We are thrilled to announce our results for the 2017-18 academic period as the best ever. Not only this, our statistics make the college one of the most improved colleges in the country.

Across GCSEs and all vocational qualifications, achievement rates reached 85.3 per cent – five per cent up on the previous year and above the national average. Staff at Keighley College are delighted, Heather Whitehead, director of operations at the college, said: “I’m delighted with the outstanding achievements of our students.

“The improvement of results over the last two years is 12 per cent, which is staggering.

“Achievements are now four per cent above the national average, with more of our students progressing into employment, apprenticeships or higher education.

“I work with an amazing group of staff and they have worked tirelessly to ensure we provide students with the support they need to achieve.”

Read the full article here. 

On 19 September 2018, the Public Services and Sports staff and students took part in a day-long multi-activity exercise with the British Army Outreach Unit from York. Despite high winds and rain showers, the day was a great success, with all the students gaining valuable experience and knowledge on how a recruit in the army learns to work as part of a team. Around 50 Keighley College students took part in the sessions, which saw them tackle numerous different forces themed ‘command tasks’ in teams. Each team was given 15 minutes to carry out each task by using their teamwork and problem solving abilities.

The tasks included the following:

‘A Bridge Too Far’: teams used two planks to build a bridge between three platforms. ‘Five Tyres’:  teams moved five numbered tyres from one end of a course to another. ‘The Minefield’: teams used ammunition boxes as stepping stones through a ‘minefield’. ‘Barrel Retrieval’: students recovered a barrel from the centre of a ‘minefield’ through teamwork and ropes whilst avoiding the danger zone. Running and other physical activities were offered to warm up the group to give them a taste of the fitness regime of the army. All of this was followed by the whole group completing an army drill session, learning how to come to attention and march as a squad. Mark Hargreaves, Service Profession Programme Manager for Keighley College, said: “This was a brilliant, practical session that really tested the skills and ingenuity of our students while taking part in a variety of fun activities. The tasks were all designed to test their problem solving, teamwork and leadership skills and they showed the importance of working together to achieve their aims”. The session was held as part of Keighley College’s Public Services and Sports courses work experience. Work Experience is designed to help improve students’ personal skills outside the classroom, such as communication and leadership, both desirable skills to employers in later life.  

Hello chums,

I hope you’ve had a wonderful summer.

For those of you who don’t already know me, I’m Chummy the college pug. I spend most of my time snuggling, cuddling, barking, eating and being stroked. You’ll find me in the corridors, in the atrium, all around the college. Please come and say hello – I’m a very friendly pup. 

So much is going on at the college this year! First of all, I’d like to welcome all students – ongoing and new – back to college to start the new academic year. I’m excited! Are you excited?

New Year, New Start

We’re starting this year with all sorts of fun and activities. We’ve held a Fresher’s Fair and Admissions fair and our students are excited and ready to get started.

More happy news to start off the year. As you may have noticed around the building and online, our new logo has been created. Not only that, we’ve had an unbelievable year for results, we are so proud of our students and staff and all the hard work that’s gone into the results!

We have new courses available – these include new foundation degrees in Health and Social care, and HNC courses, Healthy Living – a food hygiene course, Nebosh and Iosh (managing Health and Safety in the work place) and we have secured Foundation Studies Internships who are going to be working at Airedale Hospital in October.

We have recently opened ‘KC’s Kiosk’ in the atrium which sells food, snacks, and other useful goods like deodorant and water bottles. The kiosk is run by staff and students, please drop by and get yourself some treats! Unfortunately, they are yet to provide dog snacks and treats but I will wait patiently until they do, I am a good pup.

The KC Job shop has been opened to give students advice and guidance surrounding careers, work experience and so on. It is open every day, so don’t hesitate to pop by and ask any questions. 

Students out and about in the community

Already our students are out and about in the community. On 19 September  the Public Services & Sports staff and student took part in a day long multi activity exercise with the British Army Outreach Unit from Strensall York. It was a fantastic day. 

On Saturday 29th September, we have a group of students and staff marshalling the Starlight Hike for Manorlands, this is to raise money for Manorlands Hospice, this year’s chosen charity.  

Events coming up soon

We have lots of events coming up in the college over the next few weeks such as:

• Open evening 7 November
• Skills Yorkshire 3 October and 4 October
• World Mental Health Day… Mellow Yellow Chill Out Zone 10 October
• Bradford Manufacturing week 8 – 12 October
• Halloween – Get your spooooook on!
• Engineering week – 5 – 9 November
• Poppy Installation – 2 weeks surrounding remembrance day

I’d also like to let you know that the college will be holding holiday clubs over half term which could include craft activities, Healthy Living, STEM and Outdoor Pursuits. Specific clubs available will be confirmed and released very soon.

Thanks for reading and I can’t wait to see some of you around the college this year. 

Lots of love and pug snugs,

Chummy xox 

On 14^th June, Keighley College held an evening of celebration to recognise the hard work, achievements and successes of all our students. Over 30 departmental awards were presented and 6 sponsored special recognition awards.

Key guests who attended were: Keighley Town Mayor Cllr Fulzar Ahmed, Gill Battarbee, daughter of John Parkes (former student of Keighley College) who kindly sponsors the Engineering Student of The Year, Outstanding Contribution, Overcoming Adversity and Keighley College Student of The Year, members of the Board, ELT and Schools representatives.

Winners

• Amy Thorpe Keighley College Student of The Year
• James Boocock John Parkes Engineering Student Of The Year
• Aiden Holmes John Parkes Overcoming Adversity award
• Leah Moorby John Parks Outstanding Contribution award
• Jasmine Hibbert Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET) award
• Jessica Pinto Dermalogica Student Of The Year

It was a fantastic evening which made many staff, parents and carers very proud of all out students achievements.

Keighley College Life Skills students had a fulfilling experience on Tuesday, visiting the Duchess Gardens care home. The main aim of the trip was to spend some quality time with the residents. Students helped to run activities, feed the residents and socialise with them.

It was a really amazing experience for the students and the care home residents, who don’t often get a chance to spend time with young people!

Staff at the care home were blown away with the students’ enthusiasm, behaviour, confidence and work ethic, and the trip helped to give students an understanding of physical disabilities and dementia.

Carly Newsholme, Foundation Studies course leader said, “We are so proud of Foundation Studies students for the way they impressed staff and residents at Duchess Gardens Care Home. This will hopefully be the start of a beautiful new friendship that will continue to blossom next year!”

Students see construction engineering in action

Fabrication and Welding students at Keighley College (KC) visited Leeds City College’s new Quarry Hill site with Wates Construction to see the impressive progress of the building.

The campus, in the heart of the cultural quarter of Leeds, will be home to the college’s creative arts, health science and social care provisions, along with an expansion space for Leeds College of Music from September 2019.

The students got the opportunity to see the steelwork that holds the building up and discovered how reinforced steel in the floor strengthens the development.  They also learnt more about the hundreds of welded joints in each of the upright structures and window supports.

The site manager was very welcoming and imparted some insightful knowledge about construction engineering.

The highlight of the trip was standing on the roof, taking in the spectacular views over Leeds. Learners  watched two giant cranes in action as they lifted large steel beams, hundreds of feet up, within a few seconds.

Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to see a multi million pound investment being put together with metal as the main component in use.

Summer term is nearly coming to a close and my goodness, what a term it’s been!

Starting with the *woof woof* boring stuff, our students undertook their GCSEs and staff members worked incredibly hard to ensure exam season went smoothly – well done everyone! I, sadly, was not allowed into college much during this period, in case I got too ‘barky’ – apparently students need quiet during exam time!

The past few months have been truly bright and sunny. Every day, the sun has shone and the sky has been blue. It’s been quite warm for a furry creature such as myself I must say – I’ve been a little hot and bothered!

At Keighley College, we filled our bright and sunny days with lots of fun events. These included an exceptionally fun Eid celebration involving more cake than I’ve ever seen in my entire dog life.

We held our Keighley College Awards evening, which celebrated the hard work and achievements of our students and this was then proceeded by the STAR awards at Elland Road in Leeds, where Keighley College students won 3 awards.

We held an end of term party with mocktails and bouncy castles and lots of tasty treats. We had a fun celebration for the Royal wedding and we attended the fantastic Dragon Boat Festival – where Keighley College students – ‘The Cavendish Crew’ raced their dragon rowing boat down the river – coming 4th overall!

The Down Syndrome Training and Support Service Dance Troop performed a dance show in the atrium which was truly inspirational.

In other news, we have now opened the college shop in the Airedale centre. The opening hours are 11am – 2pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The shop will be open on these dates throughout the summer. If you’d like to find out anything about the college, take away a prospectus or take a look at our apprenticeship jobs, please come and visit the shop and our lovely team will be more than happy to help.

Over the summer holidays the college will be open for enrolment. For more information, check out our enrolment page by clicking here.

I’d like to thank all the staff and students at KC for welcoming me into their warm, nurturing community this year. I’ve furryly enjoyed being part of it!

Happy summer holidays!

Chummy xox

Dearest Friends,

I firstly must apologise for my apawling lack of dog blog contributions – I’ve been a very busy pup! Open Days, Events, Careers fairs and general studying has taken up most of my time –

The first big event of the month was the careers fair which took place downstairs in the Atrium. Over 200 people attended and businesses came from all over – thank you to all who participated!

The following week was our Open Evening and the Women in engineering event at Gesipa.

The open evening was buzzing with questions and answers from prospective students and a little visit from our resident Darlick and Angry Bird. We will be holding another Open Evening on June 20^th which is open to all. Please come along and see for yourself what life is like at Keighley College. I might even show my face for some snuggles if you’re really lucky!

News on the college corridor was that the Women in Engineering event was great fun – the girls did some interesting jelly surgery and listened to some truly inspiring women in engineering. Again, a massive thank you to all of you who supported in the event. I unfortunately was unable to attend as they thought I might steal the jelly! Me?! Never…

Upcoming events – The Foundation Studies Open Day is taking place next week and GCSEs are starting very soon.  Good luck to all students sitting their GCSEs!

I think this brings me to the last but definitely not least point of my blog. I recently received a MERIT for my recent speech presentation on THE HISTORY OF THE WOOF IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION. Feedback was along the lines of, ‘slideshow was excellent. He answered the questions at the end very well too, with one bark for no and two barks for yes. Reward with extra dog biccies.’

And my goodness, those biscuits were delicious! I ate them all up and licked up the crumbs.

That’s all from me for now.

Chummy. XOX

 Keighley College students go on a work experience trip to St Albans Place

As part of their Joinery Course, four Keighley College students recently undertook a day’s work experience at a construction site in St. Albans. This was a great success and twelve more students are booked in to visit the site in the coming weeks.

What was the aim of the trip?

The trip gave the students a greater insight into the world of construction. They visited the site to see a real construction site in action and meet people  on the site. They looked at how larger buildings are constructed, and gained an understanding of how the variety of traditional trades they are studying at Keighley College actually fit into the modern construction industry.

The work experience was a full working day and the visits lasted a total of two hours, this included a health and safety site induction, a tour and chat about the site and an opportunity to ask questions. They got involved with reading and understanding plans and also participated in the logistical aspects of the work.

How did Keighley College benefit?

The college benefited from this exciting visit as it supported the students in their learning while also promoting the college throughout West Yorkshire. The students got a taster of working in the construction industry as a trades person, and got an insight into a professional career in construction. The students have said they found the visit incredibly useful.