New Academy set to open in September

MANSFIELD, U.K. - June 10, 2015 - PRLog -- Broadcast & Achieve CIC are delighted to announce a new initiative to help shape the futures of local young people with the launch of the Broadcast and Achieve Media Academy.

The Academy will be an extension of our current work and will offer students, predominantly over the age of 16, formal qualifications relevant to the Creative Media industry.

Training provider NCFE will be providing the accreditation and the courses’ final grades are usually the equivalent of a GCSE, A-Level or AS-Level qualification and all carry a Credit Value for further Education such as University.

Broadcast And Achieve’s Media Academy will operate 39 weeks per year (term time) but will adopt a unique learning method making it stand out against other Colleges, Sixth Forms and Schools. Students will essentially ditch the text books and be allocated job roles, working within the organisation to provide a range of media related products to clients.

The first course to be run will be a Level 3 Diploma in Creative Media for Radio, we are encouraging young people that are about to or have already left school to get involved and shape their future in a more creative and hands on environment which will enable each student to express themselves and make the tough transformation into Adult life and the working world a lot smoother.

Recently we conducted some market research on local sixth forms and colleges and were shocked to report that of the twelve researched locally, only five actually offer courses at A/AS-Level in Media Studies, none of those courses are industry specific and only one (West Notts College) has dedicated areas, such as video and audio editing suites (some of which aren’t used according to other research). Another five of those schools/colleges do not offer media at A/AS-Level and the other remaining two had no accessible information available.

Along with the study of schools and colleges, we also spoke to a number of students that are about to “leave” school following their GCSE’s – those that we spoke too were students that wanted to have a future career in media however were mainly put off by a lack of industry specifics or couldn’t find a suitable study option available to them (either having to travel to another place or were unable to fit around other subjects of interest).

At the Broadcast & Achieve Media Academy, we have three main aims to change this situation, they are:

1)      To provide career and industry specific courses relating to the industry that have the same accreditation value to GCSE & A-Level

2)      To “teach” these courses in a completely different way by giving students real life hands on experience, working with industry experienced tutors and mentors

3)      To work as closely as possible with schools and colleges to ensure that, if a student does want to study more than one subject, we can make that happen as smoothly and as cooperatively as humanly possible.

In addition, it is also our intention to help students build up enough industry experience to find work placements and forge a successful career within which ever sector they choose.

The Broadcast And Achieve Media Academy will be predominantly project funded which will allow us as a company to give students a place on the scheme free of charge, it will also allow us to employ people with real wide variety of industry experience which is pivotal to our success.

As mentioned, the first course we will be starting will be a Level 3 Diploma in Creative Media for Radio – we have an initial eight places available for full time study starting in September on a course which will last one year (39 learning weeks). Students will become full time Broadcast Journalists and will work as Presenters, Producers, News & Sports Journalists and much more across the course, both individually and in small groups in our professional in house radio station, Educate FM.

Entrants must be Aged 16 and over and MUST have a keen interest in the Media Interest with a big focus on Radio Broadcasting and Production. Entrants do NOT need any GCSE Qualifications in Functional Skills as specialist training will be provided if the student in question gets below a C grade.

We also want to hear from students wishing to study A-Level Media but are facing problems such as the subject not being on offer or not being able to fit it in with other subjects etc.

The Level 3 Diploma is the equivalent of an A & AS-Level qualification and is worth up to 60 UCAS Credits.

Those wishing to take part should call head of centre Craig Priest on 07449 541 902 or email craig.priest@broadcastandachieve.co.uk – Further courses focusing on other areas such as Sports Journalism, Video Production, Product Design and more will be added soon.

Thank you for your time, for interviews or further questions, please contact Craig Priest on 07449 541 902 or email craig.priest@broadcastandachieve.co.uk