2020

Gloucestershire College is pleased to make it even easier for learners to apply by offering online payment for a number of courses from January 2020.

Gloucestershire College is excited to announce that, for the third year running, it has been recognised in the national TES FE Awards, after being shortlisted in the 2020 Employer Engagement category.

Since announcing the launch of their brand new cyber degree apprenticeship programme, Gloucestershire College and the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) have been putting preparations in place for providing the highest quality cyber training for their new recruits from September 2020.

In light of the recent government change, which allowed non-levy paying SMEs to gain full access to the Digital Apprenticeship Service (DAS), Gloucestershire College is reassuring county businesses that it can support them through the process of administering and paying for apprenticeship training.

Apprenticeships have hugely changed over the last 10 years and are more in-demand than ever.

Here are 5 things to know about apprenticeships...

Find out how you can earn a degree while you earn...

The whole process of applying for an apprenticeship can feel daunting - especially if you haven’t applied for a job before.

Here are 5 things to know about what employers are looking for when applying for an apprenticeship...

Gloucestershire College is delighted to receive recognition for its excellent apprenticeship provision, once again, after being shortlisted as Training Provider of the Year in the 2020 Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards.

Interviewing for an apprenticeship is very similar to how you’d interview for any other job.

Here are our 10 top tips to ace your apprenticeship interview...

Here are just some of the top 10 apprenticeship questions answered…

Applying for an apprenticeship is a little different to applying for a full-time college course and not everyone is guaranteed an apprenticeship.

There are two ways to get yourself an apprenticeship...

Please see this guidance for Employers.

Please see this guidance for Apprentices.

Please see this guidance for Key Workers and Vulnerable Students.

Now is not only a great opportunity to find new ways of learning at home, it’s also a great opportunity to discover new passions and ways of developing and connecting differently.

Keeping your brain active will not only help you prepare for the return to school or college, but can also help you productively utilise all the time you have. Here are our top tips for just eight things you can do to keep your mind active.

It’s really important you look after your wellbeing and we’re here to help. Our support and wellbeing team have provided some advice and top-tips for staying well and managing anxiety and social isolation during this difficult period.

Please see this guidance for Full Time Students, Parents & Guardians.

Please see this guidance for Part Time and HE (Higher Education) Students.

As lockdown continues, apprentices at Gloucestershire College are continuing to learn. Apprentices on a range of courses from digital marketing to dental nursing are being taught remotely via online sessions, and are getting regular support from their training assessors. Following government guidelines, and where suitable for employers, the College also continues to deliver training to furloughed apprentices, to ensure their learning isn’t prohibited.

While we all continue to stay safe at home, we are adapting to the ever-changing environment and are happy to share that the learning continues at Gloucestershire College.

Speaking to Gloucestershire College’s Lecturer of Accountancy, Michael Hackman, we find out more about his amazing achievement and the phenomenal impact his research has had on students across the College, plus we lift the lid on how teaching has been adapted to life in lockdown.

Explore our full-time courses with online open events from Monday 1 to Friday 5 June.

Whether you want to find out more about art or construction, health and social care or sport, we’ve got a full line-up of subject-focused talks so you can find the perfect course for this September.

Traditionally for some apprenticeship areas such as Engineering and Construction, Gloucestershire College have only allowed new starters to join in September. The College will now have two entry dates for the next academic year, allowing apprentices to start in both September 2020 and January 2021.

Undeterred by the current climate, Gloucestershire College continues to forge alliances with local businesses to support the wider economy, and is delighted to announce the next step in a growing partnership with Bamboo Technology Group, a leading IoT, connectivity, data, IT and cyber security solutions provider.

As part of their commitment to developing the next generation of cyber and IT talent in the region, Gloucestershire College is delighted to announce their partnership with local cyber group CyNam as academic sponsor. The College’s strategic partnership with Cheltenham’s influential cyber group will give more students the opportunity to enter this cutting-edge industry. Moreover, it will provide more local employers the ability to access the College’s specialised cyber and IT courses and apprenticeship training, and outstanding talent pool of readily available cyber and IT candidates.

Our teaching teams are very busy getting ready to settle students into their new course and designing exciting new learning activities. Whilst they’re planning for excellent face-to-face delivery, they’re also preparing for all eventualities; using a wide-range of delivery methods that support remote learning - if required.

If you’ve always wanted to learn a new language to use on holiday or with friends and family, now you can from the comfort of home, thanks to the launch of Gloucestershire College’s new remote courses for beginners, which are fun, flexible, affordable and accessible to all.

Read the latest from our Principal about how Gloucestershire College plans to fully open in September to students and apprentices, adhering to the latest social distancing guidelines from the Government.

Gloucestershire College currently has over 20 outstanding candidates who have been offered a conditional place on our Cyber Degree Apprenticeship course and are looking for an employer to start their cyber-career with. Find out more here.

We are pleased to say Gloucestershire College has welcomed some of our students and apprentices back onto site this week. Find out more here.

As an organisation we continue to be moved by recent and past tragic events in the US, which have highlighted racial inequality across the world, and want to let our staff and students to know that we stand against racism in all its forms, respect and celebrate differences, and support the Black Lives Matter movement.

From the new academic year, starting this September, students can expect the same expert tuition, personalised support and face-to-face delivery as is standard for GC, with some courses incorporating elements of online, remote or blended learning to ensure the social distancing measures we have implemented can be followed.

We understand that the world of education and work continues to change, which is why we’ve transformed some of our most versatile courses to ensure that jobseekers, professionals and businesses can keep learning, wherever they are.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘apprentice’? Young? Inexperienced? First job? Entry-level? All of these are common misconceptions. Apprenticeships are not just for school leavers. In fact, apprenticeship qualifications range from Level 1 to 8 meaning apprentices can study advanced courses and even achieve a degree. Businesses are investing in apprenticeships for their current staff and senior managers so they can learn the essential skills needed to contribute to business growth. There is no age limit for apprenticeships, so anyone within your organisation can become an apprentice to continue their professional development. Find out how here...

Following the chancellor's update on Wednesday 8 July 2020, the government has announced significant support for apprenticeships as part of their Plan for Jobs. Find out more here.

Gloucestershire College proudly works with South Gloucestershire Council to deliver a wide range of apprenticeship programmes for their existing staff. We caught up with Bernice Williams, Apprenticeship Coordinator at South Gloucestershire Council, to share their valuable experience of using the levy and how it can be used to benefit businesses.

We’re delighted to launch a new series of free, online short courses to help people keep learning, wherever they are, and support Gloucestershire businesses in getting back on their feet.

With brand new programmes and incentive payments of up to £3,000, Gloucestershire College is encouraging local employers to back local talent and recruit apprentices this September. Find out more here.

Gloucestershire College is delighted to sponsor Gloucestershire's Jobs Skills and Apprenticeships Lift Off Event on Friday 11 September 2020. Find out more here.

We are aiming to help the county’s workforce get back on its feet with a range of free courses designed to help jobseekers refresh, retrain and prepare to re-enter the workplace, whether they are long-term unemployed or have recently been made redundant.

With the government announcing new incentive payments of up to £3,000 for every apprentice hired, now is the perfect opportunity to hire a Cyber Security Degree Apprentice with Gloucestershire College. Find out more here.

Gloucestershire College has been awarded almost £1 million to invest in a brand new flexible workspace for local businesses with purpose-built facilities designed to develop the technologies of the future. Find our more here.

Following the government announcement to inject £111million into traineeships, Gloucestershire College has transformed its existing Skills Accelerator programme to include a traineeship, to offer even more value to the county’s young people and economy.

With September just around the corner, our popular AAT apprenticeships will soon be commencing. We caught up with Tom Lindsey, Management Accounts Assistant at Gloucestershire Health & Care NHS Foundation Trust, who is a Level 4 AAT apprentice with Gloucestershire College. Tom shares his experience with us, find out more here.

We love sharing the success stories of our apprentices here at Gloucestershire College. We caught up with Ella Russell, Business Administration Apprentice at Tewkesbury School, who has thrived in her apprenticeship and is also a finalist in Gloucestershire’s Apprentice of the Year Awards 2020. Whether you are looking to become an apprentice or you’re a local employer looking to recruit an apprentice, we hope Ella’s story will inspire you to take the next step.

From the new academic year, starting this September, students can expect the same expert tuition, personalised support and face-to-face delivery as is standard for GC, with some courses incorporating elements of online, remote or blended learning to ensure the social distancing measures we have implemented can be followed.

Gloucestershire College becomes one of the first to be awarded CyberFirst Schools status by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – through a new initiative which recognises excellence in cyber and cyber security education. Find out more here.

We would like to congratulate Poppy Sharam, Junior Stylist and Apprentice at Laura Leigh Hair & Beauty, who has been awarded a Distinction for her Level 2 Hair Professional Apprenticeship End Point Assessment. Only around 2% of apprentices in the country have gained a distinction for their End Point Assessment so this is an incredible achievement! Find out more here.

Whether your business can offer 1, 5, or 20+ places, get involved and help support the next generation right here in Gloucestershire. Find out more here.

Gillian Keegan, Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, will be ‘virtually’ opening the West of England Institute of Technology (WEIoT) today. Find out more here.

Congratulations to Sydney Davies for passing her Level 2 Hair Professional Apprenticeship with Ashley Paul Hairdressing in Gloucester. Sydney started her apprenticeship with Gloucestershire College in September 2017 and was ready to complete her End Point Assessment when lockdown suddenly started, forcing the salon to temporarily close. On return to the salon in July, Sydney worked incredibly hard to get ready for her assessment in September, which she successful passed - even whilst wearing full PPE on one of the hottest days of the year! Find out more here.

There is growing evidence to suggest young people have been hit the hardest by the economic fallout from Covid-19. In response to this Gloucestershire College has launched a ‘Back Local Talent’ campaign, asking businesses to consider how they can help. The College has been inundated with young people looking for apprenticeship and career opportunities with local businesses. Here we summarise the three ways your business can get involved.

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

Iress is a global technology company providing software to the financial services industry. The software solutions developed by Iress are used by more than 9,000 businesses and 500,000 users globally. Iress is a finalist for ‘Employer of the Year’ in the 2020 GloucestershireLive Virtual Apprenticeship awards, highlighting their dedication and commitment to apprenticeships.

Gloucestershire College is delighted to be a finalist for ‘Gloucestershire's Apprenticeship Training Provider of the Year’ at the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020. The winners of the awards are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020.

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

The winners of the GloucestershireLive Apprenticeship Awards 2020 are soon to be announced during a virtual awards ceremony on Thursday 19th November 2020. Gloucestershire College is proud to share the achievements of our outstanding apprentices, with six finalists in the awards this year. We are delighted to shine a spotlight on our finalists to celebrate their incredible achievements and inspire others to pursue an apprenticeship. Congratulations to all our finalists, we have our fingers crossed for you on the big night!

Gloucestershire College proudly works with Renishaw to train Embedded Electronic Engineering Degree (Level 6) Apprentices. We caught up with Julia Russell, Apprentice Lead at Renishaw, to share why apprenticeships form such an important part of their business and why local employers should consider hiring apprentices or upskilling existing members of staff through apprenticeships.

Gloucestershire College’s Business Hub team is hosting a free webinar for employers to discover the specialist IT and Cyber apprenticeships available at GC, including our brand new degree programmes. Find out more here.

Gloucestershire College is thrilled to have won two awards in last night’s Gloucestershire Apprenticeship Awards 2020. Taking home both ‘Gloucestershire’s Apprenticeship Training Provider of the Year’ and ‘Outstanding Contribution to Apprenticeships in Gloucestershire.’ Find out more here.

The new further education prospectus for 2021/22 is out now, and brimming with reasons to choose us to accelerate your progression into your future career.

NEW for this year, we have added QR codes to each department page and transformed our course listings, to make it even easier for you to find your course on our website and apply.

Take a look today!

We’re excited to unveil our new university-level prospectus, showcasing courses starting from September 2021.

Whether you’re unsure about which direction you’d like to take, or you know exactly the career path you’d like to follow, Gloucestershire College has a wide range of courses to give you the qualifications and experience you need to succeed.

At Gloucestershire College, we are training the future the cyber and IT industry. Proudly working with CyNam and Hub 8, we are connecting local businesses with the brightest talent and working with employers to fill technical skill gaps within their organisations.

Discover our range of specialist IT and Cyber apprenticeships available at Gloucestershire College and find out why our programmes are at the cutting edge for IT and cyber training…

Gloucestershire College is proud to work with Iress to deliver training for their Software, IT Infrastructure and Cyber apprentices. Many of our apprentices with Iress have gone on to achieve distinctions in their programmes and progress to more senior roles within the company. We love sharing the success stories of our apprentices here at Gloucestershire College so we caught up with Ben Carter, Apprentice Software Engineer at Iress, to share his experience of what life is like as an apprentice and why he decided to choose the apprenticeship route.

Taking on five new apprentices in October this year, Iress has successfully onboarded new Software Development Apprentices with Gloucestershire College despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic. The team at Iress have been working remotely since the start of March, which means their new apprentices are too. We caught up with Darcy Hibberd, People Partner for Talent Acquisition at Iress to share their experience of recruiting apprentices, how they have managed to work remotely and the impact apprenticeships have had on their business.

Around this time of year, we celebrate the achievements of our higher education graduates with a Higher Awards Ceremony in the grand setting of Gloucester Cathedral.

The anticipated event would have been our 30th annual celebration in 2020, however, due to the current pandemic, we are unable to celebrate in person. We are hopeful, COVID restrictions permitting, that we will be able to invite all of our 180 graduates to a ceremony in 2021.

We have all had to adapt rapidly this year. We now know that we can work from home or online from wherever we choose. Many professionals have reaped the rewards of this new flexible way of working, leaving hour-long commutes behind and enjoying a ‘new normal’ work-life balance. While working from home comes with many positives, the real question is can we do it safely and securely?

The new edition of the Gloucestershire College Professional Training Guide is available to download now! It contains information on the professional services training and apprenticeship courses offered at the College for local businesses and their employees

The latest cohort of trainees at Gloucestershire College have successfully completed their eight-week training programme at the College and will be heading out on their employment placements in the new year. Find out more here.

Back in July, the government announced new incentive payments for employers to encourage the recruitment of new apprentices. Originally planned to end on 31 January 2021, the incentive payments have now been extended to 31 March 2021. Find out more here.