Education at Coleg Plas Dwbl
Through craft and land-based activities, pupils develop resilience, responsibility, and a strong sense of community. The use of natural materials and outdoor learning environments supports pupils’ physical and emotional well-being, with drama and art further enriching this holistic approach, helping students build confidence, communication skills, and self-awareness.
The curriculum
The biodynamic farm offers a wealth of natural materials that are used in the traditional crafts including clay for pottery, slate and stone, and wool from the sheep, and the signature craft at Coleg Plas Dwbl is Textiles using the wool from the sheep on the farm and from the sheep at other Trust sites. Greenwood work is another key craft with the intention that students make a Welsh backed chair as part of their college course. Students start with felling trees in the woodlands and sawing and splitting the logs to prepare them for the wood working. They may start by making simple rolling pins, garden dibbers and three legged stool. Once they have mastered the technics, they are supported to make their own chair using traditional Welsh methods. In addition to Textiles and Green Woodworking, students can participate in Pottery, Iron Age Forge, Basket Making and Jewellery Making.
Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG)
Careers Lead: Emma Bowles
Contact: Emma.Bowles@plasdwbl.rmt.org
Ruskin Mill Trust’s vision is that each student is on a journey towards ‘self-generated conscious action.’ Drawing on the visions and values of the Trust, Coleg Plas Dwbl understands careers in its widest sense – how individuals can make a meaningful contribution to society based on their unique talents, abilities and aspirations. This is the guiding principle that informs our approach to CEIAG.
Learners at Coleg Plas Dwbl complete meaningful work, with skills for adult life and preparation for adulthood built into the PSTE curriculum. Students experience an environment reflecting the world of work, where they learn to work safely with tools and in different weather conditions, developing transferable skills in preparation for their next steps beyond college. Preparing for adulthood outcomes including work readiness, community inclusion and managing health and wellbeing, are also achieved through topics integrated into sessions such as healthy eating, healthy relationships and managing emotions.
Our CEIAG curriculum has been developed in line with the eight Gatsby benchmarks for ensuring best practice:
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each student
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experience of work places
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
It aims to ensure that our students, where appropriate, are able to access the independent information and guidance they need to help them choose pathways that are right for them, and to be able to manage their life choices beyond college. Our careers programme includes: employer engagement activities and experiences, social enterprise sessions, internal and external work experience, and independent advice and guidance alongside a bespoke study programme implemented by a student’s Education, Health and Care Manager.
Students are able to engage in external work placements within the timetable, pursuing their interests in line with their aspirations. Sessions build towards a student completing an outward facing programme within their transition year, to best prepare for them for the next stage in their adulthood.
Outdoor Learning
Coleg Plas Dwbl is located at the foot of the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales. The 100 acre biodynamic farm started as a retirement project for four remarkable women who spent their days working the land, creating structures and caring for their livestock.
The farm was passed on to Ruskin Mill Trust in 2010 and Trust staff and students have carried on the traditions. The site is located 2 miles from Mynacholg-ddu and 5 miles from Crymych, where there are local shops and cafes. Across from the entrance to the site is Gors Fawr Stone Circle, which is a historical landmark dating back to 2500 BC.
The 100 acre site includes a market garden, woodland, larch woods, and fields. Students work on the farm year round in all weathers, caring for the cows, sheep, goats and chickens, and growing and harvesting vegetables in the market garden and polytunnels. Students are involved in all aspects of the animal care, including collecting eggs from the hens, moving the animals from field to field, feeding and checking their health. Through this work, they develop a sense of empathy and develop their own self care. The work in the gardens provides opportunities to learn about growing cycles, nutrition and working with the seasons. The seasonal rhythms, reinforced through the festivals, provide a connection with time and place. The food produced on the site is used in the canteen and the residential households, as well as in a box scheme and sold in local grocery shops.
Fundamental British Values
At Ruskin Mill Trust colleges, we actively promote positive, inclusive values. These include democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect for and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. We believe British values are those values expected of anyone living in Britain, regardless of their nationality, culture or religious belief.
Our ethos, curriculum and purpose reflects these values. We place great emphasis on building positive relationships in college, amongst the students themselves and between staff and students. We strongly believe students should not merely be taught such values but that they are embedded into school life.
- We value inclusive learning and living activities that integrate practical activity, thinking and our emotions.
- We value mutual respect and we strive to understand all people’s differences and uniqueness.
- We value the capacity for re-imagination present in all people, towards positive change and development.
- We value openness, goodwill, tolerance and treating individuals with dignity and respect.
- We strive to support our students to develop into confident, happy, successful young adults who have empathy towards and an understanding of those less fortunate than themselves.
The Fundamental British Values Policy reflects how our schools work to promote positive values through the ethos and life of the college, for example through a rich and deep curriculum (Practical Skills Therapeutic Education), and through social, moral, cultural and spiritual development.