Triumph for hair and beauty apprentices

One of the hair and beauty students at Hopwood Hall College

Hopwood Hall College has a highly successful Hair and Beauty division which has entered into partnership with Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and local high schools to develop and implement a variety of Hair and Beauty progammes for 14-16 year olds.

At a recent ‘health check’ conducted by the Local Authority School Improvement Team, the Hair and Beauty progammes received outstanding feedback, so much so that the College were asked to share their good practice across the consortium.

The College was also recently selected from 1500 schools and colleges across the country, to gain the Rolls Royce Science Award for their forward-thinking and innovative approach to learning. They have been commended for structuring all of their 14-16 programmes with local needs and economic demands in mind.

One of their greatest accomplishments is the Young Apprenticeship Programme which they have been offering in Rochdale schools; this has had 100% success rate with all learners achieving 5 GCSE’s, grades A or B.

This has not only boosted the schools’ achievement records, but has given these young people the employability skills and understanding of the industry needed for future development.

In fact, ten of these learners progressed straight from school into full time employment within local salons.

Vice Principal Janet Meenaghan explains “We also focus on the learners’ personal and social skills which enable them to progress into the work force with high aspirations and a fantastic ethos to work.

Overall, our provision for 14-16 is of outstanding quality and whilst we celebrate our learners’ successes we are continually striving to improve on our practice and work with local partners and businesses to ensure the future generation is receiving the best possible start.”