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DERWIN COLLEGE AND
PREMIER INN - TRAINING
A NEW GENERATION
I
t has all the comforts and facilities
you would expect from a budget hotel.
But this Premier Inn isn’t open to the
public. Instead it’s helping to train a new
generation of hotel workers.
The training centre at Derwen College
comes complete with a reception area, three
en suite bedrooms and a linen room.
The college, at Gobowen, near Oswestry,
is a specialist centre for young people with
learning difficulties and disabilities.
As well as post-16 education the young
people enjoy work experience in a
commercial campus at the college.
Premier Inn’s on-site ‘hotel’ is the latest
way in which students can enjoy learning new
skills that they can use to find themselves a
career when they leave college.
Visitors to the complex have for many years
been able to enjoy meals in the Orangery
restaurant and in the popular coffee shop.
Meals are designed, cooked and served
by students who go on to enjoy jobs in the
catering trade the garden centre at the
college is also extremely popular with visitors
as is t he more recently opened farm shop
where produce grown in the greenhouses
and the orchard and also created at the
college, such as the award winning jams and
chutneys and homemade bread, are sold.
Students also supply hanging baskets to
companies and individuals and there is also a
busy craft and printing department.
College principal Meryl Green said: “We
are absolutely delighted with this new
Premier Inn development on-site at Derwen
College and excited about the opportunities
it will bring.
“This amazing training facility will enable
increased numbers of students to access
industry-standard training in hospitality
and, ultimately, to improve their chances of
gaining employment after college.
“We are very proud of the unique
partnership we have developed with Premier
Inn over the years and would like to thank
them and Novus for their generosity and
genuine commitment to this project.”
Premier Inn has been working with Derwen
College, since 2013 and a partnership has
formed where students from the college
access local Premier Inn hotels for work
experience opportunities.
The aim is for students to take up work
placements with the chain when they return
back to their home area when they have
finished college.
Premier Inn area manager Tracey Bishop
said: “The new programme will make a real
difference to many lives. Derwen College
will provide somewhere within their own
community for them to learn valuable life
skills, improve their confidence and build
self esteem.
“This partnership between Premier Inn,
Derwen College and Novus demonstrates how
industry and education can work together
for the benefit of everyone, and we have been
amazed by the generosity and willingness of
all of those who have contributed.”
The new training centre is designed as a
real-life work setting for students to learn
housekeeping skills. The centre was created
by a team from Derwen College, Premier
Inn and Novus Property Solutions, the
company which builds and fits out Premier
Inn rooms, which provided all materials and
refurbishment work for free.
Neil Hand, managing director at Novus
Property Solutions, said: “Making a positive
impact in the communities in which we work
is something we place emphasis on and pride
in and it remains the driving force behind our
ambitious Changing Lives programme.
“We wish everyone who attends this
facility the best of luck and hope that they
enjoy training here as much as we enjoyed
helping to create it.”
As well as work experience at the
college, students also enjoy work
experience in the community.
www.derwen.ac.uk/working/work-
experience/premier-inn-training-centre/
Housekeeping management
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