College News

All Wrapped Up!

Level 3 Patisserie students at Gower College Swansea have been very busy designing, icing and decorating the annual Christmas display piece.

Over the past few years, the students – guided by Learning Area Manager and patisserie lecturer Mark Clement – have produced a variety of themed cakes including a seven foot chocolate Christmas tree and snowmen ‘chilling out’ and elaborate confections called Deck the Halls, Frozen and Starry Night.

Competition success for Catering and Hospitality students

Two Catering and Hospitality students from Gower College Swansea have earned places in the Worldskills UK Squad team, which could see them representing their country at the Worldskills World Final in Russia in 2019.

Level 3 student Collette Gorvett was recently ‘Highly Commended’ in the Restaurant Services competition at the Worldskills National Finals at Birmingham’s NEC.

Swimming success

At the end of November, three students studying at the Gorseinon campus of Gower College Swansea participated in the Urdd Regional Swimming Gala.

A Level student Niamh Jones came first in the butterfly race and also achieved her Personal Best. L3 Public Services student Sam Thomas swam in the backstroke and the individual medley race, and A Level student Dominc Waters swam the breaststroke.

Niamh will now take part in the national competition in Cardiff on 21 January 2018. Good luck to her!

Scholarship students 2017/2018

Four Gower College Swansea students have been awarded scholarships for this academic year.

Receipt of a scholarship will ensure that these students receive financial and holistic support from the College as they balance studying with sporting commitments.

The College’s sports scholarship programme assists students who demonstrate exceptional ability in one of its academy sports – rugby, football, netball and cricket

This year’s scholarship students are:

Swansea workforce programme continues growth

A new programme designed to strengthen Swansea’s workforce has welcomed several new appointments to its team.  

Better Jobs, Better Futures, which is run by Gower College Swansea, has taken on a number of new staff within their Workforce and Recruitment teams to further develop their support for local businesses.

Louise Dempster, Beth Fisher, Zoe Williams, and Mark James join the team as Workforce Advisers, assisting local employers to expand and strengthen their workforce, providing them with personalised support and advice.

College retains Platinum status

Gower College Swansea has retained its ACCA Platinum Approved Learning Partner status after five years of dedicated provision.

Currently the only further education college in the UK to be awarded this highly sought-after status by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, it is a measure of the high quality training and support provided to accountancy students.

GCS apprentice has Russia in his sights

An apprentice from Gower College Swansea has become the first Welsh student to make the Worldskills UK Squad in the sector of Industrial Electronics.

James Williams, who works at Haven Automation in Fforestfach, will now undergo two years of intensive specialist training which could take him all the way to the Worldskills World Finals in Kazan, Russia, in 2019.

Top GP comes home to inspire a whole new generation of doctors

Britain’s top GP, Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, recently came home to Swansea for a whirlwind two-day trip during which she visited her old school and college where she took her first steps to success.

Prof Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs - the UK’s largest Medical Royal College representing 52,000 family doctors across the UK – met Year 10 children at Penyrheol Comprehensive School and students interested in studying medicine at Gower College Swansea in Gorseinon.

Chinese students enjoy College experience

Our International department has hosted a group of Chinese students and staff from Zhuzhou No. 8 Middle School.

The students attended classes in the mornings and then spent the afternoons participating in various social activities.

The visit culminated with a ‘cultural exchange’ event between Chinese and local students and a music/dance performance from some of our current cohort of International A Level students.

A new library for Tycoch Campus

Students and staff at Gower College Swansea have celebrated the official reopening of the library at the Tycoch campus.

The innovative learning space, which was opened by BBC Wales presenter and children’s author Lucy Owen, includes a collaborative area, an information learning technology studio, an acoustic pod and individual / group study spaces.