them safe. The new eBay shop offers our retail students experience in sorting, displaying and marketing items to sell, as well as opportunities to learn about online sales and marketing. The work experience sessions require organisation, an ability to be flexible and focused, whilst dealing with customers and meeting their needs. Students are really excited to be part of this new venture.”

All proceeds from eBay sales will go towards Derwen College Charity and the Agnes Hunt Village Project. 

Derwen College has a mission to educate, inspire and empower students to lead the lives they choose.

It is vital that we work with industry, and monitor outcomes for our students, to ensure that they are finding meaningful employment after leaving college.

Head of Curriculum Zoe Wood (left) explains the importance of adapting our curriculum to fit community and business needs.

In Derwen’s last full Ofsted report (2016) the college was praised for its willingness to be flexible and remain current. It said:

“Leaders and managers carefully monitor the progression of students and use this information well to improve and inform changes to curriculum design. For example, leaders identified that proportionally fewer students progressed from college into office work and catering than into retail and hospitality. Managers have made significant changes to vocational programmes which enable students to develop the relevant skills required for all sectors, increasing their opportunities to progress to employment when leaving college.”

At Derwen, we carefully monitor the progression and outcomes of our students and use this information to continually improve and inform changes to our curriculum.

We look at what work placement and employment opportunities are out there and available to our students to maximise the chances of employment and/or voluntary work for our leavers. We also work with ‘industry champion’ partners who ensure we are always working at industry standards.

Over the years, we have adapted our vocational pathways to enable students to develop relevant work skills. We monitor destination data to check we are growing and supporting individual sectors and industries.

Above all, though, the most satisfying measure of our success is when we hear from former students who proudly tell us they have gone on to find work or further training opportunities after leaving us.

Read about what what some of our current and former students have achieved here.

Shropshire specialist college Derwen College is holding a Virtual Open Day on Saturday, 17th October. This will show potential students and families what life at Derwen is all about.

The FE College for young adults with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) received an incredibly positive response to its Summer Virtual Open Day. So, this month, potential students and their families will be able to find out more about life as a residential or day student.

The Derwen College Virtual Open Day about college’s main site, near Oswestry, for residential and day students is at 10am, and this will be hosted by Head of Curriculum Zoe Wood.

This will be followed by a Virtual Satellites Open Day about the college’s three satellite sites for day students at Walford (near Shrewsbury), Craven Arms, and Telford. This starts at 11.30am, and Zoe will be joined by Walford and Craven Arms Satellite Manager Peter Leddington and Telford Satellite Lead Lucy Harrison.

Vocational pathways and independence

Join the Virtual Open Day to find out about the college’s vocational pathways, work placements, and independence skills learning. You will also discover more about the facilities, sports and social activities, and residential and day provision

The events will take place as a webinar where you will be able to find out more information about Derwen College and ask any questions you may have about the provision.

Head of Curriculum, Zoe Wood said: “While we are very pleased that our students are now back on site, we have stringent health and safety measure in place to keep everyone safe. We know that prospective students and families still want to experience what we have to offer. We are welcoming interest from families looking at places for 2021 and beyond, and are pleased that they can join us on a Virtual Open Day that’s virtually as good as the real thing. Just log on to the Derwen College website for more information.”

Book your place on one or both Open Days on the links below:

Main site Open Day

Satellite Open Day

Or find out more at the college website at www.derwen.ac.uk