MP James Heappey opens Strode College mock hospital ward

The facility, at Strode College in Street, features a birthing unit, nursing station and dispensary.

It was officially opened this week by Wells MP James Heappey, as part of the Love our Colleges Week ‘Engage your MP’ initiative.

Mr Heappey, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for the Armed Forces, toured the state-of-the-art facilities and meeting young people studying new Health and Science T Levels.

Strode College was successful in a bid for a £650,000 grant from the Government’s T Level Capital Fund, which allowed the development of the high-quality, industry-standard facilities.

The ward will also be equipped with new interactive mannequins, which can be used in simulation-based medical learning by creating realistic scenarios, including treating strokes, heart attacks and pain, via electronic cards inserted on the back of their neck.

Meanwhile, for T Level Science students, a new, purpose-built laboratory will allow them to start developing their laboratory skills.

Mr Heappey said “I was honoured to be able to open this brand new hospital ward and laboratory at Strode College.

"I am so impressed with these fantastic facilities and great to see the excellent educational work ongoing in Somerset.

"Strode has been leading the way with the newly-introduced T-Levels and the progress they have made in a short space of time is remarkable and hugely beneficial to students here in Somerset.”

Terri Clemo, vocational manager at the college, said: “We are really excited about the addition of our new hospital ward, dispensary, nursing station and brand new science lab as these will enrich learners’ professional development and prepare them for their chosen careers.

"They will be able to develop clinical and non-clinical skills in state of the art, industry standard environments.”

Katy Quinn, principal and CEO, said: “I am incredibly proud of what the staff and students at Strode have achieved.

"The official opening of our new T Level facilities for Health and Science is a key milestone in the launch of these new, high quality technical qualifications.

"We are delighted to have had such a successful start to our T Level journey, which will continue to be rolled out over the coming years.

"Strode College has a long, established reputation for outstanding academic provision; we must also ensure young people have access to the highest quality technical education too. It’s important that our courses prepare students for employment, leading into strong careers, as well as courses which provide excellent routes into university.

"Our offer of A Levels and vocational and technical courses mean our students have that choice.”

And Ziggi Keill-Griffin, T-levels teaching and learning development manager, said: “We are really proud of how the Science T Level lab has turned out.

"The combined efforts of Science Teachers and Technicians and the Architects with the help of the Estates and IT team have allowed us to produce something quite special and of a high specification.

"The lab was designed to replicate a real working laboratory environment and has been kitted out with a wide range of high spec kit including the custom built, mobile fume cupboard, industrial fridge freezer, full set of high quality oil immersion microscopes, various analytical testing kits, a mass spectrometer and incubation chamber to name but a few.

"We are hopeful that this lab design will really help professionally prepare our T level students for their laboratory based work placements with Southwest Pathology Services later in the academic year and also for their future Scientific careers.

"Both the new laboratory and secured work placements will really help put Strode College on the map for the Health and Science T Level courses”.  

Strode College will welcome all students interested in studying T Levels to attend Open Evenings, on November 18 this year and February 10 2022.

To book in and to take a tour, visit www.strode-college.ac.uk/events.