A new mock hospital ward for health and science T-level students, has been officially opened by Cheddar's MP James Heappey.

As part of Love our Colleges Week "Engage your MP", Strode College in Street welcomed Mr Heappey, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for the Armed Forces, to open the new mock hospital ward.

He enjoyed touring the state-of-the-art facilities and meeting the students studying new health and science T-levels.

Ofsted Outstanding Strode College is not only one of the first further education colleges in England to teach the new T-level qualification, but also in 2020 Strode College was successful in a bid for a £650,000 grant from the Government's T-level Capital Fund.

The grant allowed the development of high quality, industry standard facilities for Strode College T-level health and science students.

T-level health students will benefit from a new ultra-modern mock hospital ward complete with birthing room, nursing station and dispensary.

The real-life environment will allow students to gain a greater understanding of the behaviours, facilities and procedures used in modern healthcare settings.

The ward will also be equipped with new interactive mannequins. These people-like bodies will be used in simulation-based medical learning by creating realistic scenarios.

This effective learning tool mimics symptoms of human conditions such as strokes, heart attacks and pain via electronic cards inserted on the back of their neck.

For T-level science students, a new, purpose-built laboratory will allow them to start developing their laboratory skills.

Set up as professional laboratory rather than a classroom, students will have the opportunity to build practical and employability skills relevant for roles such as a laboratory technician or food technician.

Mr Heappey said: "I was honoured to be able to open this brand new hospital ward and laboratory at Strode College.

"I am so impressed with these fantastic facilities and great to see the excellent educational work ongoing in Somerset.

"Strode has been leading the way with the newly-introduced T-levels and the progress they have made in a short space of time is remarkable and hugely beneficial to students here in Somerset."

Terri Clemo, vocational manager, said: "We are really excited about the addition of our new hospital ward, dispensary, nursing station and brand new science lab as these will enrich learners' professional development and prepare them for their chosen careers.

"They will be able to develop clinical and non-clinical skills in state-of-the-art, industry standard environments."

Katy Quinn, principal and CEO, said: "I am incredibly proud of what the staff and students at Strode have achieved.

"The official opening of our new T-level facilities for health and science is a key milestone in the launch of these new, high quality technical qualifications.

"We are delighted to have had such a successful start to our T-level journey, which will continue to be rolled out over the coming years.

"Strode College has a long, established reputation for outstanding academic provision - we must also ensure young people have access to the highest quality technical education too.

"It's important that our courses prepare students for employment, leading into strong careers, as well as courses which provide excellent routes into university. Our offer of A-levels and vocational and technical courses mean our students have that choice."

Ziggi Keill-Griffin, T-levels teaching and learning development manager, said: "We are really proud of how the science T-level lab has turned out.

"The combined efforts of science teachers and technicians, and the architects with the help of the estates and IT team, have allowed us to produce something quite special and of a high specification.

"The lab was designed to replicate a real working laboratory environment and has been kitted out with a wide range of high spec kit including the custom built, mobile fume cupboard, industrial fridge freezer, full set of high quality oil immersion microscopes, various analytical testing kits, a mass spectrometer and incubation chamber to name but a few.

"We are hopeful that this lab design will really help professionally prepare our T-level students for their laboratory-based work placements with Southwest Pathology Services later in the academic year and also for their future scientific careers.

"Both the new laboratory and secured work placements will really help put Strode College on the map for the health and science T-level courses."

Strode Colleges welcome all students interested in studying T-levels to attend Open Evenings, and there are two taking place on November 18 and February 10.

To book in and to take a tour, see www.strode-college.ac.uk/events.

T-levels offered at Strode College

In 2022/23 Strode will offer the following T-levels:

Accounting – Level 3

Digital Data Management (Digital Business Services) – Level 3

Digital Production, Design and Development – Level 3

Hardware and Technical Support – Level 3

Education and Childcare – Level 3

Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing – Level 3

Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction – Level 3

Health – Level 3

Management and Administration – Level 3

Science – Level 3

Strode also offers the following Level 2 - Transition to T-level subjects, designed to lead into the full Level 3 T-level courses, including a two-week industry placement:

Digital Advance

Early Years Practitioner

Health and Science

Engineering

Accounting, Management and Administration

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