AYRSHIRE College is celebrating winning a top award at a national ceremony earlier this month.

The college took home the Health and Wellbeing award at the 25th annual College Development Network (CDN) Awards.

The college won with its trauma-informed practice (TIP) based Building Future Pathways project.

It was also Highly Commended in the Employer Connection category, acknowledging its relationship with new high voltage subsea cabling manufacturer XLCC.

The CDN Awards recognise the talent, innovation and achievement demonstrated by Scotland’s colleges, their staff and their learners.

The Building Future Pathways pilot project was led by the Hairdressing, Beauty, Complementary Therapies and Makeup Artistry (HBCM) department.

(Image: Mark Ferguson) It was a 14-week course targeted at learners at SCQF level 3/4 students who required a more flexible, personalised and nurturing approach to reach their full potential.

Student Kerrie Reader, 17, who took part in the pilot, attended the awards ceremony and has plans to travel the world as a hairdresser.  

She said: “We were all very quiet before, so this course definitely helped with our confidence and helped us find out what we wanted to do next.

"Of course, we were all learning the same things but we all took different bits away from it. It felt like the lecturers were always there for you.”

Angela Sheridan, head of learning for HBCM at Ayrshire College, says the pilot ran from February to June to support learners who were not ready for an August enrolment date.

She explained: “The Building Future Pathways project aimed to meet learners where they were.

"This process began during pre-enrolment where we conducted a phased ‘getting to know you’ needs assessment to gradually build trust and to understand each student’s barriers to engagement.

“This then allowed us to design – with the students’ voices leading the way – a flexible programme structured around wellbeing and vocational skills, blending non-accredited and accredited units.

"Attendance rose by 60 per cent and our qualitative evaluation highlighted significant improvements in students’ wellbeing with most progressing onto further study.

“We are so privileged to do the work we do and to have Kerri, one of our students, collect this award alongside some of our amazing team was really the icing on the cake.”