Our Brickwork department collaborated with Rose Builders at the Tendring Show on 8^th July 2023, Essex County’s premier Agricultural Event.

With around 20,000 attendees, the 106th Tendring Show, set in the picturesque Lawford House Park, featured top-class entertainment, a variety of animals, a Shoppers Market, Art & Lifestyle Marquee, Food Pavilion, Education Area, and more.

This year, Rose Builders organised a construction tent at the show, allowing for interactive learning with virtual reality equipment. To help with the event, our Brickwork department was asked if we could supply training mortar for the occasion, which we did at no cost. Our banner, proudly displayed alongside Rose Builders, showcased our commitment to skill development and collaboration.

The event was a great opportunity to network with many members of the public and local businesses, and strengthen our partnership with Rose Builders.

Here’s to more partnerships and future endeavours!

Our Level 3 Sport learners were highly praised today for organising, running and officiating a “Mini-Olympics” sports day for the Year 3 pupils at Heathlands Primary School in West Bergholt.

Using the knowledge and skills they had acquired from undergoing their Diploma in Professional Sports Coaching, our students delivered an exciting day for the school pupils, making the event a great success.

They all displayed the highest standards throughout and were a credit to Colchester Institute within the local community.

The Level 3 learners are excited to progress into the Sport and Leisure industry upon successful completion of their study programmes, and we wish them the very best!

Level 1 Plumbing student Eusebius Buniechukwuelu Igboji’s unwavering determination and outstanding achievements have earned him the prestigious Jack Petchey Award.

Despite lacking the required GCSE English and Maths qualifications initially, he enrolled in another course at Colchester Institute, working diligently to attain the necessary grades through the early November resit.

Simultaneously, he privately studied and successfully obtained additional GCSE subjects while managing part-time work.

The Jack Petchey Award funds were utilised to celebrate with an all-expenses-paid trip to Nando’s, where Eusebius and his peers enjoyed a memorable time. There was even enough remaining money to provide food for his family.

On the morning of GCSE English and Maths exams, the Plumbing department – like many others – was given funding for a ‘Breakfast Club’ to buy healthy breakfast snacks and drinks for our students.

After realising they had a sizeable amount of money left over, the students suggested a donation to the Colchester Food Bank, inspired by the actions of Marcus Rashford who campaigned for funded meals for young people and students in low-income households.

Personal Development Tutor Martin Roddy had this to say about the students, “We don’t just teach our students Plumbing, maths and English, we like to believe that our students will leave College with correct and decent values.”

Colchester Institute thanks the generosity of the Plumbing department and its upstanding students.

Congratulations go to our Year 2 apprentice Jack Brand, who attended the Guild of Bricklayers East Anglia Regional Competition at Suffolk New College, winning first place in the Senior category.

The competitors had six hours to complete a complex bricklaying task with several challenges, whilst showcasing their technique and skills.

Throughout Jack’s time studying at Colchester Institute, he has always been a dedicated student and shown a real passion for the trade, with a keen interest in competing. He worked hard studying previous competition drawings and practicing several extra-curricular skills not covered by the course to gain the edge in the competition.

Jack previously competed at the regional SkillBuild at East Coast College in May, finishing in 2nd place. Taking what he learnt in the competition, especially time management skills, Jack paced himself throughout the six hours and constructed the task to a very high standard.

Jack commented “The Guilds of Bricklayers competition was a great way to show case what I had been taught at college and practiced in the workplace. It was a very well-run competition, which was a good opportunity to compete against other tradesmen under time pressure.”

We wish Jack the very best for the future!

On 8^th June, the College welcomed Neil Rutson, Una Jordan and Theo Simon from 3M and Paul Bird and Alex Berry from Elmdale Welding and Engineering to demonstrate their latest products and challenge our apprentices to showcase their skills in the ‘Clash of the Grinders’.

To start the day, Level 2 and Level 3 students, along with apprentices, attended a classroom lecture by Theo Simon explaining the health and safety requirements, exposure limits and how different products can be used to reduce risks. The level of engagement and probing questions gained some very positive comments from our guests, after which the battle commenced.

18 apprentices took part in this competition which included stock removal and a cutting task which involved taking 10 slices through a square tube. The challenges were based on time and efficiency with the results being fed into the ‘supercomputer’ to gauge a winner.

After a hard-fought competition, the overall winner was announced; congratulations to Archie Pavelin of E.B.M. Papst who received a prize bundle from Neil Rutson of 3M worth £600.

Our thanks go to 3M and Elmdale Welding and Engineering for supporting this event and giving away many freebies that where enthusiastically received!