College Creative Arts Team Shortlisted for National Awards
Tutors and staff based at North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College’s creative arts campus in Hinckley have been shortlisted in both the FE Team and FE Lecturer of the Year categories of the prestigious Pearson National Teaching Awards.
The awards are an annual celebration of exceptional teachers designed to recognise the life-changing impact an inspirational teacher can have on the lives of young people. The team, based at the college’s Hinckley Campus, will find out if they have progressed in the scheme on national Thank a Teacher Day, Thursday 26 May 2022.
The 34-strong Creative Arts team supports a range of disciplines including performing arts, media, design, music, fashion, and photography. In 2021, students successfully won seven of the college’s 16 medals in the finals of the national WorldSkills UK competitions placing the college at the top of the medals table in England and 4th overall in the UK.
The team has set up a competitions club at the Hinckley Campus which provides opportunities for students to get practice skills challenges on their journey towards WorldSkills. Eleven members of the team are working with lecturer Fiona Rollings, a peer coach who has benefited from the WorldSkills Centre of Excellence programme. Students are encouraged to take part in real world experiences and gain employability skills and routes into meaningful employment by working with local organisations including Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery, Nuneaton Library, and the Atkins Building Art Gallery in Hinckley.
Creative arts lecturer Fiona Rollings teaches further education programmes across a range of disciplines. She joined the college in 2005 following a successful career in the interior design industry. Fiona strongly believes in the power of skills competitions and her students secured the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in the visual merchandising category in WorldSkills UK in 2021. Fiona believes in the importance of exposure to live work experience and supported students to take part in the Rocket Round Leicester public art project to help reenergise Leicester which was particularly badly hit by the pandemic.
Marion Plant, OBE FCGI, Principal and Chief Executive at NWSLC said, “I am delighted with the news that the Creative Arts team, and Fiona Rollings, have been shortlisted for these awards. Every member of the team is completely committed to the college and their students, consistently performing well but never seeking recognition or reward. They effectively demonstrate the power of a group of colleagues who work collaboratively believing that if everyone is moving forwards together, success takes care of itself. I wish them luck in the future stages of the competition.”