Bridgwater & Taunton College (BTC) has celebrated its teaching, support and administrative staff with an awards ceremony.

Colleagues at the College nominated teams and individuals for eight different awards. The nominations then went to a panel of judges consisting of BTC Governors. The winners were announced at a ceremony held in Taunton.

Three team awards were presented. The BSc (Hons) Animal Management & Wildlife Conservation team received the Teaching Team award, while the Team Award for Outstanding Customer Service went to the staff at the Bridgwater campus Costa Coffee. The Support Team award went to the Wellbeing team, which supports students by offering a friendly and safe space to talk and helps signpost learners to other teams and services such as counselling and careers advice.

The BTC Apprentice of the Year was Fleur Cooper, a former Haygrove School pupil. Fleur is a Level 3 Business Administration apprentice who works with the HR teams at Bridgwater and Cannington campuses. She progressed to the Level 3 qualification after completing the Level 2 programme. Fleur said

I was truly delighted to receive the BTC Apprentice of the Year award at my first Star Awards event and would like thank everybody who nominated me. I am very grateful for the continuous support I have received from my brilliant colleagues at BTC throughout the entirety of my apprenticeship and how it has allowed me to progress onto my new role as HR Administrator, which I thoroughly enjoy and I am privileged to work within such a great team.

Lindsay Benham, Course Leader for Automotive and Engineering, was presented with the Inspirational Teacher award, while Learning Resources Assistant Maryam Abolghassemi received the Making a Difference award. The Outstanding Individual Contribution award went to Mel Bell, Head of Operations for A Levels, Arts & Professional Studies. Course Leader for Automotive Darren Winn was given the Inspirational Support for Students award.

Darren said

I was blown away when announced as the winner of Inspirational Support to Students Award. This was very overwhelming and made me so proud to hear the comments on how much of an impact I had made on my students. As a teacher we do our best to go above and beyond for our learners. I do this as I see it as my job to but when you hear how much you have impacted or changed someone’s life with doing a lot more than just teaching them their vocational course, it then makes you realise that we have done more than just doing our job. This was my first Star Awards so to be announced not only on the short list for two categories but also win one was just amazing for me.

For more information about becoming part of the team at BTC, visit the Working for Us page.