Truro & Penwith College scoops top award for beauty apprenticeships

Truro & Penwith College has been recognised as the best provider of hair and beauty apprenticeships in the UK.

The College scooped the Hair & Beauty Apprenticeship Provider of the Year accolade at the 2020 AAC Apprenticeship Awards, organised by FE Week and the Association of Education & Learning Providers.

Students celebrate the announcement of the college as a finalist

Sarah Brenton-Sara, lecturer in Level 2 & 3 Nail Services & Beauty Therapy at the college, reveals that the awards celebrates the best apprenticeship providers and employers in the UK. “Truro & Penwith College was shortlisted alongside Wales-based ISA Training, which finished as runner up in the coveted award category.”

Hayley McKinstry, programme team leader for hair, beauty & complementary Therapies at Truro & Penwith College, adds: “It is an honour to have won this national award. It showcases the hard work and dedication that the team put into the delivery and support offered throughout our apprenticeship provision.

“The award also highlights the tremendous effort the team has put in to maintain an outstanding level of quality for each learner and every employer, throughout a period where numbers have grown considerably.”

Truro & Penwith College’s hair and beauty department is one that has been at the forefront of its growth, with a 1125% increase in student numbers over five years.

The award win comes in the same term that the college’s hair and beauty department unveiled new salons and training rooms, which have undergone a significant investment and modernisation programme. The college’s nomination also highlighted its partnership approach; working with local employers and awarding body, VTCT.

National recognition for the college’s hair & beauty apprenticeships comes just months after the latest data published by the Department for Education (DfE) demonstrated that achievement rates for all apprenticeship programmes place Truro & Penwith College in the top 10% of all 173 college providers nationally, with achievement rates more than 12% above the national average of all providers in the UK.

The college also received exceptional scores from 452 Cornish employers who took part in in the DfE’s Employer Satisfaction Survey in November. The results of the survey ranked the college as one of the top apprenticeship providers in the south west with an employer satisfaction rating of 97.1%.

www.truro-penwith.ac.uk