Pleased as punch: plumbing apprentices pick up industry awards

Plumbing apprentices from Edinburgh College proved they have bright careers in the pipeline by winning prizes at the trade’s professional body annual awards.

Four apprentices received awards from the Scottish & Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF) for excellent performance in college and the workplace. The students are each completing four-year modern apprenticeships with the college’s Construction department.

SNIPEF’s Edinburgh and District Branch gave awards to the best student in each of the first three years of the modern apprenticeship, and to the best improved apprentice. The event celebrated the achievements of apprentices from Edinburgh, Borders and Forth Valley colleges.

The awards for Edinburgh College apprentices were:

Best 1st Year apprentice Kyle Rodger, T Clarke
Best 2nd Year apprentice James Redpath, JSB
Best 3rd Year apprentice Rory Watt, H&C Mechanical Services Ltd
Best Improved apprentice Graeme McKenzie, CHC Group Ltd

Rory Watt was also runner up for the David More Trophy, which is awarded to the best over-all apprentice in the region and went to Martyn Smith from Forth Valley College.

Andrew Golightly, decorating, plastering and plumbing lecturer at Edinburgh College, said: “These apprentices represent the best we have at the college. They have proven to be excellent in their training, shown their commitment and become great plumbers and we are delighted that they are being recognised for that by SNIPEF Edinburgh and District Branch.

“Two of the award winners originally came to the college to complete a pre-apprenticeship course, and their awards tonight prove their commitment to learning and hard work.”

The 19 week pre-apprenticeship course provides a grounding in basic installation and servicing principles, an insight into the working environment, and a head start on the competition when applying for fulltime modern apprenticeship schemes. Plumbing students at Edinburgh College are able to use state of the art training facilities at the college’s Granton and Midlothian campuses to learn the essential skills they need to progress in the workplace.

The awards ceremony took place at Edinburgh College’s Granton Campus training restaurant, The Apprentice, with catering provided by professional cookery students.

PICTURE: Standing: Lecturer Andrew Golightly, Head of Construction John Laing, apprentices Kyle Rodger and Rory Watt, and curriculum manager Juliet Harkin. Front row: apprentices James Redpath and Graeme McKenzie.

Student events raise £20,000 for charities

Edinburgh College Events students are commended at top industry awards

Edinburgh College students who raised thousands of pounds for charity have been honoured at the Scottish events industry’s top awards ceremony for showing they can stage events of professional standard.

Two teams each picked up commendations in the Best Student Event Award category at the Scottish Event Awards in Glasgow on Wednesday. The students received their commendations for the fundraising events they organised as part of their course work for BA (Hons) Events Management.

Along with other student groups from Edinburgh College’s Events Management courses, they helped raised a total of £20,000 for a range of charities last year.

One of the commended teams organised a fashion show featuring people with dementia as models to raise funds for Alzheimer Scotland. Service users, carers, staff and volunteers at the charity’s Fife Dementia Resource Centre in Kirkcaldy took to the catwalk as models at the event, which raised more than £700 for the charity.

The second team organised a sell-out mini fringe festival at the Voodoo Rooms, featuring musical acts and a magician. The team raised £2,200 for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland.

The students learned of their success at the Scottish Event Awards ceremony at Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel.

Edinburgh College principal Annette Bruton said: “The students on our Events Management courses make a fantastic contribution to charities and raised more than £20,000 altogether last year. These commendations are testament to the hard work and professionalism the students put into organising their events, as well as the support they receive from their lecturers. I’m sure that this recognition is just the first step towards successful careers in the events industry.”

The Edinburgh College Events team and College Community department were also shortlisted in the Best Educational Event category for an event held to engage local schools, particularly head teachers, and increase opportunities for young people.

The college won in this category last year for its Graphic Design Industry Night, a one-night event that showcased graduates’ award winning design work, and celebrated the college’s close ties with industry.

The Scottish Event Awards honour the best events of various types across a range of sectors. They are run by magazine and marketing website The Drum.

My ears are alight: College recording studio revamped

Former students helps shine some starlight on Edinburgh College recording studio

Edinburgh College’s newly star-spangled recording studio is giving up-and-coming local bands and musicians the chance to use their rehearsal space to unleash the power of music free of charge.

The studio at the college’s Milton Road Campus has been given a sparkling revamp thanks to the generosity of a generous former student and local musicians, and is ready to continue to support students, graduates and musicians from the community to create high quality music videos and recordings to rival the output of professional studios. Bands who have used the studio have gone on to get national radio airplay and perform at major music festivals.

Former HND Sound Production student Gerry Callahan presented course tutor Richie Harrison and the college’s sound department with a starlight curtain to use as a background to music videos. This adjustable stage backdrop of black cloth is peppered with LED lights ‘stars’ and is a welcome addition to the already state of the art studios. The curtain will act as an improved setting for the music videos filmed in the studio.

Gerry raised the funds for the curtain through sales of an album he recorded as part of his graded unit for his course. Gerry brought eight singer songwriters together to record his album to help raise the profile of the Listening Room, the second longest running open music night in Edinburgh. Listening Room organisers James Igoe and James Whyte also held a launch event to help raise more funds, and the album is still available to buy through the Listening Room website.

Local musicians Norman Lamont (above), Fiona Thom, John Farrell and Jason Pillay came into the studio on Friday to help launch the newly revamped studio and celebrate Gerry’s donation by recording music videos in the new space. These were filmed by another former sound production student, Darren Knox, who now helps run Edinburgh Undersound, an independent music organisation. Current students from Richie’s course were also on hand to handle the sound production.

Gerry said: “I wanted to make this donation as an expression of gratitude for everything that Richie and the sound department did for me while I studied here. I’m a bit above the usual student age bracket, but they were really good to me and made me feel extremely welcome on the course. I knew that Richie always wanted to decorate the space to make it a better location for filming music videos and I was happy to help.”

Richie Harrison said: “Gerry’s donation will allow us to continue improve upon the quality of the music videos we produce in the studio to show off the emerging talent from the college and surrounding communities. The recording studios already have cutting edge equipment, with consoles made by Solid State Logic and Toft, the same as is used in the world’s top recording studios including Abbey Road and New York’s Electric Lady Studios. Local musicians are very welcome to get involved and can contact me via my college Richard.harrison@edinburghcollege.ac.uk email address.”

The college offers the studios at its Milton Road Campus for free as a place for local bands and young musicians to develop their skills, make recordings and film music videos. The studios are home to Feast, the college record label. Set up as a sustainable business giving past and present students invaluable experience for future employment, Feast brings managers, musicians, bands, engineers and filming students together to create original music and videos.

Bands who have used the studio have gone on to national radio play on BBC radio stations, including Radio 1, Radio 6 Extra, and Radio Scotland, and some have played T in the Park’s Introducing Stage. Fatherson, Ded Rabbit, Vukovi, Tijuana Bibles and Man of Moon have all used the studio for videos and recordings. These bands are well on their way to breaking through in the music scene. The Scottish Alternative Music Awards have also shot videos with artists in the studios.

Pictured (top): Listening Room organisers James Igoe, James Whyte; musicians Jason Pillay, John Farrell, Fiona Thom, Norman Lamont; former student Gerry Callahan and Edinburgh College Sound Production lecturer Richie Harrison.

Six of the best for College students!

Graphics students learn from the best in new Edinburgh College design partnership

Some of the city’s top design agencies have teamed up with Edinburgh College to show students the inner workings of the industry and help them become the next professional stars.

Six design agencies have signed up to a new partnership scheme with the college to give graphic design students industry experience and insight while they are still studying. Mentors from the agencies will coach students over the next year, giving them work placements, setting them briefs and advising on projects including work for real clients.

The agencies – Whitespace; Blonde; Teviot; Union Direct; Equator; and LEWIS – will in turn get access to the best graduates, working with them to ensure their skills and knowledge meet the needs of the industry and support its growth.

The new partnership builds on the success of the HND Visual Communication: Graphic Design course’s existing mentorship programme, which has been pairing students with mentors for the last seven years and now works with 13 agencies. The six agencies now signed up as official partners will provide further opportunities over and above mentoring so students can experience all sides of the industry, as well as sponsoring the students’ end-of-year show.

The project launched with an event at the college’s Granton Campus, where students got to meet their mentors for the first time.

Graphic design lecturer Helena Good said: “Bringing the design agencies on board as partners will be great for the students as it gives them new ways of getting the knowledge about the industry that they’ll need when they enter the workplace. Having access to professionals working to incredibly high standards in the latest practices, including digital, and getting their honest feedback and guidance is invaluable to their development.

“The mentoring project we started seven years ago has really taken off, and we’re lucky to have so many great companies so keen to be involved. Formalising these partnerships is a natural step and really embeds this project and the students themselves firmly within the city’s design community.”

As well as allotted time with mentors throughout the year, some partners will provide up to a month’s worth of work experience placements. They will also each set groups of students one-day ‘guerilla’ design projects, where mentors will turn up unannounced in the morning and set a design challenge to be completed in a day. Mentors also help students work on intensive one-week design projects working on real briefs from real clients, which in previous years have included Innis & Gunn, Edinburgh Zoo and GF Smith.

One of the mentors at partner Teviot, Kirsten Murray, who studied the HND at the college and graduated in 2007, said: “Whatever stage you are at in your education or career, having a mentor to support you, challenge you and ask you hard questions is invaluable. I have watched the mentoring programme go from strength to strength over the last five years. The success of the programme is clear when you see the quality of the ideas and the design work being produced by the students.

“As a former student of Edinburgh College, it means a lot to me to be able to give something back to the very place that kick started my career in design. The future of design in Scotland will soon be in the hands of these students. That’s why it’s so important that we help them to become industry-ready graduates.”

Student Alex De Sousa, 18, from Bonnyrigg, said: “This doesn’t happen anywhere else and it’s really exciting. It’s incredible that we get to spend time one to one with people with such great experience and it’s such a good opportunity.”

Gillian Grant, an account director at LEWIS, said: “The more you work with and get to know the students the more you can see that they are hungry to learn in all areas. There’s lots they can learn from an account management and project management perspective to complement the creative side and help them understand all sides of the industry. You can offer process-driven advice and recommendations on pitching, and demonstrate how all areas of an agency work together to achieve a goal.”

It’s a snip: Edinburgh College salons re-open

Support student scissor stars at Edinburgh College

Student hairstylists are sharpening up their scissors and their skills as Edinburgh College’s training salons reopen for business this week.

The college’s Hair & Beauty Training Academies at Granton and Milton Road Campuses offer a range of hair treatments provided by students in top-of-the-range hair salons at discount rates.

Customers at the academies get the chance to get their locks chopped by the celebrity stylists of the future while helping these students hone their skills and gain credits towards their final grades. All treatments are delivered under the expert guidance of industry professionals.

Services offered include conditioning treatments, styling and cutting, colour, colour correction and barbering, along with a specialist Nioxin range of treatments.

Frances Bain, curriculum manager for Hair and Beauty, said: “Getting a treatment at our Edinburgh College salons is a fantastic way to support our students in their development while receiving high-quality professional salon service at a reduced cost.

“Our students regularly prove their skills in national hairdressing competitions, making the heats of the Wella Xposure competition and picking up prizes from the Association of Hairdressers and Therapists.”

All treatments start from just £5, and the salons are currently offering a variety of annual memberships. For just £70 per academic year, customers can receive unlimited daytime cut, style and hair treatments.

The salons will start to offer beauty therapy treatments from 28 September, with beauty memberships at £100 per year and combined hair and beauty memberships at £150.

The Salons are open Monday – Friday from 9am-4pm and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 4:30pm-7:30pm.

Visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/trainingsalons for more information on the treatments available.

Edinburgh College student Sarah is ‘tres bon’!

Auld Alliance: Award for Scotland’s top French student

An Edinburgh College student said ‘bonjour‘ to success as she was crowned the country’s best Advanced Higher French student after working her way to top marks in her final exam.

Sarah McArthur scored 190 out of 200 in her final exam, the highest mark in the country. The Franco-Scottish Society has presented her with the Lansdowne Prize, awarded annually to the candidate who achieves the best mark in Advanced Higher French.

Sarah studied for the qualification at the college through open learning while completing her sixth year at Balerno High School, which was unable to run the Advanced Higher course.

Her college lecturer, Caroline Cordier, said: “I am extremely proud of Sarah. I would like to emphasise the difficulty of the Advanced Higher exam. The Advanced Higher courses is a huge jump from Higher and is very challenging academically. Taking an Advanced Higher course is the perfect way to prepare yourself for progressing to university study.

“Her achievement is all the more outstanding considering that she took an open learning course, which requires a great deal of self-motivation. Thanks to resources and feedback available through new tools like Skype tutorials, Sarah was able to make huge progress and have a fulfilling learning experience.”

Sarah, who is now going to the University of St Andrews to study Sustainable Development and hopes to work for charities in the developing world, said: “I was surprised and delighted to discover that I had won the Lansdowne Prize, and I am of course very grateful to the Franco-Scottish Society for presenting me with this award and for the support they give to French language learners.

“I am also very grateful to Edinburgh College for running the course, as otherwise I would have been unable to study Advanced Higher French. I am especially grateful to my lecturer Caroline. She was so flexible and willing to work around my busy timetable as I’m sure I was not the most convenient student.”

Tom Wight, vice-president of Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland, said: “Sarah McArthur’s results in the Advanced Higher Exam are outstanding. She is a worthy recipient of the prize and an inspiration to young language learners throughout Scotland.”

Since studying at the college, Sarah has taken part in an eight-month placement in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Africa Inland Mission where she taught English to English teacher trainees and developed her French-language skills.

Pictured: Lecturer Caroline Cordier, Sarah McArthur, Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland president the Rt Hon Lord Brodie, vice president Tom Wight and honorary treasurer Anne Collette Lequet.

Some places are still available on a range of part-time Higher and Advanced Higher courses at Edinburgh College including a range of languages courses such as French, Spanish, Italian, German and Gaelic.

For more information on available courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august2015/pt.aspx

Last chance to get your full-time place at Edinburgh College

Edinburgh College has last-minute places still available on a range of full-time courses across its curriculum until the application deadline this Friday (11th September).

Spaces are also available on a part-time, evening and leisure courses aimed at boosting and expanding professional skills or learning a new hobby.

The college’s courses offer routes to employment and further studies in specialities from hair and beauty and dance to childcare, science, construction, events management and engineering.

The college has full-time places across its curriculum:

Community-based programmes including Entry to Learning and Preparation for Employment
Creative Industries courses including dance, musical theatre, music and computing subjects including HND Computer Games Development
Engineering programmes including electrical, manufacture, fabrication and welding, and the college’s BEng Energy and Environmental Engineering, delivered with Edinburgh Napier University
Science courses including Scottish Wider Access Programme (SWAP) courses to prepare students for university study, and NC Higher Applied Science courses to develop practical laboratory skills
Health, Wellbeing and Social Sciences courses including early education and childcare, and courses to prepare students for Higher studies
Construction HND courses in construction management and architectural technology
Hair and Beauty therapy
Events management

Students get access to industry-standard resources, from specialist engineering facilities including renewable and sustainable technology to our arts rehearsal and performance spaces and theatres, and our hair and beauty salons.

The college’s Creative Industries Department is also holding a clearing day to provide more information on courses available for application. This will take place on Sighthill Campus (for Broadcast Media & Photography, Computing, Music & Sound Production) and Granton Campus (for Performing Arts and Art & Design) on Thursday 10 September, 1.30-6pm.

Part-time, evening and leisure courses are also available across the curriculum, including: languages; National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher; Engineering, including occupational health and safety; Business and finance including accounting, marketing, management and admin; creative courses in photography, art portfolio and computing; courses in hygiene and food standards; counselling and social care and medical and pharmacy courses.

For more information on the full-time courses with spaces, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august15.

For part-time courses, visit www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/august2015/pt.aspx

Triple exposure: Awards for Edinburgh College photography students

Edinburgh College’s photography students have scooped top awards in two national industry competitions that reward the UK’s best young talent.

Three BA Professional Photography students were honoured by the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) and the Association of Professional Photographers (AOP) in each organisation’s student awards.

Greg Abramowicz kicked off the new term with the BIPP Student of the Year Award, with fellow student Kinga Kocimska taking home the BIPP College Portfolio Award. Eleni Laparidou, who graduates from the BA this September, won the AOP Student Awards Product Shots: Sense category.

The work submitted by the students was all the product of projects they did last year at Edinburgh College.

Greg won the BIPP Student of the Year Award for a portfolio of images he produced during an advertising project. He worked with professional athletes and local rugby clubs to convey the spirit of sport.

Greg said: “I am very honoured to receive the award. It is a great reward after an intense academic year. The win gave me confidence that I’m able to produce high-quality images and I’m hoping this is just the beginning of a productive future.”

Eleni won the AOP Product Shots Award for a project set by the deafblind charity Sense, which briefed students to photograph products from a typical Sense store. The aim was for the viewer to be surprised when they learned that the props came from a charity shop.Eleni, whose work often includes Greek myth and costume design, approached the brief by organising a fashion shoot with props from three different charity shops. The awards party at The Print Space gallery in London gave Eleni the opportunity to exhibit her work to professionals at the heart of the industry.

BA Photographer Kinga Kocimska won the BIPP College Portfolio Award for her conceptual still-life images, which explore the complexities of everyday objects as seen by sufferers of dementia. The project was inspired by personal contact with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

Kinga said: “I am grateful to all the lecturers who taught me in the last four years for sharing their knowledge and experience – this was of great help in developing the skills and thinking I can now use to produce creative imagery with commercial potential.

“Receiving the award has been a great confidence booster and extra encouragement to continue working hard and develop fresh ideas.”

Photography lecturer Jon Lee said: “What a great result for our students, I am over the moon. This year our students have again demonstrated that they are at the top of their professional field when it comes to photography.”

Weird and wonderful: weapons and windmills

The wacky world of engineering

Edinburgh College students have been erecting Game of Thrones-style siege weaponry in Midlothian, capable of launching ammo through the air towards scattering foes. But they’re not planning an assault on Dalkeith or Melville Castle any time soon – and anyone who gets in their new trebuchet’s path is more likely to get soaked than wounded!

Inspired by mediaeval military engineering, students at the college’s Midlothian Campus have constructed a trebuchet to demonstrate the role and importance of engineering in the ammunition industry. The weapon fires water balloons as ammo. The team called itself Flower Power, and its choice of a bright pink paintjob could be spotted quickly by any sentry, despite the flowers it also painted on for a bit of camouflage.

A second team from the NC Pre-Access to Engineering course looked to the future with their project.

The six students worked on ‘Project X’, a wind turbine generator to demonstrate that wind energy, one of the fastest-growing renewable energy resources, can be a potential support to meet energy demand and reduce carbon emission. Their wind turbine was wired into a model house containing multi-coloured LEDs that shone when electricity was generated by the windmill.

Both projects were designed, constructed and tested by the students under the guidance of their supervisor, lecturer Yash Kotak.

The students were working towards their NC Pre-Access to Engineering course. Students on the course develop their knowledge and understanding of engineering principles and systems covering a range of mechanical, electrical and manufacturing disciplines. In addition, they develop practical skills through workshop project time and study additional units to allow progression onto more advanced courses.

TV ‘Hair’ star is guest speaker at Graduation

Former Telford student Denise McAdam announced as guest speaker at Edinburgh College Graduation

Hairdresser to the Royals and reality TV show judge Denise McAdam will be guest speaker at Edinburgh College’s Graduation ceremonies in September.

Denise, who grew up in Penicuik and studied hairdressing at the college, has worked with the Royal Family, international supermodels and Hollywood stars and is currently one of the judges on BBC Two’s popular amateur hairstyling competition Hair. She will give the guest speech at the Graduation ceremonies on 25 September at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

The college’s Graduation ceremonies celebrate the success of HNC, HND, Advance Diploma and degree students.

Denise first came to the forefront of British hairdressing in the 1980s and is known for being the first female celebrity hairdresser in the UK.

Having worked with photographers David Bailey, Lord Lichfield, Lord Snowden and Terry O’Neill, she came to the media’s attention when she styled the Duchess of York’s hair for her wedding to Prince Andrew. Denise went on to receive the Royal warrant in 1989 and was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal for services to the Royal Family in June 2010.

She has worked with generations of style icons including Grace Kelly, Joan Collins, Yasmin Le Bon, Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Naomi Campbell and Kylie Minogue.

Denise said: “It’s an honour to share graduation day with Edinburgh College’s talented and enthusiastic students. I am inspired to celebrate their achievements, hard work and the passion they have given to their chosen subjects throughout their time at the college. The college and lecturers have encouraged and worked incredibly hard to prepare their students for the work place, further education or to go forth and change the world. My own memories and my time at Edinburgh College inspire me every day.”

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