Providing a rich experience for students is a priority at Leeds City College and sport plays a key role in achieving this.
The Student Life Enrichment team at Leeds City College works with Leeds United Foundation to deliver high quality football enrichment programmes and additional opportunities to enhance the student experience.
The Student Life Enrichment team delivers open and curriculum enrichment opportunities that develop students employability skills, including but not limited to communication, collaboration and problem solving.
Here we explore this successful partnership and the positive impacts it has delivered.
Leeds United Foundation’s mission is to use the power of football to enhance the lives of people through opportunities in sport, education and healthier lifestyles. The Foundation is the charity arm of Leeds United Football Club.
It uses the power of Leeds United to support and inspire people through a range of activities, including health and social education in primary and secondary schools, community volunteering, and sports participation for everyone.
This enables young people to make positive choices about their lives and futures. The foundation also helps to tackle loneliness amongst people of all ages.
Leeds City College’s Student Life Enrichment team has worked with Leeds United Foundation staff to offer football opportunities to people over 16 years of age as part of the Active Through Football Project.
The Foundation has provided staff support for enrichment sessions as well as providing opportunities for students to attend Leeds United matches and take part in tours of Elland Road stadium.
Since its establishment more than three years ago the partnership has evolved to ensure that students get the best possible experience.
Thanks to support from Leeds United Foundation staff, we have been able to engage with more of our students. For example, over the 2023-2024 academic year more than 230 students participated in football activities with 1,500 engagements across the year.
Student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive with many saying they had access to opportunities that would not be possible without this partnership. Over the past three seasons more than 30 students have attended Leeds Utd matches with over 300 attending stadium tours.
Additionally, the partnership has allowed Leeds City College to access opportunities across other areas of the Foundation’s work, including working with their National Citizen Service (NCS) team to introduce these opportunities to students who are learning English as a new resident in this country.
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In a world where safety is a growing concern, especially for women and girls in public spaces, initiatives like Ask for Angela (AFA) play a crucial role in providing discreet support when it’s needed most.
Developed by Leeds City Council and Women Friendly Leeds, Ask for Angela is a scheme used in the hospitality industry where you can ask for ‘Angela’ to discreetly signal to staff that you feel unsafe or threatened and would like assistance.
As part of this fantastic initiative, Leeds City College’s Creative Arts students along with a student from Leeds Conservatoire, collaborated with Women’s Lives Leeds to produce a training video promoting women’s safety to staff across 600 venues throughout the region.
Through their excellent teamwork, filming and acting skills, the students have not only produced an informative video but hopefully have empowered others to be able to act if someone needs support.
We sat down with two of the students who worked on the video to hear about their experience.
Student, Lucas Nettleton, enjoyed the opportunity to work as part of a team. Lucas said, “I got to work with different people and make something I was really passionate about. My highlight would probably be everyone working together to make sure that everything ran smoothly.”
The project allowed Lucas to expand their skillset – not just in video editing, but also through their organisational skills. “One of the biggest skills I learned during the project was accountability. I was the person who was editing the video as well as assisting with the production and filming, so I had quite a few deadlines to meet to keep the project rolling.”
The experience was eye-opening for the students, pushing them to balance creativity with practicality. Kaitlyn Pang, a student working on the project, said: “We all had different ideas and ambitions during the project, it was difficult to really solidify a final idea.
“I often drifted into the artistic direction during pre-production rather than staying focused on the subject. It was a project where we had less creative input and more crucial matters to focus on.”
Not everything went as planned, with technical issues causing delays to the project timeline. However, overcoming the challenges causing these delays provided the students valuable experience working alongside a crew in a real-life filming environment.
Kaitlyn said, “We had to re-record half of the scenes as our microphone stopped working halfway through the day. In the future, we will definitely be checking the equipment often to avoid this problem again. It meant we spent more time recording and had to call back our volunteer actress instead of moving on to editing.”
“It was a great project and taught me a lot about working on a real set with our own crew members! I’m glad to have hopefully helped the community around us.”
Ultimately, the AFA project was more than just a creative challenge – it was an opportunity to make a tangible difference to women’s safety.
Lucas said, “It’s great knowing our work could help protect someone or guide a staff member in a tough situation. That’s a rewarding feeling.”
“This project wasn’t just about creating something artistic—it was about focusing on a real issue and contributing to a safer community. We’re proud to have been part of it.”
The project was led by Social Action Coordinator, Florence Smith-Drayson, who said. “This was such a fantastic project to get involved in and I am so pleased we had the opportunity.
“We, at Leeds City College, have developed a great relationship with Women Friendly Leeds and have been working with them for a few years now and they have always been keen to stay connected with the students.
“I was approached by Sara, the Ask for Angela Project worker, who asked me to get involved in the project – I had no idea what the outcome was going to look like.
“We recruited the students and they were eager to be involved, take on leadership skills and put to use the knowledge they had learned in their course. The outcome was fantastic and has resulted in an excellent awareness resource for Women Friendly Leeds and Leeds City Council.
“The work I do looks at the impact on the community and it has been fantastic that we have been able to impact so many visitors to the 600 venues in Leeds that are signed up to Ask for Angela.”
Providing adults with volunteering opportunities that teach valuable employability skills is one of the ways we’re readying people for the workplace.
Since January 2023, a group of our Adult & Community learners have been volunteering at Oxfam’s national sorting centre on a monthly basis, where items are sorted for resale and recycling.
The Northern Logistics Centre, which is situated in Batley and home to both the charity’s Festival Shop and Online Shop teams, handles 12,000 tonnes of textiles every year from donations to Oxfam, making it a truly hands-on operation.
Capitalising on the charity’s need for adults who can generously donate their time during the day, each month between eight and 12 of our adult learners volunteer at Oxfam to sort through, process and price donated stock, receiving a free lunch and reimbursed travel costs in return.
Supported by Oxfam members of staff, the placements allow the students to connect with like-minded people and gain valuable employability skills, such as teamwork, communication, organisation and flexibility. Those who have helped with listing items online have also improved their digital skills.
These experiences have benefited a range of learners, including those with varied levels of English language skills and those with no previous work experience.
Our partnership with Oxfam has proven particularly helpful for adult learners who are new to the country or haven’t worked in the UK before, providing them with opportunities to learn transferable skills in a busy retail environment.
The hands-on nature of the Oxfam volunteering placement has made it a popular hit over the last 18 months, with many students choosing to re-volunteer.
Although each placement typically lasts half a day, students are provided with a varied experience, touring the warehouse whilst learning about the wider business operation, which includes Oxfam’s upcycling, sustainability and ecommerce teams.
Tasks range from deciding where clothes should go next to labelling items for one of Oxfam’s 500 shops, with these being just some of the ways students have helped.
Speaking about the scheme, one student said: “It was a wonderful day and a good volunteering experience. I am grateful to Leeds City College and all the Oxfam warehouse staff for this wonderful opportunity. I am glad to get to know you better and the whole wonderful friendly team.”
Creating a culture of wellbeing and working towards removing the stigma associated with mental health is vital for providing students with the confidence to ask for help.
For more than five years, we have has been jointly working with the MindMate Support Team (MMST), an early intervention emotional wellbeing service for children and young people up to the age of 19.
Part of the national Mental Health Support Team Trailblazer Pilot, MMST’s services are provided by Leeds Community Healthcare (LCH) and are delivered in partnership with educational settings such as ours.
The partnership sees MMST working alongside our in-house wellbeing team to help staff provide direct interventions across our campus including coping with anxiety, understanding low mood and guided self-help for eating difficulties.
It has played a key role in enabling a college wide approach to be embedded into our operations, providing training in areas including mental health awareness, managing stress, and staff wellbeing, alongside many other workshops ranging from mindfulness techniques to promoting healthy sleep. We are also able to make use of MMST workbooks and other resources.
Through this approach we ensure that students are supported effectively from the first contact we have with them. With a focus on early intervention and wellbeing support, we respond to student referrals in a timely manner, provide information, and signpost and facilitate external referrals to relevant services, to ensure students receive specialist support where required.
Our partnership has been transformational in how we provide mental health and wellbeing services to our students and has made a really positive impact across our teams.
MMST’s specialist expertise and knowledge has been used to train and upskill staff and has helped to build capacity within the Leeds City College wellbeing team by providing direct one to one and group support on topics such as anxiety, low mood, exam stress and worry management.
CPD opportunities have been provided and staff have been upskilled on emotional and mental health topics alongside providing resources and information that can be used for PSHE sessions.
Workbooks have been used by the college’s counselling and mental health officers in their sessions and are available to all college staff to use.
The teams work collaboratively to ensure that individual students are provided with the best support for their needs. This might be one of our in-house counsellors or a dedicated MMST practitioner.
Thanks to our positive and long-standing partnership we have jointly developed a triage process, completed departmental and college-wide mental health and wellbeing audits, shared resources with pastoral staff and delivered training and workshops to staff and students.
Through working with MMST over a long period we have been able to reach more students and provide a wider option of mental health support.
For example, between August and November 2023, our wellbeing team saw the number of self-referrals almost double to more than 100 compared to the previous three months. The number of referrals made by a professional jumped by more than 50 to 178.
In the same period referrals by 14 to 16 year olds increased by 40% while those from 17 to 18 year olds jumped by more than 50%. We also saw referrals by minority ethnic groups positively increase.
Feedback from students we have supported has been positive, with individual members of the team being described as “amazing” and others being thanked and appreciated for their help.
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Understanding what a career in digital looks like is one thing, but experiencing it is another.
Sometimes, you need to be connected to the people who can share their journeys, answer your questions and advise you on the steps to take.
This was the case for 11 T Level students at Leeds City College who attended a three-day careers masterclass hosted by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) Digital earlier this year.
Aimed at introducing the learners to real-world work environments, the trip offered a rare opportunity to explore jobs at DWP, develop industry-specific skills and network with professionals.
Now, as five students begin work placements at DWP Digital, we take a look back to what they got up to.
The masterclass kicked off with a deep dive into the wide range of digital career roles, providing invaluable insights into different available pathways.
Our students, who study various T Levels in Digital & IT, were introduced to a range of professions, including content design, development operations and digital marketing, and were able to explore what makes each specialism so unique.
Afterwards, industry professionals shared their own career journeys, discussing their roles and how they got to where they are today.
These discussions provided our students with a first-hand look at careers in digital infrastructure and digital communication, helping them to identify and narrow down any careers they would potentially like to pursue.
To broaden their understanding of different specialisms whilst providing a taste of life at DWP, our students were allocated a job specialism and a brief from a client – then tasked with fulfilling it.
The activity required them to work collaboratively, applying design-thinking, problem-solving and interpersonal skills to come up with an innovative solution.
By presenting their solutions back to a panel, our students not only experienced a glimpse of the ideation aspect of project planning, but gained an example of good client management to draw from in future employment.
The final day focused on preparing students for the next steps in their careers. All 11 students participated in mock interviews tailored to the roles they aim to pursue in the future.
This provided them with crucial feedback and an opportunity to practise presenting themselves confidently in professional settings, helping to refine their communication skills.
The event concluded with the exciting news that five of the participating students will be starting separate data analytics and digital engagement work placements at DWP Digital in October, allowing them to further hone their skills, gain hands-on experience and build professional connections within the industry.
Events like these play a crucial role in equipping students with practical experience, whilst helping them transition smoothly from education to the workforce.
We’re incredibly proud of our students and excited to see what the future holds for them as they continue their journey in the digital industry.
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Our strategic partnerships are a key part of how we develop skills, expand job search opportunities and enhance awareness of career roles. Today, we’re spotlighting Ahead Partnership.
The Leeds-based organisation works with employers to help young people overcome barriers and achieve their full potential.
Our work with Ahead Partnership is one of the ways we are making digital skills training more accessible.
Keep reading to find out how.
“By connecting young people with diverse role models from industry and creating hands-on activities, we create an environment where young people can develop those essential skills and gain insight into the industry from those who are in it.” – Suzy Bell, Ahead Partnership
Despite technological advancements progressing like never before, working in a digitally-skilled role – or getting one’s foot in the door – remains difficult for many.
Almost 80% of tech roles advertised in 2022 were at senior level, potentially hindering graduates from accessing entry-level roles and preventing those at earlier stages of their career from gaining valuable workplace experience.
To bridge the gap between students and employers, we worked with Ahead Partnership to organise a series of networking events – allowing students to explore specific roles in digital and better understand what they involve.
At one careers panel, Digital and IT students engaged in a Q&A with representatives from various organisations, including Aire Logic, IMG and West Yorkshire Police.
Questions ranged from the ‘top skills employers look for’ to ‘how to begin a career in digital’.
These events deepen our students’ understanding of digital career roles and provide insight into the experiences of industry professionals.
If cyber security or website development are the first careers that come to mind when you think of the digital sector, you’re not alone.
Most people don’t realise that over 36% of positions in the digital workforce involve non-technical professions, including sales, user experience and product management.
One advantage of studying at college is how industry-specific courses equip students with the skills for both technical and non-technical roles.
Our tutors and careers advisors can also point students towards areas with high demand and less competition, encouraging early consideration of lesser known career specialisms.
Training more people in ‘big data’ or data management, for example, would provide graduates with a transferable skill set and enable businesses, across various sectors, to benefit from improved analytics and insight.
At our Women In Tech workshop, almost half of the visitors signed up to the Project Management With Data course, showing that there is demand for continue training in this area.
A session with Netcompany saw 60 students engage in a fictional exercise where they took on the role of an IT specialist and developed realistic solutions to a hypothetical technological threat.
At another workshop with Accenture, 40 students were tasked with using a form of technology – such as artificial intelligence (AI) or smartphones – to solve an issue experienced by consumers today.
The above sessions are just some of the ways we have been collaborating with Ahead Partnership to increase the readiness of young people, providing engaging ways to teach how issues in modern society can be used to forecast and advance the digital sector.
Whether it’s the ideation, development or implementation stage of the process, digital skills training can successfully teach students the skills needed to enter future employment with confidence.
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‘An absolute pleasure’.
That is how Yorkshire-based legal practice XYZ Law has described hosting its very first T Level student, after linking up with Leeds City College.
Yaaseen Patel spent nine weeks with the company as part of his Digital Support Services T Level, and excelled in the IT and administration role.
This was exactly the kind of practical experience that Yaaseen was hoping for when he chose to go down the T Level path – which has industry placements at its heart.
He said: “I have always been interested in IT and had digital skills, so I knew I wanted to have a career in the field.
“I decided to follow the T Level route when I was in sixth form and was bored with just desk-based classroom work all the time. T levels offered hands-on learning experience, which appealed to me.
“My role in XYZ Law was to research and compare remote working surveillance and chatbots for the company, then present it to the team. I also learned a lot about how their admin and IT side works.
“I really enjoyed it and learned a lot about how a law firm operates.”
For the business, meanwhile – which operates throughout the UK and has its head office in Dewsbury – the placement represented a very positive introduction to the world of T Level placements.
HR manager Mollie Wright said:”It was an absolute pleasure to have Yaaseen join our team.
“He was amazing at communicating throughout and completed every task to a high standard, while also showing an interest in different aspects of the firm. As well as doing great at his work, Yaaseen also settled really well into the team.
“This placement was an opportunity for us to support a young person in achieving their qualification, while having an extra person to assist the business. It was our first T Level placement and we are looking forward to taking on someone else in the future.”
Yaaseen, who has now completed his T Level, added: “I would recommend the course to students who are interested in doing an apprenticeship or full time employment after college.
“The work placement is very beneficial for your CV and gives you a higher chance of becoming employable.”
He is now preparing to study IT at university.
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“Studying fashion taught me to be free and push boundaries.” That’s how Rafael Azevedo, a second year Fashion & Textiles Level 3 student, sums up his experience at Leeds City College.
But graduating was just one of this year’s highlights for the 18 year old, as he was also recently crowned ‘Graduate Fashion Designer of the Year 2024’ at the prestigious Fashion Week Awards UK – an accolade he never dreamt of achieving when he first started out.
We chatted to Rafael about his transformational journey from fashion novice to fashion expert.
I have always been surrounded by the creative industry but, to be honest, fashion was actually a last-minute decision. At first I was set on doing architecture but ended up deciding that I wanted something more ‘hands on’.
I was actually making my own prom outfit at the time and remember asking myself ‘‘how hard can fashion be?’.
That was that!
I came across the Fashion Week Awards through Cheshire Fashion Week (CFW). In June 2023 I was applying for internships and managed to secure a work placement at CFW as a backstage coordinator.
This enabled me to meet a lot of designers and industry professionals, one of whom was Creative Director Claire Namukolo Raven. It turned out that Fashion Week Awards UK is organised and sponsored by CFW (along with Fashion Week Arts and Porsche Cheshire).
When I saw that they were looking for designer applications for their SS24 show, I was intrigued and contacted Claire who asked if I would be interested in submitting an application for the awards. I instantly said yes.
I had no clue I was going to win the Graduate Fashion Designer of the Year award on the day itself. It was a lovely surprise!
There were about 10 designers in each award category and we had to exhibit a portfolio of work that depicted our level of skill and creativity. The final result was a beautiful collection of clothing evoking the past and the present; contemporary cuts paired with time-old textiles and techniques such as stitching, weaving and crochet.
I am so pleased I am the graduate fashion designer of the year for 2024 – especially as I’m only 18 years of age and have just finished college. I still can’t believe I was up against people who exhibited at other fashion weeks and have studied university degrees in fashion.
Providing that all goes well on results day (Thursday 15 August 2024), I plan to study for a degree at the University of the Arts London (UAL).
Winning the award has made me so excited for the future, both at UAL and beyond, and to see what I will be able to make of myself within the next four years.
I used to be quite shy, but studying a fashion design course helped me to develop a voice and has taught me how to speak out.
I’ve always had a distinct creative style and, since coming to college, I’ve been able to be more free and to push boundaries. The result is that I now create work that I really enjoy without worrying about the opinions of others.
I’ve met so many people since starting my journey in fashion design that it’s hard to pick just one, but two designers who I’ve been lucky to work for – and be influenced by – are Eden Keshia and Elisa Trombatore.
I’m grateful for their constant support and kindness, as well as the skills I learnt during my time with them. Both designers have shown that the industry isn’t as scary as people make it out to be.
Pick something you really like and master it – try to be as good as you can.
The fashion industry can be tough and you need to be prepared to be sewing away until midnight – especially as a young creative (there’s a tendency for people to see you as ‘inexperienced’).
But accept those rejections and use them as motivation to succeed.
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