Coronavirus
Updates: Colleges & Business Units | Commercial Outlets and Nurseries
Advice for: Students, Parents and Carers | College Applicants | Apprentices
Updates: Colleges & Business Units | Commercial Outlets and Nurseries
Advice for: Students, Parents and Carers | College Applicants | Apprentices
When the government announced emergency guidelines last week, stipulating that most students and staff would be working from home, tutors and support staff quickly adapted their way of working to support students that are now needing to access education from home.
Continuing to Learn
Whatever course students are on, they are now able to access their work from home and to receive support whilst they work towards their end-of-year projects. Lecturers are providing virtual lessons and constant support to ensure that all students at College have the potential to achieve excellence.
Many students are now sharing their projects on social media websites, such as Instagram, to boost morale and develop a virtual College community. This is a great example of our College value of ‘Creativity’ as both students and staff adapt to change through innovation.
Boosting Employability
As most non-essential workers are now being asked to stay at home, it is important that students still have access to industry and can boost their CV with relevant work experience opportunities.
Industry Liaison Officer for Canterbury School of Visual Arts, Denise Knights-Toomber (below, right), has been running her ‘Work Ready’ club as usual.
The Work Ready club noticeboard at College would usually be brimming with projects for students to get involved in and submit their designs for. Now, the opportunities are posted online, and students can pick up their essential work experience hours this way.
Seeing the positives in the situation, Denise said: “I now have a captive audience as everyone, whether they are students or local businesses, have their nose to the computer screen. Keeping in touch couldn’t be easier.”
Being a Part of Something Bigger
A large part of life at College is being involved in the community – both inside and outside of College.
The Students’ Union have moved online, encouraging students to continue to access their wellbeing and enrichment services. Student Experience Team Leader, Joshua Turner (above, left), said: “Developing our virtual presence is important in order to stay in touch with the students. We will upload regular blog posts, information and enrichment resources. One good thing to come of this is that we are all learning to be a little more resilient.”
To promote the importance of staying inside and following government guidelines, students and staff have been sharing their ‘Work-From-Home’ setups via social media.
Staff have also been supported to make a difference within their local communities, by signing up to take part in the NHS Volunteer Responders scheme, if they wish to.
During these unprecedented times, Canterbury College remains strong in its commitment to serve and support its local communities.
