Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) 2022 annual Easter Music Concert was one of its most successful yet, raising an incredible £500 for Red Cross, Ukraine Appeal.

The annual Easter Music Concert took place on Wednesday, 23rd March and included a range of performances by RuTC’s Extended Diploma Level 3 Music Performance and Production students.

The students helped to organise and set-up the concert as well as performing in front of a packed-out audience and performances included renditions of alternative rock, pop music, classical music, Irish traditional music and positive rap.

£500 was raised for the Red Cross Ukraine Appeal Charity through ticket sales and donations.

Performing Arts Teacher, Peter Garvey commented, “Last night’s concert was a great success. The students clearly enjoyed performing again in front of a very enthusiastic and supportive live audience and every performer gave their all. As well as the very high standard of performance, the presentation of the items was also very fluent and professional.

“The money raised is going to a very worthwhile cause which needs all the support we can offer. I am extremely pleased we have managed to raise so much money and am thankful to those who came along.”

Red Cross, Ukraine Appeal teams have been working around the clock to get critical care to those who need it most, both in Ukraine and its bordering countries. To date, Red Cross teams in Ukraine have distributed over 90,000 food and hygiene parcels and provided food, warm clothes, and other aid to around 7,000 people sheltering in metro stations in Kyiv.

Learn more about studying Music Performance and Production at RuTC here

Check out the gallery below for some great pictures from the concert. 

From 21-23 March, Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) students Valdino De Souza, Frankie Brant, Oskar Kosta and Darian Nabaz alongside catering teachers James Unwin, Neal Hook and Daniele Giraud competed in the International Salon Culinaire at ExCeL London.

The prestigious competition is a platform for chefs of all levels, from the talented young chefs to those who are well established in their careers. This year the competition took place as part of the London Hotel and Restaurant Show and continues to be regarded as one of the world’s top competitions for chefs for over a century.

RuTC Catering Level 3 student, Valdino De Souza, won the silver medal for the ‘Pub Chef of the Year’ competition with his winning dish of roasted pork fillet wrapped in Parma ham, scotch egg, triple cooked chips and red wine sauce.

Chef Lecturer in Culinary Arts at RuTC James Unwin alongside students Frankie Brant, Oskar Costa and Darian Nabaz won the bronze award for ‘Chef Team of the Year’, which was awarded by celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr.

Alongside James, Frankie, Oskar and Darian, Catering lecturer, Neal Hook and student Yasmin Gibb won a bronze medal for their entry in the ‘Mystery Basket Challenge’.

Student Darian Nabaz was also awarded a second bronze medal and Oskar Costa a merit for their meal preparation for the Chicken for Sauté competition.

James Unwin was impressed at how well the students performed at the competition, explaining: “This was the first International Salon Culinaire in two years so most of our students had not experienced a competition like this before. I was blown away by their professionality and ability to work under intense scrutiny with ease. Their medals, merits and certificates are a reflection of their hard work and incredible talent.”

Check out below, some amazing photo's from the International Salon Culinaire.

Following the positive response to Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) recent careers week, ‘Sightlines to Careers: Preparing for the World of Work’, the College hosted another event in March to introduce students to a wide-range of organisations and available careers opportunities. The aim being to help develop their employability skills and interact with various employers.

Educationalists are aware that continuous engagement with employers facilitates learning and contributes towards making students work-ready.

Eataly, an Italian gastronomic outlet in London, is keen to collaborate with RuTC’s Catering department and as part of that initiative, Nathan Craigie, Eataly Acquisition Talent Lead, delivered a presentation in the College’s training restaurant, The View, to around 20 catering students. This will be followed by a visit to their restaurant in Bishopgate to facilitate future work placements.

Daniel Bowman, from the Bank of England, spoke to over 50 Business and RuTC Sixth Form students in the auditorium. He outlined the roles and functions of the UK’s central bank and the career options available. Daniel charted out his own career pathway to underline the fact that for aspiring students nothing is beyond reach.

Involving the Bank of England as part of the Sightlines to Careers event brought a significant national institution closer to the students to ensure flow of information, facilitate an aspirational pull and provide possible career options.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Work Experience Co-ordinator at RuTC, felt the experience for students was second to none. Tirthankar explains “Many organisations are not able to take students for in-person work placements either due to the pandemic or they may still be operating remotely.

“These other forms of employer engagement like talks provide important industry insight. Organisations like the Bank of England contribute towards boosting the aspirations of students who otherwise will not even think of such institutions of importance as part of their career plan at such an early stage.”

Lastly, Mark Ormiston, proprietor of family-run company Ormiston Wire Ltd, presented the ECITB (Engineering) students with a historical perspective to manufacturing.

Tirthankar continues “The future of the world work is still evolving following one of the biggest challenges (Covid) of the 21st Century and it is bound to be challenging for the workforce of tomorrow.

“At the same time, it will throw open new opportunities. One of the ways of being on top of these new opportunities is through regular engagement with employers.”

Find some photos from the talks below. 

Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) in-house therapy animal, Fred, has attracted much attention since he started his role at the College a short while ago.

Fred, a 12-year-old Westie and Labrador cross was brought into college by his owner, RuTC Attendance, Engagement and Outreach Lead, Tina Ball.

Tina, along with the student services team, realised there was a demand for Fred in the College having been mentioned to by students suffering from anxiety and depression that this may help. This, along with the knowledge that therapy animals, specifically dogs, have worked wonders in other organisations including hospitals, courtrooms, and nursing homes all helped finalise Fred’s new job.

Dogs have increasingly provided therapeutic support in settings like these, with research suggesting that therapy animals support students’ well-being, promote a sense of belonging in college, reduce stress and anxiousness and even facilitate learning.

RuTC is one of a few further education providers in the UK with a therapy dog.

Fred has made the world of difference to a handful of students, some citing they previously struggled enormously with college attendance, stress and more. Since Fred has joined the college, these worries have been mitigated.

RuTC student, Alex Johnston, feels that Fred has made the world of difference in his ability to enjoy college life. Alex explains, “Fred has been very helpful in getting me into college and helped me get in every day I needed to last week. I look forward to petting him every time even if I have to wait in a queue because everyone else wants too.

“He was also very helpful last week when I pet him before I got a test back in one of my classes because he calmed me down and made me less anxious.”

Student journalists, Maya Bowles and Kate Cornell from City, University of London, were so enamoured with Fred they chose to dedicate a slot of their weekly student news channel to him and the various students he has helped.

Tina, Fred’s human, is amazed at the response Fred has gained since his promotion from family to therapy dog.

“It’s amazing to see Fred evoke such positive reactions from our students, he loves coming into college and will wait by the door on the days he knows he’s coming in.

“Fred is a quiet and extremely sweet natured dog, so it seemed only natural that he would be perfect as a therapy animal here at RuTC, the students and staff love him so much and he’s treated like a prince here and at home!

“I am amazed that his role as a therapy animal has attracted so much press attention and I hope it encourages other further education organisations to consider the many benefits of animal assisted intervention.”

Maya Bowles, from City University London knew she had found an amazing story as soon as they heard about Fred’s ‘pawsition’ at the College.

“Richmond-upon-Thames College has gone above and beyond its role in supporting us with this news package. My colleagues and I were all very impressed with the College's state-of-the-art facilities, friendly staff, and engaging students. Every single young person who kindly agreed to speak with us seemed to have genuinely benefitted from the introduction of a therapy dog at the College.”

Check out the wonderful video below created by Maya Bowles and Kate Cornell for City University London's student news body. As well as this, just underneath you'll find some original photography of Fred's famous day.

In March, the Higher Education Fair returned to RuTC (Richmond upon Thames College) after two years of virtual events during the Covid-19 pandemic.

30 universities from across England and Wales attended the event with representatives on designated stands answering all questions and queries RuTC students had about attending university.

Engineering Student, Bailey Bright really appreciated the chance to explore Higher Education Fair and even found a potential university course he would like to study next year.

“I want to study Engineering at uni, but I wasn’t sure what course exactly or where. Coming to this fair has been really helpful for me, I think I may have found my future course! It was mostly useful chatting with the student representatives as it gives you a better feel of what the University will be like.”

Similarly, Childcare and Early Years students Jayda Alder, Danielle Elston and Sophie Soares felt the Fair gave them the opportunity to comfortably explore their future options in a supportive environment.

“It was so hard trying to decide where or what I wanted to study, I just really wasn’t sure before coming here” said Danielle, “but having spoken to a few of the universities, I feel more confident deciding now than I have before. I think I’ll be applying for Northampton and Middlesex University!”

“We all want to study Childcare at University” added Jayda and Sophia commented: “So the Fair has definitely helped us to make a more informed decision than before, we’re all feeling much more confident than before.”

Francis Kennedy, Careers Advisor at RuTC, was pleased the Fair was a hit amongst students.

“We were really pleased that 30 universites were able to attend on the day, especially with them having to deal with the London underground strike too. The feedback from the universities was very positive. They really seemed impressed with both the turnout, with over 400 students came along to the event during the day and the range of university information that students were enquiring about.”

Francis continues, “The event was the first time, for many students, for them to meet with universities and ask direct questions regarding their next steps. The College and Careers team will be working to support students throughout this academic year and into the autumn term with the whole 2023 university application cycle. This was just the start.”

The universities that attended the Higher Education Fair were; Arts University Bournemouth, Bath, BIMM, Brighton, Brunel, Cardiff, City University, De Montfort, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Kingston, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Middlesex, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham Trent, Pearson College London, Ravensbourne, Richmond, Rose Bruford, Screen and Film School, Southhampton Solent, St Marys’, Surrey, University of Creative Arts, West London University and Nottinghill Academy of Music.

See how our Higher Education fair went in the gallery below: 

The past week has seen Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) and the wider Richmond & Twickenham community coming together in support of Ukraine after the country was invaded by Russia.

Many people in Ukraine have been left without food and are now in need of vital supplies after leaving their homes. Across Richmond and Twickenham there are a number of organisations and groups working tirelessly to provide aid to those affected by the ongoing crisis, including Prosperity Ukrainian Restaurant and Café on York Street.

The Prosperity is a Ukrainian café based in Twickenham, the staff are volunteering their time and effort to help collect, sort and deliver vital supplies to those in need in Ukraine.

RuTC is continuing to collect items and has already donated a large amount of clothes, female hygiene products, long-life food, bathroom products and more to Prosperity.

As well as this, students held a cake sale to raise money for those in Ukraine, raising £187 for The Prosperity Café which will go directly to those in need.

Rachel Scarborough, Head of Student Experience at RuTC is pleased to see how effectively RuTC students have responded to the call for aid, saying: “During times of challenge, it is heart-warming to know that the college community comes together to support those in need.

"The College will continue to collect donations over the next week specifically for Ukraine and going forward we will make donations for other causes.

"So far this year we have made donations to Refuge, Red Cross, CentrePoint, Young Minds, Salvation Army, Save the Children and First Star UK."

The 'Undiscovered Destinations' fair was a unique opportunity for Travel and Tourism students to express and present their creativity and research skills to their college peers. 

Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) Travel and Tourism students, planned, organised and implemented an ‘Undiscovered Destinations Fair’ in the College’s Auditorium.

Students were asked to blindly pick from a hat, 20 widely regarded ‘unknown destinations’ such as, Columbia, Georgia and Palestine.

The unknown, chosen destination then became the student’s personal project for the fair.

Each student was asked to dedicate a board (see Gallery below) to various facts, figures and interesting information they’d learnt about their chosen country during their research, resulting in an exceptionally detailed and well organised event.

Students exhibited their hard work to their college peers and staff members, who were synonymously impressed by the organisation and presentation skills shown by the Travel and Tourism students.

Travel and Tourism teacher, Hannah Talabany was extremely impressed at her student's ability to flawlessly execute the fair.

“I am so proud of my students, they worked so hard researching and showcasing their chosen destinations and managed to host an amazing event. They did a wonderful job organising and hosting it.

The display stands were professionally presented and gave visitors a great insight into the individual countries. The catering students also contributed to the event by providing dishes from the destinations covered.

The feedback from visitors was extremely positive and the students really enjoyed every aspect of the event. Overall, I think the event was a huge success.”

Students relayed positive feedback about the event, feeling as if the event offered them a real-life opportunity to exert plenty of creative freedom over a project of their choice.

Learn more about studying Travel and Tourism at RuTC here

Check out the gallery below to see the students’ work for the Undiscovered Destinations Fair.

On the 21–25 February, Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) hosted the first ‘Sightline to Careers’ week initiative, as part of the National Careers Week 2022.

Sightlines to Careers Week was designed to introduce students to a wide range of employers and help equip them with important employability tools including CV writing, interview practice and skills audit.

The initiative was welcomed by students, as due to Covid-19 they have had few opportunities on learning employability skills. The week provided an opportunity to focus students on their future careers and improve their employability skills. Around 300 students participated in various employer events with many taking advantage of the in-house advice on CVs, interview practice and job-search either through workshops or one-to-one sessions.

A Level student, Kajalpreet Grewal, found the Sightline to Careers initiative extremely helpful, commenting: “I learnt so much! All the different routes to a fantastic career, and how to answer challenging questions in an interview.

I would definitely recommend this to other students who, like me, can get nervous in an interview and aren't sure how to answer out of the blue questions. There's no other way to say this - it was incredibly helpful!”

A host of employers were involved in the week’s programme of activities, including Sheraton, Skyline, Cisco, Bright Sun Travel, British Airways, Oxfam, Krome Technologies, HSBC, TFL (Transport for London). This interaction between employers and students was vital as, post-pandemic, many companies have repositioned themselves and their roles on offer, transforming the profile of their workforce.

Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Work Placement Co-ordinator at RuTC, was delighted with the outcome of programme, saying: “While some roles have become obsolete, others have emerged in the changed environment. It is important for our students to be aware of these changes so they can make informed choices about their careers.

“The week was also an opportunity to plan and find ways of bridging the gap between college and employment and for our students to take advantage of the sectoral skills shortages, and to provide opportunities for temporary part-time jobs and summer placements.”

Learn more about Careers, Employment and Higher Education progression at RuTC, here

Last term, Art and Design Level 2 students were commissioned to make the hoardings surrounding the Colleges greatly anticipated STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) Centre more 'visually appealing’.

The students put significant effort into ensuring the mural reflected the subjects that will be taught within the STEM Centre and agreed that the style will follow a ‘pop art’ theme.

Students thoroughly researched the concept of STEM by visiting the Science Museum and the Serpentine Gallery. They were able to practice drawing various science and technology objects at the Museum, something they were previously unfamiliar with.

At the Serpentine Gallery, students researched the work of famous French Pop Art artist, Hervé Télémaque, studying his style and technique to recreate for themselves on the STEM hoardings surrounding the building site.

Sheila Fraser Whyte, Executive Director of Business Development and Innovation, who commissioned the work, is thrilled with the development of the artwork. “I commissioned the Level 2 Art and Design students to create this piece of art to give students and staff an uplifting view on their way into College.

“I am amazed at the level of creativity and effort made by our students; they’ve really done an amazing, professional job. The art speaks to the fun and accomplished nature of the College and is a welcome addition to the campus. The hoardings are now an absolute credit to the Art and Design department of Richmond upon Thames College.”

Find out more about studying Art and Design at RuTC.

Check out the Gallery below to see how the mural came together.