Student Email Staff Email Moodle
 

Left menu

 

Member Login

 
You are here: Curriculum & Courses > Health & Social Care > Health & Social Care - News > Communication is key for He...

Communication is key for Health & Social Care students

Our 1st year Health and Social Care students are working through an essential unit on communication, putting their skills to the test by welcoming a range of guests to the College to showcase our facilities and friendly students.

The first visitors were pupils from Sandon Primary School. Health and Social Care groups designed sessions themed around Christmas, and encouraged the pupils to take part in some fun and creative activities. Our students worked in pairs with small groups of Sandon pupils, whilst their classmates evaluated the quality of the communication between them.

Another group of school children from Alexander Primary school also visited and took part in activities. One 7 year old commented; ‘I want to go to this college! When I grow up I want to be a teacher! I’m going to teach 4 Languages, English, Welsh, Polish and Japanese’. And who knows by 2020 we might have these courses on offer.

Gill Almond, teacher of Health and Social Care explained why good communication is so important in health and social care careers. ‘Students need to be able to use body language, make eye contact, paraphrase, explain and have empathy. They need to build a trusting relationship with service users.’

3 residents from Fernleigh Residential Home came to visit the college last Monday. Our students took them on a tour of the building, led an activity of making cards and calendars for Christmas and treated them to lunch. The visitors, Keith, Eddie and Nicole were happy to give their honest opinions on the college. Eddie had visited Newcastle College and told us he would be judging which was better, and Keith, who has visited the college previously, was keen to make sure he had a positive experience. After the tours however the feedback was very positive. Our visitors were very complementary on the new college and impressed by the different areas.

These types of activities help develop communication skills and offer a chance to put the theory they have learnt on how to communicate effectively in to practise. Our students were able to choose which group they wished to interact with for the unit so that it gave them more experience in the area they hope to enter with their careers.

We were also treated to a talk about the different volunteering opportunities with in the Baranardo’s organisation. As Health and Social Care is an area where a hand on experience is essential, many of our students jumped at the chance to find out more. A record number of students signed up so watch this space to find out which great projects they get involved with.