Staff and pupils at Newark College say they are excited for the new space and aviation institute to open there - as they shared plans for next year. Over the last 12 months, the college has continued to work with Nottinghamshire businesses to help provide students with the skills and industry experience they need to enter the world of work.
This includes the launch of a multi-skills level two qualification in conjunction with Newark and Sherwood District Council, and a brand new gas and plumbing centre, which saw the college welcome 87 people as full-time students and apprentices. Newark College is also in its second year of running interim facilities for the Air and Space Institute, which is set to open in January 2024.
Head of Newark College, Penny Taylor, said: "We have 220 learners focussing on a career in aviation, whether that be the commercial pilot sector or through engineering. They do the course here where we have our own flight simulator so they can learn to fly and gain those skills, and then we have our own plane that we fly out of Tollerton on a Friday, so the students are getting a huge rain of different experiences in aviation.
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"The way we work with East Midlands Airport (EMA) is that over the holiday period our students are employed there as staff, so they are getting real airside training. They are doing the airport jobs that EMA can't recruit for during those set periods of time, but it's perfect for our students as they are on holiday at Christmas, Easter and summer when it's the busiest time.
"That working relationship works really well as it develops the skills knowledge and behaviour that the students need for that work." Newark College won the education and business partnership for the Air and Space Institute at the Nottinghamshire Business Awards 2022, which Penny described as 'amazing'.
She explained: "We won the business award at Newark Business Awards last year, so this was really building on that to make more people aware of what we were doing. So winning the Nottinghamshire award was fantastic because it allows us to tell people the success story we are having and it also makes it much more open to other people to come and use the facilities that we have got."
Poppy, a second-year pilot studying at Newark College, said: "The course is excellent and has inspired me to look into different areas of aviation. I am excited to start flying again in January in the college plane."
Adam, a first-year pilot at the college, added: "Even though I have only been here a few months, I have been flying in the flight simulator four times and I am developing my flying skills. The classroom aspect is good and very interesting."
Building on its success, Newark College plans to launch a military side to the Air and Space Institute. Penny added: "We work really closely with RAF bases as obviously Lincolnshire is kind of an RAF capital, so we are bringing that provision over to Newark from September 2023.
"Young people will be able to study with the military in whatever pathway they want to go, but also with those really key industry links that we have and the training that we know young people need to access the jobs they require, that is all been built into the programme. It's all about raising aspirations in the local area."
Newark College also plans to develop a higher education programme next year, where 'for the first time we would be able to have higher education in Newark run out of Newark and we are partnering with Nottingham Trent University for that'. In addition to its new plans for next year, the college hopes to continue working with the local community through its social eating evenings and students helping the community while developing their skills in a productive way.
Penny hopes that the Air and Space Institute and other developments in the college will 'make Newark a really central place for people to come to, and really raise aspirations about what the element of job opportunities will be for local people'. She added: "We are not just talking about 16 to 19-year-olds, but also people retraining in our adult training programmes.
"People can retrain as a career, they can come to college to redo the qualifications they need for work, whether that be electrical, plumbing or gas, and pilots can come use our simulator to do their flying hours. The opportunities for people within the work place is absolutely huge, but its going to grow even bigger when we go to the Air and Space Institute in January 2024."
Penny explained that it is important all students have access to good food, and that all students have access to the college's foodbank. Like free school meals, some students are also eligible for free college meals, but the college also has the food bank where students can take home 'good food' and a recipe.
She said: "The idea for that is that they follow the recipe, cook the food and then eat with someone else. When I talk about food I mean good food, like fruit and vegetables and putting a meal together, rather than a microwavable burger."
As energy drinks are not allowed at the college, all students have water bottles and access to free tea and coffee. To make sure students did not go hungry over the Christmas period, Penny also organised two weeks of food for some students most in need.
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