Glasgow Kelvin College

Glasgow Based Further Education College

College Celebrates Award Winning Students

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Glasgow Kelvin College celebrated its 2017/18 Class Prize and John Wheatley Award winners with a packed auditorium in Easterhouse recently in Platform at The Bridge.

Proud family, friends, employers and College staff cheered as around 120 students received recognition for their hard work and endeavour in non-advanced learning in the 2017/18 academic session.

Nominated by their tutors, these remarkable students were presented with awards by Mr. Irving Hodgson, outgoing Chair of the Board of Management.  In addition to the Class Prizes, several trophies were sponsored by employers and trades bodies including;

  • Vokera
  • SNIPEF
  • Grahams
  • Pump Action Ltd
  • Scottish Plant Operators Association (SPOA)
  • BESA (Building Engineering Services Association)
  • Contractors Mechanical Plant Engineers (CMPE)

These were awarded to students who had excelled in their vocational trade and employers were there to applaud their great achievement.

In addition, the John Wheatley Awards were presented by the Chair and by Dermot Lynch of The Wheatley Group who co-sponsor the awards with the Robert Bennie Trust.

This year, almost fifty nominations were submitted for the John Wheatley Award, which is presented to eight students who have worked to overcome challenges in their life and learning.  Five of the award-winning students were delighted to come along and accept their awards: Mark Ravenscroft, Ashley Booth,  Lesley Ann McColgan, Jordan Muir and Traci Lowden are pictured here with Dermot Lynch of The Wheatley Group and Donald Goldie of Robert Bennie Trust.

All the students involved have done amazingly well and the excellent staff who have been involved in their learning journey should be very proud.

Congratulations to them all.

College Projects Reach The UK Finals

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Two of Glasgow Kelvin College Student Association’s sustainability projects have been cited as Finalists for this year’s prestigious Green Gown Awards.

The GK Velocity: Wheels of Sustainability project is a Finalist in the Student Engagement category.

The brainchild of a group of Glasgow Kelvin’s Supported Learning students and staff in 2016 to encourage outdoor and cycling activities, the GK Velocity project has gathered support and momentum.  This culminated in funding from Cycling Scotland to appoint a Campus Cycling Officer and support from the Glasgow City Council Community Planning Partnership to build a Cycle Hub at the Springburn Campus.

The building was constructed using sustainable materials, including larchwood cladding and a sedum roof, and provides a resource centre for cyclists – a one-stop shop for training, information, repair & maintenance and motivation for an active and healthy lifestyle.

The construction of the Hub also provided hands-on experience for many of the Construction and Carpentry students at the College who worked to build and finish the structure, gaining workplace skills such as team working, problem solving and planning.

A key element of the College’s sustainability agenda, the Hub also supports the Health & Wellbeing aims of Glasgow Kelvin College, particularly in the field of mental health and wellbeing.

Added to this, the Student Association’s White Ribbon campaign, Sustainable Inclusive Social Practice, is also a Finalist in the same category for supporting and developing the White Ribbon Campaign throughout the College and into the community.

Since becoming the first college to be awarded White Ribbon Status last year, the College has witnessed its Student Association expand and refine their delivery of the pledge message:

“I pledge never to commit, condone or remain silent about men’s violence against women in all its forms.”

President, Shaun McLaughlin, and his small army of Student Ambassadors have kept the impetus going by ensuring that groups of young students, most especially young men, are engaging with the message.  Through presentations and small group discussions they have continued to recruit young people to the campaign to ‘Stop Violence Against Women.’

Several students and staff have also trained as speakers to deliver awareness-raising sessions and are currently involved in providing sessions for employees who work with bookmakers to support them in getting the message across to customers in their day-to-day work.

The EAUC Green Gown Awards lead the way in sustainability and prove the value that universities and colleges bring to the economy and society.   With nominated projects from across the UK they each emphasise their institution’s role in enabling and empowering young people to tackle pressing global issues to ensure they have a better tomorrow.

To be held at York’s historic National Railway Museum, the Awards Ceremony will recognise sustainability best practice within the further and higher education sectors. The Awards provide the sector with benchmarks for excellence and are respected by Government, funding councils, senior management, academics and students.

Glasgow Kelvin College is delighted that its Student Association has received such recognition for the hard work they do in engaging students and the local community.  Student President, Shaun McLaughlin, said;

“To get acknowledgement for the work of our students and the association on such a prestigious platform as the Green Gown Awards is amazing. For both projects we’ve worked hard to raise awareness of major issues such as carbon reduction and the prevention of violence against women.  Both of these have a global audience and we recognise that starting small can have a significant impact.  We’re very proud to be part of this and are looking forward to November.”

Among the many other Scottish finalists are Glasgow Kelvin’s sister college, City of Glasgow and Ayrshire College.  Glasgow Kelvin congratulates them on their achievement and is honoured to be nominated alongside them.

End of an Era for East End Resource

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Long-time partner of Glasgow Kelvin College  -  The East End Talking Newspaper - produced its final edition at the end of June after 16 years of commitment and hard work.

Produced weekly for subscribers who have a visual impairment, the talking newspaper brings updates on pieces of national and local news, as well as local information and events.  Editions were even produced right throughout the school holiday period and, for many subscribers, the Talking Newspaper was a lifeline to what was going on in the community.

Recordings began in 2002 at the former John Wheatley College’s sound studios in the campus at Queenslie Industrial Estate.  The team who met weekly to produce the newspaper have remained fairly constant over the years, moving to a home at the sound engineering studio of Glasgow Kelvin College’s East End Campus in 2009.

Although the group have remained firm friends over the years, the number of subscribers to the newspaper has dwindled from almost 50 to around 12 and the team, reluctantly, felt it was time to ‘hang up their headphones’ and wind up the charity.

But not before making a very welcome and generous donation of £1000 to Glasgow Kelvin College which the college intends to use to help resource and support its community learning programme.

College Principal, Alan Sherry, said;

“We are privileged to have been able to host the East End Talking Newspaper team over the years and are delighted to accept their very kind donation.  It has been a pleasure to be involved with each of the individuals on the team and we hope they will remain friends of the College.”

The remarkable group of volunteers are pictured here with staff and the Principal at the East End Campus.  They fully intend to remain friends with one another and meet up regularly, often for lunch at the College’s training restaurant on Fridays.

Glasgow Kelvin College looks forward to welcoming them back later in the year.

Computing Success Story

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Joshua Coutts, Mary Marshall and Alexandre Mboue

Congratulations to Joshua Coutts, Mary Marshall and Alexandre Mboue who have just completed their 4 year journey from Computing with Digital Media Level 4 to HND Computing: Technical Support 2nd Year, with all three achieving an A grade in the Graded Unit!. Well done and we wish them every success in the continuing educational journey at University.

Our congratulations also go to 3 of our former HND Computing: Technical Support 2nd Year students (2015/16 session) Frankie Andrews, Lee Broxton and Robert McArthur, who have all just completed their honours degree in Computing: Cyber Security & Networks. We wish them every success for in their forthcoming job interviews.

Students Excel at Craft-Ex 2018!

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Glasgow Kelvin students have yet again made their mark at this year’s Glasgow Trades House Craft-Ex competition.

The annual competition, organised and hosted by Glasgow Trades House, celebrates the best of creativity in the local college sector by exhibiting student work for three days in early June.

This year, Glasgow Kelvin students carried off ten awards, including the coveted Deacon Convener’s Design Prize.  This went to a delighted Valentina Boneva, a jewellery student, for her exquisitely crafted jewellery box, influenced by the art nouveau of the Glasgow Style.

Valentina is pictured above with Mr Alastair Dorward, Deacon Convener of the Trades House of Glasgow.  The Award is sponsored by Thomas Tunnock’s Ltd and Valentina wins a cheque and certificate.

Another of the awards went to the Fashion Design and Manufacture Team for their fabulous Radiant & Brighter wall hanging.  The vibrant textile piece was created by the students in partnership with participants in the Radiant & Brighter project, an initiative supporting minority ethnic groups with the aim of tackling social barriers and cultural challenges in the community.

Pictured with Pheona and Michael Matovu of Radiant & Brighter are students Ineta Joksaite, Kayley Molloy and Jerome Kasusula.

Other Glasgow Kelvin winners on the day included Somayeh Iraji, Emmabel-Nour, Becky Hanlon, Dianne Chapman, Alison Copeland and Frank McAllister.

The College is grateful to Trades House for organising the prestigious exhibition and proud to be the home of such amazing talent - congratulations go to everyone involved in these achievements!