News

Orbital South Colleges celebrates Colleges Week

Between Monday 3 and Friday 7 March, Orbital South Colleges celebrated Colleges Week, an annual national event that looks at the impact colleges have both in their local communities and across the country. This year, each day of the week had a specific theme, using the government's five missions as a framework: 

Monday 3 March, ‘Kickstart the economy’ 

College’s Week began at John Ruskin College with Dragon's Den style presentations from our business students. Students pitched doughnuts, mobiles, ecofriendly nail bars and a business combining coffee with soft play. After each presentation a panel of judges gave their feedback on the pitch and gave advice to the students on their proposals.

Tuesday 4 March, ‘Become a green energy superpower’ 

Our enrichment team hosted an interactive activity in the Winter Garden at ESC, with students tasked to try and create enough energy to light a lightbulb through cycling! The day also helped us to reflect on the great work that has happened at the Colleges to create a green future through securing funding for our electric vehicles range in the motor vehicle department. 

Wednesday 5 March, ‘Take back our streets’

Platform7teen delivered some great interactive workshops to our ESOL students at ESC. The experimental workshops help to improve employability and life skills of young people through mock interviews with the students. The sessions were designed to cover every essential component of an interview, from techniques to body language and making a great first impression, to help build students' confidence for the future. 

Thursday 6 March, 'Break down barriers to opportunity'

Local councillors visited the Colleges to bridge with gap between politics and young people. At John Ruskin College, Green Party Councillor Ria Patel, spoke with students and at East Surrey College, Labour Councillor Mark Smith. The councillors spoke about connecting with young people and how they can get engaged with politics in their local area before opening the room to questions.

Friday 7 March, 'Build an NHS fit for the future'

Health & Social Care students across Orbital South Colleges were able to participate in an immersive and interactive training experience from Meta. The scenarios developed for this training are situations that learners need to be prepared for but may not have come across often in real life, such as working with elderly patients in a professional setting and getting permission to enter a patient’s home. 

College’s Week served as a great reminder of the fantastic work that happens across our Colleges to help train, upskill, and support our students. Thank you to everyone for the activities put on across the week that made this year a great success.