Professional Cookery, Culinary Arts, Hospitality and Restaurant Service
Are you interested in working on board cruise ships, superyachts, in international hotels or Michelin-starred restaurants? Or you may want to set up your own hospitality business. These are just some of the opportunities offered to you in the hospitality industry.
The hospitality and culinary arts industry is one of the largest industries in the UK, with a wealth of job opportunities available at home and abroad. Career paths include chefs, food and drink service, hotel management, events management, restaurant management, bakers and patisserie chefs, contract catering, product development and food manufacturing.
The College runs busy training restaurants offering the highest level of service to the public. These include Themes at Newtown College and Blasus at Neath College. Between them, the restaurants provide table theatre, silver service and a roast of the day carved at the table from a silver trolley. The College also operates a coffee lounge and bakery shop. All outlets serve a range of locally-sourced produce, including beef and lamb reared on the College farm and vegetables and herbs cultivated by the horticulture department.
The Blasus Bakery Academy has been providing bakery training for more than fifty years. With one of the most significant provisions of its kind and the only Bakery Academy in Wales, students can develop skills that enable them to work in the manufacturing and bakery sector.
What will I do?
You will develop practical skills from working within professional kitchens and training restaurants that are open to the public, as well as through opportunities for real-life work experience at local functions and national events. You will learn from established and experienced staff who are qualified in all aspects of the hospitality and catering industry.
Career Opportunities
If you’re looking for a hands-on career with excellent employment opportunities and high demand within the industry, hospitality is definitely a career for you. We have strong links with local and international employers, and there are many opportunities for students to undertake part-time employment alongside their studies.
The College has a reputation for producing highly experienced and qualified students who repeatedly gain recognition at culinary competitions across the UK. Many students have gone on to positions all over the world, with some holding senior positions in local establishments.
Agriculture & Horticulture
Agriculture
Agriculture is more than just farming; it is one of the world’s biggest businesses. There are over 200 different career areas available in agriculture, and presently there is a very high demand throughout the industry for educated, practically skilled and motivated young people.
Approximately 450,000 people work in the UK agricultural industry, of whom almost 300,000 are in managerial or partnership roles within a farming enterprise. Choosing to study agriculture or agricultural engineering will provide a fulfilling and interesting career choice, and it will also open the doors to many other industries, due to the broad education, skills and training that you will experience.
Fronlas Farm at Newtown College operates a 140-hectare upland sheep and beef farm, allowing students to gain up-to-date practical experience reflecting the agriculture industry of mid Wales.
The farm boasts a range of purpose-built classrooms as well as cattle and sheep housing and state of- the-art handling facilities. The farm carries around 150 beef cattle, including a suckler herd and a beef finishing enterprise, and 750 breeding sheep, rearing around 1,200 lambs.
We have a dedicated workshop and facilities for agricultural engineering, ground care and plant. Our welding and fabrication workshop allows students to work with arc, MIG, TIG, aluminium and gas welding.
Newtown College’s Themes Restaurant is supplied with both beef and lamb from the farm. The farm also supplies Sainsbury’s supermarket with lamb throughout the year.
What will I do
Our courses are extremely hands-on and also allow you to gain valuable work in the land-based sector. At College, you will cover areas such as livestock production, crop production, estate maintenance, and tractor and machinery maintenance and operations. These subjects will be delivered by our lecturers who possess extensive industry knowledge of modern production systems as well as cutting-edge IT technologies, including drones and GPS systems. Many of our students progress to higher education either at the College studying the HND in Agriculture course, or at other institutions to study other agriculture-related degrees.
Career Opportunities
On completing an agriculture course, students can choose from a wide range of practical career paths within the UK agricultural sector, including:
- Farm manager
- Livestock manager
- Nutritionist
- Agronomist
- Farm consultant
- Farm inspector
- Agricultural engineer
- Machinery sales and auctioneer
Horticulture and Gardening
Horticulture is a diverse and dynamic industry that includes the commercial production of fruit, vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants, as well as the design, establishment and maintenance of parks, gardens, leisure and sports grounds, open spaces and managed landscapes.
Horticulture is a worldwide industry varying in scale from large multinational companies to small entrepreneurial organisations and companies. Local authorities, botanical gardens and The National Trust are also big employers. At home and abroad, British-trained horticulturists are always in high demand.
We offer a range of horticulture and gardening courses that provide you with the skills, training and knowledge needed to succeed in a career in this sector. With our fantastic facilities, including greenhouses, polytunnels, vegetable gardens, wildflower areas, raised beds and outdoor stock beds filled with an intriguing range of plants, you are sure to enjoy the real outdoor experience.
Planted areas include formal and informal gardens, a wildlife haven and a selection of established mixed beds and borders where you will develop your skills in providing appropriate maintenance to a range of ornamental specimens, while planting new ones along the way. Facilities also include a Mediterranean herb garden and elements of gardens recreated from our successful gold medal-winning gardens at shows around the country.
What will I do?
Lessons combine classwork and practical work, emphasising the wide range of skills needed for employment in the horticulture and gardening industry. As the full-time course is three days a week, you will also have time to undertake your own additional work or experience placements, gaining valuable on-the-job experience.
Students are given the opportunity to develop their enterprise skills through a number of sales activities throughout the year. Students will also enjoy planting and nurturing a range of herbs and vegetables that are freshly picked for serving in the College restaurant.
Career opportunities include:
- Nursery work
- Retail garden centres
- Garden design
- Plant propagation
- Plant production
- Grounds maintenance
- Landscaping
- Organics
- Science
- Education
- Tree surgery
- Self-employment
