College News

Cardiff salon’s artistic director named VQ Learner of the Year runner up

The artistic director at Ocean Hairdressing in Cardiff was runner up at the VQ (Vocational Qualifications) Awards in Wales last week.

Casey Coleman, a former Gower College Swansea student, was one of six finalists in the running to become VQ Learner of the Year at the showpiece awards ceremony at St David’s Hotel, Cardiff. The award recognises learners who clearly demonstrate progression and excellence in vocational studies and have made considerable achievements in their field.

Laura changes her life through learning

A 21-year-old from Swansea who says learning 'saved her life' has won a major award.

Gower College Swansea student Laura John, from Townhill, was presented with the Young Adult Learner Award at the recent Inspire! Awards, as part of Adult Learners’ Week 2015.

The talented artist was recognised for turning her life around after having a difficult start that led her to self-harm and drugs.

Students face ‘squashed tomato’ challenge

Gower College Swansea’s Reaching Wider team recently played host to Dylan Thomas Community School, where Year 9 pupils took part in a practical engineering-focused activity called ‘The Squashed Tomato Challenge.’

This fun hands-on and brains-on challenge has been developed by Practical Action and is based on a real life problem affecting people in Nepal, where many farmers living on the mountainside grow fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes.

Project Enduro team face endurance test

The team behind Project Enduro – the designers and manufacturers of prototype specialist four-wheeled downhill mountain bikes - are facing one of their biggest challenges to date.

Starting at 12pm on 17 June at Antur Stiniog, Snowdonia, they will attempt to set a new world record for the greatest number of vertical metres descended in 24 hours.

The sun shines for Dragon Sports day

Following another successful year of its schools coaching programme, Gower College Swansea recently held its annual ‘Dragon Multi Skills & Sport’ taster event, in conjunction with Sports Development Swansea.

The event, which took place at the Elba sports complex in Gowerton, saw over 600 pupils from 15 local schools enjoy sessions in various activities and sports including hockey, football, rounders and rugby.

College helps Swans stars with their language skills

Gower College Swansea has entered into an educational partnership with Swansea City Football Club to teach English as a Foreign Language to players and their spouses.

Pictured here (left to right) are: Jefferson Montero, Yiannis Panayiotopoulos (Gower College Swansea lecturer) and Federico Fernandez.

Lifelong Learning in the Arts exhibition - 16 to 26 June.

Come along and see the work of our talented art students.

Sport students celebrate a winning year

Sport students from Gower College Swansea have celebrated another exceptional year at their annual awards ceremony.

Hairdressing opens up a world of opportunities for artistic director Casey

Hairdressing is more than just a nine to five job as Casey Coleman - artistic director at Ocean Hairdressing in Cardiff and former Gower College Swansea student - will tell you.

Casey demonstrates how the industry is much more about creativity with the opportunity for careers not only in salons, but within fashion styling and design, television and films. After working briefly in a salon, he went on to work in a call centre before returning to full time education at Gower College Swansea where his passion for hairdressing began.

Science students achieve prestigious Gold CREST Award

Two groups of A Level Science students from Gower College Swansea have received the highest level of award - the Gold CREST - from the British Science Association for their work with local companies.

One team of students worked with Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon and were given the task of incorporating recycled materials into a bio-block design while ensuring they were successful at colonising marine life.

The other team worked with Welsh Water and were tasked with designing and constructing a model of a chemical dosing rig with complete automatic control.