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Northampton College has added a number of new full-time courses to its range of Construction Engineering courses for September 2018. These are in addition to the courses listed in the Full-time prospectus which include Electrical Installations, Building Services Engineering, Civil Engineering and Plumbing.

As well as skilled trades learned through full-time Study Programmes or Apprenticeships, you will be able to access pathways that lead to careers in civil engineering and built environment project management.

Our Study Programmes are challenging, innovative and focus on developing the skills needed for the most up to date construction and engineering technologies. They’re about architecture as well as construction, and creating and building places to make them the best they can be. These are the skills of the future and ones that employers are desperate for.

For example, students who join our carpentry and joinery course will work closely with our art department to produce theatre and film sets used in local and national productions.

Our course provides real opportunity for careers in industry as architects, surveyors, engineers and interior designers, to name but a few.

Further detail about these courses can be found by clicking on the links below.

Level 1 Construction Maintenance

Level 1 Painting and Decorating/Interior Design

Level 2 Painting and Decorating/Interior Design

Level 1 Carpentry and Joinery/Theatre and Film Set Production

Level 2 Carpentry and Joinery/Theatre and Film Set Production

 

GCSEs in England are being reformed and will be graded with a new scale from 9 to 1, with 9 being the highest grade. English literature, English language and maths will be the first subjects to be graded in this way from August 2017. The subjects with the highest numbers of candidates (e.g. arts, humanities, languages) will follow in 2018 and most others in 2019. This is happening as GCSEs are being reformed to make them more challenging, to keep pace with employers’ and universities demands.

In the first year each new GCSE subject is introduced, students who would have got a grade C or better will get a grade 4 or better. Students who would have got a grade A or better will get a 7 or better in the first year. Grade 9 will be more difficult to achieve than a grade A*. The extra top grade will also make it easier for employers and universities to distinguish between the most able students.

In 2017, students collecting their results will receive a mixture of the old style grades and the new numerical system. By 2019, all pupils will be graded with a 9-1.

Students currently taking GCSEs as part of a full-time study programme at Northampton College will be graded using the current A* to G system in summer 2017. Part-time or evening students will be amongst the first to receive the numbered grades.

To see how the numbered grades compare to the current A* to G system, click here or Google "Ofqual 9 to 1 postcard". More information about when subjects will switch to the new grades is available on the Ofqual website here.

Find out more about how grades will be awarded by watching this short animation.

Adam Fitch studied digital film making (HND) at Northampton College and now owns and run his own film making company in Northamptonshire.

The 28-year-old, whose main focus in music videos, credits the College with his choice of career, which now takes him all across the world.

“When I signed up for digital film making I never thought I would actually choose it as a career,” said Adam, whose company is called Incline Creative Media. “My intention was to do the course, enjoy it and then do a top up year at university to become a primary school teacher.

“Within the first few months though I had a dramatic u turn. I loved everything about film making, rented College equipment at weekends, made contacts in the film world and bought all my own gear so I could take on an increasing amount of freelance work.”

So successful was Adam that even during his two year HND course, which he started aged 23, he was commissioned to work on projects in California and all across the UK.

“Before joining Northampton College I was doing all kinds of manual work but nothing that excited me,” said Adam. “I couldn’t get a job I really wanted and knew I needed qualifications to make a real change. After my HND I did a top up year at The University of Northampton to get a degree, something I wanted to have as a back-up.”

Adam set up Incline Creative Media a year ago. His most recent project has been shooting a short documentary in America about a transgender man preparing for surgery.

Adam said: “I hope this will be aired in the UK so watch this space. Film making is so rewarding. The money is great, the freedom is amazing and I get to travel all over the world. What more could I want?”