Case Studies
“I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser, its hands on and I get to be creative. After a taster day at Preston College I knew I wanted to come here. The training salon ‘Elements’ is just like a real salon and we get to work on real clients.”
Molly Lightfoot
Hairdressing
“I really enjoy the variety of the topics that we’ve covered on the course and how we link theory based work to our own experiences of sport to complete our assignments. The variety of topics really opened my eyes to how wide sports is, it’s been a great course that has prepared me for degree level study.”
Ethan Tibbs
Sport
Gary started his career as a design engineer and after more than sixteen years working in the construction industry he has returned to college to study a HNC in Construction with the goal to develop knowledge and skills that will take his career to the next level.
“As a design engineer I have found that my role is quite specialised and it can be difficult to find new learning opportunities. The HNC at Preston College is the perfect platform for me to develop knowledge of a wide range of construction topics and demonstrate my capacity to learn. It has already proved invaluable in my current role and I know it will help me secure a promotion in the near future.”
Gary Fisher
HNC Construction – Design Engineer
After completing a BTEC in Sports Science, Sharlene Davis decided on a career in beauty and, after 11 years working in salons, wanted a new challenge and to further her career. In 2012 she embarked upon the QCF teaching qualification with the Introduction to Teaching, followed by a Level 4 Certificate in Teaching.
“I really wanted a new role but enjoyed working in the beauty industry so decided to combine the two and train to teach. It was a little daunting going back to school but as I did the qualification in stages, it meant I grew in confidence with each step.
Sharlene Davis
Certificate of Education – Teacher
Nina turned her passion for dance into a professional career, completing a range of higher level qualifications with Preston College Dance. Joining the first cohort of the BA (hons) Dance Performance, Teaching and Choreography in September 2018, she successfully graduated with high 1st class honours degree, achieving 93% for her dissertation module.
“There are limited dance colleges within the UK that offer both teaching and performance combined courses, with such amazing staff and facilities. For me personally, having completed three years at Preston College Dance, I wouldn’t change it for anything.”
Nina Telford
BA (hons) Dance performance, teaching and choreography – professional dancer
Emma joined Preston College in 2018, studying Level 3 Beauty Therapy and particularly enjoyed the anatomy and physiology modules of the programme. With a natural passion for massage, the following year Emma decided to enrol to the Level 3 Sports Massage course at Preston College.
Since joining this course, Emma has quickly settled in and is already benefitting from the diverse experience from fellow learners and programme leaders.
“Everything I have done on both the Level 3 Beauty Therapy and Level 3 Sports Massage courses has, to date, been beneficial to both my current role and my career development. I look forward to the rest of the year where I will develop my sports massage skills to a higher level, benefiting both my clients and I.”
Emma Walker
Level 3 beauty therapy & Level 3 sports massage – massage therapist
“Preston College has been an intrinsic part of my life and has helped to shape me both personally and professionally. My time as a sports student at Preston College in the late 80’s/early 90’s provided me with the education that I would need in later life and an environment where I thrived as a young adult.
The qualifications I gained during my time as a learner at Preston College allowed me to not only coach in a variety of sports but supported me to progress onto a BSc (Hons) in Sports Rehabilitation. Achieving my degree afforded me the opportunity to spend 10 happy but busy years working as a Sports Therapist in professional football and rugby clubs, including Manchester City FC and Warrington Wolves RLFC. This experience provided me with the confidence to set up clinical practice as well as deal with professional athletes on a daily basis, as I was in the classroom with future Olympians who were already living the athlete lifestyle.”
Janine Garcia
Sport