News & Events
Minister visits College
- 12/09/2018
- Posted by: pembscollegesuperadmin
On Monday 24 March the Welsh Government’s Minister for Education and Skills, Huw Lewis, visited Pembrokeshire College to meet with staff and students to see first-hand the quality of further education in Pembrokeshire.
College Principal Sharron Lusher commented: “We were delighted that the Minister visited the College today and saw for himself the wonderful successes of students and staff. We are so proud of the College and what it represents, and enjoyed being able to discuss this and future developments with the Minister.”
Accompanied by Joyce Watson, AM, during his visit the Minister had a tour of the College’s Virtual Control Room, one of only a handful of such resources in the UK. An exact replica of the control rooms used within the oil and gas industry, this facility provides a unique resource that allows staff to undertake training in a realistic environment where real-world scenarios such as fires and explosions can be simulated with the actions of the operators monitored from a concealed room.
The Minister also took time to meet with learners who had represented the College at the WorldSkills UK finals in Birmingham in November. The students competed in a range of competitions from welding to joinery and nail art bringing back a bronze medal and highly commended certificates. Art and design students were also presented with certificates by the Minister following their success in recent County level Eisteddfod yr Urdd competitions.
Before leaving the Minister met with Kate Williams, lecturer in health and social care at the College who was last year shortlisted for the ColegauCymru Teacher of the Year Award. More recently, Kate’s innovative teaching style saw the College pick up the Times Educational Supplement (TES) Award for Teaching and Learning Initiative. Kate’s teaching methods have seen significant increases in student achievement and retention through forming a partnership with St Davids Care in the Community. The partnership sees health and social care learners working alongside care in the community clients throughout their two year course delivering lessons and undertaking activities such as gorse clearing and beach cleaning.
Following his visit the Minister commented: “It was a pleasure to meet learners and staff at Pembrokeshire College and find out about their achievements.
“It’s so important that we celebrate excellence in our FE institutions and there is certainly plenty of evidence of this at Pembrokeshire College.”