College News

Important message from Principal, Mark Jones

As the firebreak lockdown comes to a close, here is some important information for when you return to College next week.

From Monday 9 November

We will now resume our face to face method of teaching for all our full time students.

If you are a part time student or an apprentice, your course will resume in the same way as it did before the firebreak lockdown.

Firebreak lockdown, what does this mean for the College?

Following yesterday’s Welsh Government announcement of a firebreak lockdown across Wales, the College will close to all but essential staff at 6pm on Friday 23 October for half term.

From Monday 2 to Friday 6 November, the campuses will remain closed, but all teaching will be delivered online.

Gower College Swansea student makes team UK line up for WorldSkills’ European Showdown

Fourteen of the UK’s best young apprentices and professionals have been selected to take on the crème de la crème of their European peers in the first big skills pressure test of the post Brexit era – EuroSkills.

Rhys Watts, Electronic Engineering Apprentice Technician at Gower College Swansea, is the youngest of the team, representing the UK in the Electronics Prototyping category.

Theatre students head for top drama school

Four recent Theatre Production Arts graduates from Gower College Swansea have arrived in Bristol to take up their places at the prestigious Old Vic Theatre School.

Abbi Davies, Susannah Pearce, Matthew Newcombe and Lewis Bamford will start their Production Arts (Stage and Screen) and Costume for Theatre, TV and Film courses this month.

Local lockdown announced for Swansea, what does this mean for the College?

Following a Welsh Government announcement today (25 September), local lockdown restrictions will come into effect for Swansea from 6pm, 27 September.

Staff and students can continue to travel in and out of restricted areas to attend College, provided they:

Togetherall – a safe, anonymous community for 24/7 mental health support

Our students' health, safety and wellbeing is our top priority, and we're always looking for new ways to support them. We are delighted to announce that we are now offering an excellent online support service called Togetherall.

Togetherall offers a safe and anonymous community to connect with from anywhere, at any time - whether students need to get something off their chest, have conversations, express themselves creatively or learn how to manage their mental health. The platform is monitored by trained clinicians 24/7, 365 days a year.

Our continued response to Covid-19: Update from Principal Mark Jones (22 September)

Principal Mark Jones reflects on the start of the Autumn term, praising students and staff for their cooperation, and explaining how the College is continuing to ensure health and safety remains the top priority.

As we enter the fourth week of term, it seems a good time to reflect on how things have gone so far at Gower College Swansea.

Firstly, I want to say a huge thank you to all our students and staff for their cooperation as we navigate our way through an academic year that is very different to any we've known before. 

Student Union President, Laimis Lisauskas reflects on his first few days back at College

With the reopening of schools and colleges earlier this week, I thought readers may be interested in getting a student’s perspective of how these first few days have gone.

My role as the President of the Student Union at Gower College Swansea has allowed me to interact with a wide range of students over the past few days, and therefore the comments I make are representative of the feedback I have received from right across the College.

Guidance on face coverings

Following the recent statement by Welsh Government, the College has decided that all staff, students and visitors will now be required to wear face coverings.

This will apply in all communal areas where social distancing is difficult to maintain (e.g. hallways, stairways or common rooms). It will also apply when using College or public buses.

Face coverings will not be expected to be worn in the classroom as all full time students will be in individual contact groups (bubbles) and all part time students will be social distancing.

After a tough year, Gower College Swansea looks forward

After what has been a very challenging academic year, Gower College Swansea is now gearing up for the return of students from 1 September.

Work has been ongoing throughout the summer to adapt the campus buildings in light of Covid-19 and things will look very different when learners return for their inductions.