HSDC welcomed its first-ever T Level students to its South Downs Campus last week.
T Levels are a new qualification which focuses on vocational skills and can help students into skilled employment, higher study or apprenticeships. Each one involves an in-depth industry placement and is equivalent to three A Levels. HSDC is the only Hampshire college to offer all three T Levels in Education and Childcare, Digital and Construction.
Students immediately got stuck into their first assignments. Education and Childcare students started by studying paediatric first aid; Digital T Level students worked collaboratively to develop their understanding of Agile methods used in software development, which gave them an introduction to the principal way that software is developed to get the product to market quickly and Construction students looked at a derelict site in Eastney, Portsmouth, discussed what the site could be developed into and any environmental processes which would be required prior to any construction starting and then produced an initial plan.
Student feedback on their first week has been extremely positive. Construction T Level student Alfie Nutbeam commented,
“The first week has been good because the course is very interactive, there is a lot of relatable content to keep you interested.”
Fellow Construction student Charlie Bruce added further,
“The first week was fun; everyone is friendly and the classwork was interesting.”
Richard Barlow, Deputy Principal and Head of South Downs Campus, said,
“It has been fantastic to see our first groups of T Level students working hard in their new spaces on the campus, supported by our staff and our partner employers. T Levels are genuinely the qualification of the future, created with employers to ensure that the skills and knowledge our students develop are the most relevant for them to access fantastic careers. With even more T Levels launching in September 2021, this exciting journey for future young professionals is just beginning and I look forward to welcoming even more young people to study T Levels with us in the future.”
We have a few spaces still available for our Digital T Level starting this September. To find out more, visit our T Level page.