Shrewsbury Colleges Group has been recognised for its work during the covid pandemic by being shortlisted for the ‘Entrepreneurial Spirit Award’ at Shropshire Chamber Champion Awards.
The College was nominated for the award by Dave Courteern, Founder & Director of the Mosaic Group, for the work it has done in helping students, the community, the NHS and other health organisations, following the UK lockdown.
The award celebrated a business which has recognised the need to create a ‘new normal’ in challenging times and plant the seeds of growth in exciting new directions. The criteria included:
- Evidence of innovation, vision and strategy
- Reasons for diversification
- Sound business and financial planning.
Mr Courteen said: “One of our partners is the Shrewsbury Colleges Group, as we manage and operate the Sports Centre at their London Road site. I nominated the College and believe it is a worthy champion.
“The College ran an ongoing ‘Thank You’ campaign from the start of lockdown, featuring current and past students who currently work for the NHS. The individuals were publicly featured and thanked on the College’s social media channels.
“During the week-long national ‘Year of the Nurse and Midwife’, the College ran a specific campaign featuring interviews with staff and students who have taken this career path and are working so hard right now and created a special video.
“Many of the College staff and students got involved in the making and supplying of PPE and other equipment to the NHS and other organisations who desperately needed them.
“The College has been providing regular updates to parents, students, businesses and the wider public via its website to ensure total clarity is given on how the College is handing the pandemic and the Principal appeared on BBC Radio Shropshire discussing how the College is still here for its current students and those hoping to start in September.
“The College also ran a special campaign on social media to offer advice and signposting regarding mental health, in line with mental health awareness week.”
Ahead of the virtual awards ceremony, James Staniforth, Principal of Shrewsbury Colleges Group said the College was “delighted” to have been shortlisted for the award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, which was won by Shoothill, multi-award-winning custom software developers in Shrewsbury.
He said: “It means a huge amount to be recognised by the Shropshire business community through the Chamber. We’d like to congratulate Shoothill on a worthy win. It was great to see so many businesses and organisations pull together to help during this time of need.
“This has been a challenging time for everybody. I think the way we have responded to the new norm by ensuring we put in place the building blocks for future recovery, through making sure students aren’t left behind, through making sure we serve businesses, through moving over to a really effective remote model of learning overnight and offering advice and guidance and assessment, all of which we did overnight, has been representative of the flexibility that comes with further education colleges.
“And actually, is about that entrepreneurial spirit, that desire to respond, innovate and be creative in really challenging times.
“We are really pleased that the work that staff have done for our students, for the community, for our employers has been recognised in this way.”