Member Article

Community foundation supports overseas learning for Teesside students

A community foundation with more than 300 years of history is opening up new learning experiences for college students by part-funding their trips to Germany, Romania and the US.

Every year Redcar & Cleveland College students get the opportunity to further their education via a series of overseas excursions. This year healthcare students will visit Romania to work in a local school and orphanage.

Other students will visit a United Nations peace conference in New York and a separate group will travel to Germany to learn about the horrific stories behind World War Two concentration camps in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

The trips have been made possible due to funding from the Sir William Turner Foundation, which has been supporting the education of local students since it was formed in 1692. It has also agreed to provide additional funds that will pay for specialist equipment for plumbing students at the college.

John Chance, acting principal at Redcar & Cleveland College, said: “We are delighted to continue our long association with the Sir William Turner Foundation and we’re extremely grateful for the latest tranche of funding, which will enable our students to experience real-life situations that will enhance their learning. They will also have some excellent material to include on their CVs when they are looking for a job.”

Peter Sotheran from the Sir William Turner Foundation, said: “Our funds are designed to provide facilities, equipment and learning opportunities that are not available through standard curriculum support or statutory funding streams. We’re only too happy to support this year’s crop of students, who will be able to benefit from overseas adventures that for many of them will be a life-changing experience.”

The foundation was created in 1692 by a legacy left by Guisborough-born philanthropist Sir William Turner, who was knighted by King Charles II in recognition of his acts to educate people and support the poor and needy. The foundation created a school in his name to provide free education for young people in the Redcar area.

Eventually the school morphed into Sir William Turner’s Sixth Form College, which then became part of Redcar & Cleveland College. When part of the former sixth form college was sold, the foundation chose to invest its £3.4m equity share of the sale into a project to build a £26m campus on Corporation Road – the college’s current home.

The foundation supports Redcar & Cleveland College projects on a case-by-case basis and typically invests around £10,000-£15,000 each year. It provided funds for several of the college’s recent Celebration of Achievement Awards, which recognise and reward a wide range of student success stories.

For further information, please contact please call 01642 473 132 or visit http://www.cleveland.ac.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Redcar & Cleveland College .