Inspire 2 Aspire

26/09/2026

Exeter and North Devon Colleges Group launches new website!

In January this year, Exeter College merged with North Devon College, forming the Exeter and North Devon Colleges Group.

We are proud to unveil the Group's official website, which will be a central source of information about the Group and how it will support communities and create opportunities for the whole of Devon.

Find out more and start exploring the website today: https://endc.ac.uk/?utm_source=ec_social&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=endc_web_comms

26/09/2026

Exeter College dates are now available too….. the link to register is below for you:

https://exe-coll.ac.uk/open-events/

25/09/2026

….. and so the cycle starts again! Year 11 students will be starting to consider (if they haven’t done so already!), what they would like to do when they leave school next year. There are several establishments that they could attend if they are considering full~time education, each of which is starting to advertise their Open Days, to help you decide.
First one below.

19/08/2026

Good luck to all the students collecting their results tomorrow!

13/08/2026

Good luck to all those students receiving their results today.
Just remember though in case you didn’t get the grades that you needed……

28/07/2026

LONG post….. sorry and my own views!
Having been involved in careers work for almost 40 years now, I have seen many changes which obviously impacts guidance. Each time an initiative is introduced however, there seems to be an issue trailing behind…. YTS was introduced in September 1983 aimed at 16- and 17-year-old school leavers and offered a mix of practical work experience and off-the-job training. Seemed like a good idea at the time, however the scheme was abandoned in 1989 following widespread criticism particularly cheap labour accusations and low progression rates (there were a few good ones!).
YT and Modern Apprenticeships followed in the 1990’s and then in 2004 these were simplified and streamlined to make them more accessible.
2010 saw the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships and Degree Apprenticeships arrived in 2015 albeit in limited areas of work.
Coupled with this we had T Levels (2020) and now V Levels rolling out in 2027.
Today’s news sees local, career-focused technical pathways for pupils aged 14 and older which are set to begin in September 2028, the plan aims to tackle youth unemployment aka NEETS. Have I missed something, as I thought that was the plan in the 1990’s?
The common denominator in all of these options is the lack of proper funding though and maybe a little more long term planning would help too!
My concern is the total confusion that this is causing both students and parents /carers, due to the wide range of options available, many of which haven’t been tried and tested yet.
Rant over!

28/07/2026

Apologies for the lack of posts recently….. normal service is now resumed! 😊
With exam result days looming on the horizon for Years 11, 12 and 13, if you haven’t done it yet, now is the time to look at the choices that you have already made, to enable you to progress along your career path and decide if you are still interested/they are the correct choices.
Much more important though is ‘just in case’ you don’t the grades that you need to get on your courses, do you have a back-up plan in place? Remember that not all courses offer their subjects at different levels though. I worked with a few students last year and posed the back-up question to them (they had applied to do A Levels ~ Level 3). Their answer was ‘……. If we don’t get the grades, we’ll just study A Levels at Level 2…..’ They genuinely had no idea that it was not possible to do that and this then led on to what would they then do, as Level 2 courses are in vocational areas, not subjects. If this was you in this situation, what would you do? 🤔

01/07/2026

For any HE students who have taken out a student loan, this article is well worth a read.

Over 70,000 graduates repaying Plan 2 loans have had either too much or too little interest added to their balances due to recent technical issues, the Student Loans Company has confirmed. If you're affected, you WON'T be left out of pocket, and the amount you repay each month – which is based on ...

17/06/2026

So with both GCSE and A Level exams finishing shortly (26th June/23rd June), it is important to make sure that you all have a break at some point before you start to climb the next rung on the ladder towards your future career path. A Level/BTec Level 3 results will be out on Thursday 13th August and GCSE/BTec Level 1/2 on Thursday 20th August.
For the first time ~ assuming your school is ‘participating’ in the scheme ~ GCSE results will now be available on the new Government backed Education Record app, but remember as I mentioned in a previous post, that results will not be uploaded on this app until 11 am that day.
In the meantime, are you confident that you have made the correct choices for HE and FE courses and ‘employment?’ Do you know what you want to do? Research is key, so spare a moment at some point to check that you are happy with your choices….. and more importantly that they are the correct ones!

07/04/2026

Further information issued this morning, on the ever confusing world of student loans and finance…….

The cap on Plan 2 and postgraduate loan interest rates comes amid a risk of rising inflation.