Level 2 and 3 Business students at the Centre for Business, Arts and Technology have benefitted from a series of recent events, covering all the bases for successful entrepreneurship. 

Teachers Lee Kennedy and Prabhakar Tailor spoke about the college’s push to give students the practical skills they need for a career in business. “It’s all about having a real project, or a real focus,” says Lee. “They can start understanding what they’re going into instead of just working in the classroom.”

Lee goes on to explain the strategic overhaul within the department, which will get students working more closely with Islington businesses, helping students to build the sector-relevant skills that they will need to succeed after college.

“We’ve been working with the London Village Network (LVN) since 2017. Our first event was such a success that they came back and asked our students to put together an advert for them to use in their campaigns. Our students did everything – the storyboarding, the scripting, the acting, filming. They learnt the ropes from a professional crew that was brought in, and produced it all on site, here at the college.

“It shows the way media and business fit together. Our students get a proper understanding of finance management, events management, social media, design, from start to finish. We’re looking to expand every year, which we’re achieving by building good relationships with other businesses and growing our reputation. Just like real life.”

Prab explains the recent success with pitching events earlier this year. Students had the opportunity to present their ideas to Expedia Group and Euromonitor International on behalf of the LVN at the end of January. The business broker the BIG Alliance, who are based on the third floor of the CBAT building, helped arrange these visits. In early March, 300 people turned to the event which was the final part of the project, promoting ‘The Power of an Hour’. Arsenal in the Community have been important partners and sponsors of these events, offering CANDI students extra lessons in merchandising, starting in May.

“We’re really grateful to all the students and staff who gave up their free time to make the event a success. Working with the community is getting some traction,” Prab added. “Not long ago I took students to Bloomberg. We let them invest a virtual sum of money and monitor the returns. Traders took the time to talk to students and explain what they do – they get a taste for what life after college could look like.

“What we’re trying to give them is real life skills in business. It’s really beautiful when you go into class and see that they want more of it. People come to lessons just to learn – they want to be there. It makes a difference.”

And the efforts are surely paying off. Business students have made such a marked impact on the community that local opportunities are flooding in.

“We have a project with the Almeida Theatre going on at the moment. Students starting out on their education have given up their free time to write stories and perform on stage in front of an audience. The change is unbelievable. They all want success. If you have no plan, you have no future. This gives them a plan. It gives them something to work towards. The theory in the classroom is all based around an end goal, what you want to achieve. We ask them what they want to learn, and then work out how to get it.”

On Thursday 4 April thirty students took to the streets to take on growing concerns around street violence. The key message: more needs to be done to help young people make better decisions around crime. The students’ march amassed over six miles, walking between all five City and Islington College sites and Islington Town Hall. The student organisers spoke about their motives, and how the walk came about.

First year Public Services student Danish Ahmed said: “I’m a police cadet and I’ve had that passion for tackling crime from a young age. As knife crime is on the rise across London, I felt like young people needed to do something and that’s when we came up with the idea to do this. My friends Asen, Amel and myself created a leaflet, which later became a walk. We managed to get enough support from students for it to happen.

“Living in London it can always be dangerous. The college is a great opportunity for young people, but not everyone knows they have these choices.”

Danish studies at the Centre for Health, Social and Childcare on the Holloway Road. Student Engagement Coordinator Karina Grace added that this was a student initiative, brought up at a recent Student Union meeting. Student Union members get the chance to identify ways to help the college and local community improve. Their current campaign – #FearTheSilence – came about as a way to take an active role in addressing rising knife crime across London, an issue that affects many young people directly.

Students from the both centres and the Centre for Lifelong Learning (Finsbury Park) walked from Holloway to Angel, spreading their message with the general public and neighbouring students. Campaigners were happy to receive support from senior staff at the Sixth From College and Centre for Applied Sciences, Nina Weiss and Dr. Ramin Narimani. During the walk, the group received support from a local magistrate and a group of activists, both looking to join the cause at a later date. The students then walked over to Islington Town Hall to talk about their aims, before completing the circuit via the Centre for Lifelong Learning in Finsbury Park.

“I’m so lucky to be doing this event.” Public Services student Asen Ivanov said. “A teacher suggested I get involved because I’m class rep. I’m so thankful for that. Being a police cadet and a young person in London, this is something I really care about. It’s a great feeling, making something happen.”

Fellow organiser Amel Boukabous went on to explain: “There are so many reasons for the increase in street violence in urban areas. What we wanted to do was pinpoint something actionable, work out what we could do to make a positive change. There are a lot of variables contributing to it – we can’t address everything – but we can promote the need for services that help people get off the streets and choose a better life.

“We know there are services, but they don’t go into colleges much. We would like to open up the channel and make our area a better place for young people.”

A host of female leaders visited Westminster Kingsway College recently to share their experience of succeeding in their careers, to share their knowledge and to inspire and empower the next generation of women leaders.

The panel comprised women in a wide range of fields, including government, civil engineering, marketing, psychology, biophysics, performing arts, law, corporate affairs and  e-commerce. They shared the secrets of their successes, the barriers they overcame and the people who inspired them along the way.

As well as giving women a safe space to discuss the issues that they face, the event – which was part of the college’s Women’s History Month celebrations – showcased some of the industries and positions that women are in, demonstrating to students that anything is possible and that they are not limited by their gender, race or class.

In the packed theatre at Kings Cross, female – and male – students asked the panel a wide range of questions, from “What advice would you give to young women who want to succeed in the workplace?“, “How did you get where you are today, and who/what helped you along the way?” to “How do you achieve work-life balance?” and “What was your dream job as a child and why?“

The line-up included women from a dazzling range of careers and industries:

Siu Mun Li	Head of Projects – Multiplex
Tara Usher	Head, Highways England Shareholder Team – Department of Transport
Jo Ouvry	Director of Corporate Affairs – Deloitte
Meena Kamath	Professional Support Lawyer – DLA Piper
Paola Vergani	Senior Lecturer in Biophysics – UCL
Diana Lee	Chief of Staff – Ambassador Theatre Group
Deborah Husbands	Senior Lecturer in Psychology – University of Westminster
Sangeeta Pillai	Founder – Soul Sultras
Natasha Tyler	Associate Partner – Powell Williams
Regina Oladipo	Head of EU Exit Digital Strategy – Govt Digital Services
Keisha Shokunbi	Police Officer, Metropolitan Police

Some of our speakers took the time out to share with us their top tips for success:

On Wednesday 3 April, Thailand’s ambassador to the United Kingdom visited our School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts in Victoria, to mark Thai Week, a week-long celebration of Thai food and culture.

Our Victoria Centre regularly recognises international cultures with ‘themed weeks’, and we were delighted to welcome the Ambassador to Victoria. Ambassador HE Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata arrived with a group of fellow ambassadors from neighbouring Asian countries as well as members of embassy staff.  Our senior chef lecturer Jose Souto conducted the group on a tour of the college’s kitchens and workshops, explaining the cultural history of the centre (we have taught culinary and hospitality skills on the site for over 100 years), before the group was able to sample the students’ Thai cuisine skills over lunch in our Escoffier Roomfine dining restaurant.

Jose said: “We’re very happy to have our special guests with us today.  As well as the Thai Ambassador, we have five other ambassadors with us, from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Burma [Myanmar]. They’ve been invited here today by the Thai Ambassador to sample the kind of food that we’re making. We’ve worked together with the Thai Embassy to try to create a learning environment around Thai food, ingredients and culture, giving students that insight into the cuisine and culture.

“The whole idea of Thai week was so that students can learn about Thai food and culture by coming up with a Thai menu, working with the senior lecturers in each section of the kitchen.”

The Thai ambassador has been collaborating directly with Westminster Kingsway College to build awareness for Thai Week. Tuesday saw seven finalists compete for the title of Young Thai Cuisine Chef of the Year. 2019 marks the first year of the event, with support from the Embassy and senior chefs around the college: Norman Fu in the larder, Simon Stocker in the fine-dining restaurant, Sue Yates in pastry and Mark Whitley covering front of house.

HE Mr. Pisanu Suvanajata was delighted to attend today’s lunch. He added: “We are honoured to work with the college and also we find the restaurant offers the best quality food and service that will attract a lot of people. It’s a great opportunity to work with the college.

“We are happy to see that we have not only a great chef in the restaurant, but a college that can prepare good Thai fusion food; we had a Thai cooking contest yesterday and found that there’s interest in Thai culture out there in the younger generation – people who want to master Thai cuisine.  It’s a great thing. We think this is a great opportunity for Thailand to work with a famous institute like Westminster Kingsway College to promote Thai food.”

CCCG recently welcomed a group of twelve teachers from Guangdong Construction Polytechnic on a 3-week teacher training programme.

The programme included an introductory week of presentations and sessions introducing teachers to vocational education in the UK and Capital City College Group, a week of pedagogy workshops and a week of shadowing and observation with Engineering and Construction teams and CONEL’s Enfield Centre.

During the introductory week teachers met managers from the Capital City College Training team to learn about employer engagement and apprenticeships. They also undertook training sessions with Westminster Kingsway College including an Enterprise workshop and a session on digital technologies in the classroom.

During their week with CONEL’s Engineering and Construction teams the teachers visited Hitachi Rail (formally Virgin/LNER) depot at Bounds Green where they had an opportunity to meet with Apprentices and their managers as well as receiving a tour of the site. The group also participated in CONEL’s engineering apprenticeship event where they had an opportunity to meet with employers recruiting apprentices as well as prospective apprentices.

The training programme follows an MOU signing between Capital City College Group and Guangdong Construction Polytechnic at Westminster Kingsway College last summer. The institutions intend to continue collaboration and plan to hold an Apprenticeships conference in China in May 2019. Feedback from the training programme was extremely positive with the teachers reporting the visit had been most beneficial and returning to China with plans to implement areas of best practice observed at Guangdong Construction Polytechnic.

On speaking of the programme teachers said ‘We speak highly of CCCG’s work and extend our deep gratitude to them for their best efforts. They attached great importance to the training, and the course was well-planned and helpful, including both theoretical and practical teaching, as well as enterprise visits and on-site observation.’

City and Islington College student Seyfu Jamaal Tahir is making waves in the running world following a first-place finish at the London Landmarks Half Marathon 2019.

Seyfu ran the 13.1 mile half marathon on Sunday 24^th March in one hour, eight minutes and fourteen seconds, beating second place by nearly six minutes and overshadowing last year’s victor by nearly three minutes. His time marks a new course record for the London Landmarks Half Marathon, making headlines in industry favourite Runner’s World magazine.

Currently undertaking an ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) 16-18 programme at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, Seyfu has made quite the impression on his teachers. Lecturer Chloe Jacobs describes Seyfu as an “extremely hardworking and committed” student, managing to attend every class in spite of a demanding training schedule.

Seyfu came to England in 2017 from Ethiopia, arriving unaccompanied without English language or literacy skills. He enroled at City and Islington College shortly after and has made great progress. Chloe added that “he has made excellent improvements in all aspects of his learning.”

When asked, he told us that he stays motivated by focusing on improving on past times and setting new records. Seyfu’s schedule involves running five to ten kilometres per day, and a half marathon each Saturday. This he fits around a 15-hour-per-week course studying English, Geography, ICT, Maths and Employability.

“I felt great!” Seyfu told us, looking back on his win. “I had left the group a long way behind from the start and ran the whole marathon alone. Later, I slowed down a bit, but I was still in the lead and even when I looked back I couldn’t see any of the other runners behind me. By the time I crossed the finish line, I was at least five minutes ahead of the runner who came second.”

Sitting on the National Ladder at 20^th for men under 20, Seyfu has come on leaps and bounds in his running this last year, currently ranking 232^nd overall. The National Ladder measures the progression of all road runners in the UK against age and gender.

“We’re all very proud of his athletic and academic achievements, and hope to see him running for Great Britain one day.” Chloe told us. “Keep running through those barriers, Seyfu!”

Westminster Kingsway college has collaborated with The Centre for London on a ground-breaking new report, on the future of London’s culinary and hospitality industries.

The report, called Kitchen Talent, is being launched today and its co-author Nicolas Bosetti from the Centre for London, says in today’s TES: “London’s food scene is booming but the city does not do enough to inspire chef talent.  Despite being home to some of the best catering colleges in the country, London’s culinary education offer isn’t specialised and high profile enough. And London is a chef apprenticeship dark spot.

“London’s restaurants and colleges need to cultivate local culinary talent to maintain and grow the city’s global and national reputation as a hub for culinary creativity and good food, and benefit its workers.”

Gary Hunter, deputy principal of Westminster Kingsway College, said: “This report highlights some fundamental issues that require a new collaborative approach to hospitality training. Everyone in London’s hospitality and culinary industries has a responsibility to secure the future of our great city’s diverse hospitality culture and ensure that London remains a leading gastronomic centre and tourist destination.”

On the morning of the report’s launch, BBC London News filmed at our Victoria centre and an interview with student Kyla Bertrand featured on the News that evening.

For more on the report, visit the TES website here.

A trio of creative students from Westminster Kingsway College are celebrating winning a competition run by a global company, Dar Group, to have their designs displayed on one of London’s busiest streets.

The winning design on the theme of ‘Connection’, by Studio CAP (first year Digital Arts and Photography students Charlotte Allcock, Patricia Medina and Annie Koyce), will be printed onto a 10 metre-long bespoke hoarding, which will surround the construction site at 150 Holborn in central London, where Dar Group – a leading global professional services company – is building its new UK headquarters.

The new building will bring the various Dar Group companies together in one place for the first time, to improve collaboration on world leading projects between Dar Group’s companies and teams. The competition tasked students with designing “a visual statement, portraying the inspiration, ambition and vision of the new building” and with interpreting one of the themes important to Dar Group in establishing the character of its new home:

• Smart City: sustainable building, links to community, place-making
• Creative Culture: history of the local area, focus on culture, people, arts
• Connection: people, places and communities.

In all, 15 students, who are in their first year of the college’s Digital Arts and Photography – Level 3 Extended Diploma course, took part in the competition. Working to a detailed project brief drawn up by Dar Group, the students split into groups to tackle the brief.  Using skills that they will need in their future careers in the creative industries, the students analysed the brief, worked up their designs and had to present their ideas to a panel of Dar Group staff.  Armed with feedback from their tutors and Dar Group, the students then took their ideas from rough concepts to their final entries, which were judged by Dar Group’s project team.

The winners were announced at an evening reception held on Wednesday 3 April at Westminster Kingsway College and attended by partner organisations, external parties, students and parents and staff of both the college and Dar Group.

Winning student Patricia Medina said, “At first when we got the brief, we wondered what we would do to meet it. But we discussed the brief as a team and with our tutors, which helped a lot.” Charlotte Allcock, from Kilburn, told us: “We were grouped into teams based on our different skills and it was the first time that the three of us had worked together. We are shocked and so happy to have won, because the other entries were so good.”

This project is the first in a wide ranging and two-way engagement between WestKing students and Dar Group that we hope will lead to more opportunities for students to further their knowledge and gain experience in built environment professions such as engineering, design and planning.

Kim Caplin, Principal of Westminster Kingsway College said: “We are so proud of all the students who took part, for their professional and creative responses to this challenging brief and we are grateful to Dar Group for giving our students this fantastic opportunity.

“Our aim is always to ensure that students leave us with the qualifications and the skills they need to succeed, and that businesses need from their future employees.  We collaborate and partner with businesses across a wide range of industries – from banking to construction, to professional services and the creative industries – to enable them to share their expertise with students and offer them work placements, workshops, guidance and support to help them in their future careers. We hope that this is just the start of a long-term collaboration between Westminster Kingsway and Dar Group and lead to more opportunities for other students.

Managing director of Dar Group UK, Andrew Loudon said, “It is vital for a firm like ours to keep in touch with the next generation of talent. We have been delighted to find it on our doorstep – and to find a diversity of cultures that mirrors the diversity of the communities we work with around the globe. Westminster Kingsway College has introduced us to a very relevant and impressive group of future professionals.”

Finishing behind Studio CAP in second place were Studio GGH, (Gursel Ozbengu, Gabriela Morochotipan and Holly Bloxham). Also at the event was Connie Ozbengu, Gursel’s mum, who is full of pride for her son. “Gursel has has an interest in photography since he was 14 and this course has been really good for him – it’s given him a good focus, and it has given him a lot of confidence. To see him here tonight, talking about his work, makes me swell with pride.”

Lecturer Paresh Parmar said: “The students are aged just 16 or 17 and are in the first year of a two year course.  It’s the first time they have worked to a client brief and everyone at the college has been so impressed with their hard work, energy and creativity – especially as they are also working on other projects on their course.  The brief from Dar Group was very exciting and inspiring and it has been great working with Dar Group on this project.”

On 28 March 28, WestKing was delighted to welcome a team of entrepreneurs and industry experts to hear and assess eight student business pitches in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event.

The event, held at our Victoria Centre, allowed students to develop their pitching skills in a professional environment. Students were expected to dress and perform appropriately, as if speaking to a potential investor. Graded against key business skills, product selling points and plausibility, the panel of successful entrepreneurs advised how they would invest into student ideas, offering key tips on how to develop products further.

A number of pitches stood out to the panel, including a healthy, ‘free from’ snack alternative and a juice drink drawing inspiration from one student’s Ghanaian roots. With backgrounds in different sectors, the Dragons were able to offer guidance on marketing, expansion and brand identity going forward.

On the panel, Lenique Louis is the Founder of the eponymous luxury jewellery brand; Dean Jones works as Partnerships and Outreach Manager at the University of Buckingham; and Will Ferreira coaches businesses in digital marketing and brand development. The team was also joined by a Molly Swan from tax solution company Intuit and Louise Thomas MD of communications agency Break Communications.

Organiser and lead for the Victoria Entrepreneurship programme Wendy Breakell summed up, saying: “This has been a great event and we intend for this to be the start of something we can grow further involving students from across the college centres.

“Our aim to is to make the college into a centre of excellence for entrepreneurial ambitions and enable our students to see that starting their own business is a legitimate career aspiration. The Dragon’s Den event is part of a programme which will be developing the skills our students need to develop a business idea and create a model and plan to take forward to potential investors. Our new Into Enterprise Hub will be the centre of the programme and we shall be coaching and training these first students to build their business skills, confidence and mindset.”

Pitching students were part of the Business -Level 3 Extended Diploma and degree programmes in Business, Enterprise and Culinary Arts. The students found the experience very worthwhile and were able to overcome their nerves to make impressive pitches to the experts:

Business student Denisa planned to develop Femme, a self defence and confidence programme for girls. When asked about her experience, she said, “ It was a fantastic opportunity to present my idea and be able to deal with the questions they asked me. I now feel much more confident that my idea could be developed and I intend to make the most of the coaching and support that is being offered. I am only 17 so to have this on my CV I know will make me able to show an employer that I have skills in business and am prepared to talk to a room full of experts!”

Enrico and Alan, students in Business and Culinary Arts, received a great deal of interest in their cornmeal-based polenta snack. They will be working with Will Ferrira to make connections with investors and agencies who may wish to work with the brand. So watch this space: Polenties could soon be in your local deli!

In July 2011 Amani Simpson was stabbed seven times during a frenzied attack by a group of around 20 men in Enfield. Miraculously, Amani – a former pupil of Enfield Grammar School and The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London – survived and has since dedicated himself to speaking in schools and colleges, to try to steer young people away from the violence and danger of knife crime.

Earlier this month, Amani visited CONEL’s Tottenham centre to deliver a powerful session and Q&A to our students. The event also featured a showing of a short film about his stabbing, called Amani, made with his friend, the actor Joivan Wade, which to date has had over 1.6 million views on YouTube.

The talk offered an opportunity for CONEL students to meet Amani and hear his story. It also enabled a free and open discussion about the students’ lives and the challenges that they and their communities face every day.

As Amani told us: “I put my story into a film to empower the conversation about knife crime. I want to extend the film to go into more detail to explain the stories of others and how it effects the wider community.”

When asked about his visit to the college, Amani told us: “It was an honour to come to CONEL. I know a lot of people who went here and are from Tottenham. It is good to give back to the community.”

Anthony Robinson, CONEL’s Quality & Learner Experience Manager said: “Knife crime is constantly in the news and it’s particularly prevalent in London compared to other parts of the country. Young black and minority ethnic teenage boys and men are disproportionately affected by knife crime – as both victims and perpetrators – and Amani’s visit is part of a programme of events partly funded by the Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund that we are holding to help divert young people away from criminal activities and support them to make better choices in their lives.”