News
Emma Brannen Joins The Sandwell Colleges as Senior Vice Principal, Quality and Student Success
The Sandwell Colleges is delighted to announce the appointment of Emma Brannen as Senior Vice Principal, Quality and Student Success. Emma brings a wealth of experience in further education, having served as Vice Principal Quality at Stoke-on-Trent College.
During her tenure at Stoke-on-Trent College, Emma was instrumental in driving curriculum development and quality assurance, ensuring students achieved exceptional outcomes. Her leadership has been widely recognised, including overseeing national award-winning projects that celebrated participation and inclusivity.
Emma is also well known for her community-focused work, having served on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board for Stoke City Football Club. Her contributions have inspired confidence and inclusion across local communities, particularly through initiatives empowering women and girls.
In her new role, Emma will focus on enhancing curriculum strategies and maintaining the highest standards of quality across The Sandwell Colleges’ programmes, including Sandwell College, Cadbury Sixth Form College and Central Saint Michael’s Sixth Form campuses. She will work closely with staff and stakeholders to ensure the College continues to deliver exceptional education and training opportunities for all learners and employers across the West Midlands, fostering an environment that promotes success for all.
Emma commented on her new position, saying: “I am thrilled to join The Sandwell Colleges, which is renowned for its commitment to learners and community impact. I look forward to working with the team to build on its successes and drive further innovation and excellence.”
Lisa Capper MBE, CEO and Principal of The Sandwell Colleges, said: “We are proud to welcome Emma to The Sandwell Colleges. Her experience, leadership and dedication to educational excellence align perfectly with our vision to support all learners, apprentices and our community. Emma’s expertise will undoubtedly strengthen our senior leadership team as we continue to grow.”
Emma joins Asa Gordon, Deputy Principal Curriculum and Skills, who was appointed in November. Emma’s appointment marks another exciting milestone for The Sandwell Colleges as it continues its mission to deliver outstanding learning opportunities to over 12,000 students annually.
Students’ Generous Donations to Salvation Army
Generous students from Cadbury Sixth Form College’s Inclusive Learning department delivered a collection of donated gifts to the Salvation Army.
These donations were gathered by dedicated staff and students, reflecting their commitment to supporting the local community during the holiday season.
Additional Learning Support Manager and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, Siân Whitehouse, said: “This initiative highlights the values of inclusivity, compassion, and teamwork that we strive to instil in our students. It was a meaningful experience for everyone involved, and we are incredibly proud of their efforts.”
It’s a Wrap! Rewind Cadbury 2024
It’s been a whirlwind year for Cadbury Sixth Form College. Let’s catch up on the highlights and look back on our top 5 moments of 2024!
- New Developments: we opened our brand new £6.6 million Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) Centre to the very first Cadbury students. The STEM centre aims to ensure we can offer the widest choice of courses across Birmingham, and has dedicated suites for Digital Media, Health and Computer Aided Design (CAD).
- Partnerships: Birmingham Hippodrome will give Cadbury learners exclusive work experience opportunities, BTS access to theatre productions and companies, and special appreciation of what goes into set construction and assembly, scenic painting and prop-making at one of the city’s biggest theatre brands.
- SafeHaven will empower young people through creative arts, sports, and community-building activities, including multi-sports, music production, drama, console gaming, and Warhammer. Workshops will also feature hip-hop, graffiti, and drawing sessions led by Creative Birmingham Arts Therapy UK, encouraging creativity and cultural expression, with free entry for ages 13-17.
- Summer Unity Fest: we hosted Cadbury Culture Day for everyone to unite, reflect and have fun. We were also the first college in the region to thank our local community with food and friendship by hosting the Big Community Lunch, which was attended by The King’s representative.
- Disneyland Paris: Cadbury Performing Arts students sang a medley of classic Disney songs live on the Videopolis Stage to an audience of 300.
- Chartered Status: We’re proud to finish the year with our official Membership to The Chartered Institution for Further Education (CIFE). We were granted this prestigious Chartered Status at the historic Apothecaries’ Hall in the City of London, recognising us as a leading provider of education and skills training.
Join us as we look ahead to 2025 under the exciting fresh direction of our new Group CEO and Principal Lisa Capper MBE. We look forward to seeing you at one of our first open days of the New Year!
Older News & Event Articles
The Titan Award finalists have been announced for 2023 – and one of the nominees for Further Education/Higher Education Student of the Year is from Cadbury Sixth Form College!
Zainab Mallah is an A Level Science student at Cadbury.
Here’s why she was nominated by her personal tutor Emily Broome:
“Zainab is a conscientious, kind-hearted, caring student who holds a real maturity beyond her years and always treats both staff and students with an incredible amount of respect and kindness. Zainab is very well liked and willingly gets involved in group discussions and speaks out appropriately if she has any concerns. She willingly supports those around her and has volunteered for open days as a student tour guide, supported fundraisers and petitions and has been involved with external companies such as SafeUp. She also started her own Medicine and Healthcare Society and always supports her peers with genuine care and enthusiasm.”
Emily added: “Zainab is a genuine delight and always makes me smile and brightens my day! I really hope her nomination will provide her confidence and allow her to see how truly hard-working and special she is! She is a credit to our college and an outstanding role model to our students! Our college truly wishes her the best of luck in her nomination and her future, I have no doubts that she will excel in everything she does!”
The winners will be announced at the upcoming Titan Awards & Charity Dinner in July at Aston University, and each will receive a trophy, framed certificate and Amazon gift voucher.
Good luck Zainab!
We were delighted to host Group Captain Deputy Lieutenant Ian Sargeant OBE today for our Big Coronation Party and tree planting ceremony.
Many of our staff and students have been making big preparations for this event to commemorate the historic Coronation of King Charles III.
Creating colourful bunting and learning about the significance and history of the Monarchy, students also enjoyed Coronation-inspired cakes and games and sang celebratory songs live on stage.
Royal representative Group Captain Sargeant, who is also a Queen’s Honorary Surgeon, joined in with the celebrations and met members of staff and students, before helping Head of Curriculum Ian Vogel to plant a commemorative tree in the campus grounds.
The Lord-Lieutenant, Sir John Crabtree OBE, who attended the Coronation on Saturday, is appointed by the King to represent him in the region and attend events and activities on his behalf.
He said: “The Coronation is really bringing people together to celebrate and get involved in some amazing projects. You can feel the excitement mounting across the region and there is a wonderful community spirit with many people volunteering for the first time to support their community.”
The West Midlands is the second largest Lieutenancy in England and Wales supporting nearly 3 million people across seven local authorities of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.
The Lieutenancy is active across the community supporting projects and initiatives that benefit the community and it helps recognise people through the Honours awards. It also coordinates Royal Visits and acts as a connection between the civic, military, religious, armed forces and emergency services.
The Lieutenancy is involved in a number of events that will be held across the region for the Coronation.
We asked our Digital Design and Production T Level students what they were enjoying most about their course so far, and to tell us a bit about themselves. Here’s what they had to say:
Abas – The reason why I have chosen this T Level course is because I believe it teaches me everything to send me in the right direction to become a software developer. Since the start of college, we have learnt a lot such as python, HTML and SQL. The teachers are also pushing us to work hard in building websites during our lessons and to do research at home. The course offers us the opportunity of a work placement to learn first-hand how the work environment is. My hobbies include playing basketball, reading and spending quality time with family.
Haneef – My experience of the new T Level Digital Production course I am taking has been excellent. I have expanded my knowledge of Computer Science and understanding of the Digital World, additionally I have learnt many core skills such as using tools from the Creative Cloud and Microsoft Office. I would highly recommend this course for anyone looking to go into any computer related career such as Web Design, Software Engineering and Cyber Security. It is a great environment and I couldn’t ask for more. The amazing support I get from my lecturers has really helped prepare me for any future industry placements.
Hassan – I have chosen this course as it will help me achieve my ultimate career goal of becoming a software engineer at Google, Facebook and TESLA. I have already learned a lot, like how to use CMS software Drupal. I have also learned a lot of different coding languages including python, JavaScript, HTML, SQL, CSS and PHP. My teachers are good and have real-world experience in the field of STEM and building websites for clients. We have learned how to use applications like Photoshop and InDesign to create the front end of a website. This course will help me achieve my future career goals because it offers me the opportunity of a work placement to learn first-hand what it is like to work in the software industry and how it operates. I’m enjoying this course because it’s helping me to understand how games, websites and apps are built. It also teaches us how to create and maintain databases with advanced security, plus how to build a really well functioning website and how to add good security features to prevent it crashing and breaking down. My hobbies are going to the gym, gaming and helping my brother build computers.
Shahzeb – Since this course became part of my schedule, I’ve come to understand how committed and enthusiastic I am about this subject. This T Level is excellent because it opens doors to careers in the digital industries, including web design, programming, game design, data analytics, software engineering, cybersecurity and many more. Outstanding instructors that have real-world expertise teach the course, which makes it easier and more entertaining. Amazing web design instructor Stuart has expertise creating websites for paying customers. I’ve learned how to design a website front end using Photoshop and InDesign. My career goal is to learn how to operate the (CMS software) Drupal and also learn the different computer languages such as python, JavaScript, SQL, CSS, HTML and PHP. I am already very good with computers and how they operate, but this course offers more challenges which is what makes it so attractive and fun. I always wanted to understand and learn how to build/design different games and software, which this course allows me to do. Studying this T Level course opens up a lot of opportunities for me and allows me to work on actual digital projects. This is one of the best courses in Birmingham, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in computers.
If you’d like to find out more about our T Level or Digital courses, register here now for our next Talk & Tours event or Open Day.
