West Nottinghamshire College is delighted to have secured a prestigious Silver Award in recognition for its ongoing support for the British Armed Forces community.

The Ministry of Defence awarded the college and other Forces-friendly employers in the East Midlands with the highly-coveted Silver Award of the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme at a ceremony on 2 October.

Uniformed protection services teacher and Reservist in the RAF, Kathryn Corbett joined people from other big-name organisations such as multi-professional consultancy practice Pick Everard and one of Northampton’s largest employers – Kettering General Hospital, to collect the award at the ceremony hosted by gold award holders, Toyota.

The Silver Award goes to employers who have been recognised for outstanding support to Reserves, cadet instructors, military spouses and Forces families. To achieve this, the organisation must have first signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved the Bronze Award.

This week, Kathryn joined principal and chief executive Andrew Cropley, director of human resources Sian Geeson, members of the uniformed protective services curriculum and members of staff who are ex-military and current Reservists, to celebrate the college’s new award.

Andrew, who is a former commander in the Royal Navy, said: “This award is great recognition of how we work well to support those who are in, who aspire to be in, or who have been in the past, in one of our amazing Armed Forces.

“Members of staff who have military backgrounds are excellent role models, who regularly encourage our students to see the Armed Forces as a rewarding career option.

“At West Notts we acknowledge the difficult transition that people face when leaving the Armed Forces to move into careers in the civilian world.

“I faced that challenge after leaving the Royal Navy and worked hard to make the transition. However, I wholeheartedly encourage individuals coming from this background that you really can make a success in a second career.

“As a college we are proud to support our military-qualified staff and make the most of the many talents that they bring to our organisation, so I’m really proud that we have this certificate of recognition and we’re ready to go for gold!

Director of human resources Sian Geeson said: “Having positively shown that we support our defence and Armed Forces communities within the college, we’ll be actively building on these foundations and going for gold!

“We currently support our Reservists by providing additional leave days so that they can continue with additional training, and we also support the Cadet movement.

“It’s always good to see how our defence-trained colleagues work closely with students by taking part in activities and transferring their skills over to them.

“The college will continue to applaud the very transferrable skills that people who have been in the Armed Forces bring to the college and we want to retain this.”

Overall, 542 companies have achieved either the Bronze, Silver or Gold Award in the East Midlands since it was launched 10 years ago, with strong support from the construction, education, healthcare and transportation sectors.

Pictured, back row, are uniformed protective services students (UPS). Front row left to right – UPS programme area leader Simon Humphries, UPS trainee teacher Lee Thompson, UPS teacher Sam Fallows, principal Andrew Cropley, director of HR Sian Geeson, UPS teacher Kathryn Corbett, fabrication and welding knowledge specialist Sean Gilbert and retail, adult and professional studies manager Nick Maidment.