Life is a balancing act between surf and study for Tyneside 16-year-old Louis Thomas-Hudson. But the Queen Alexandra Sixth Form College student has managed to stay afloat with his A-levels while qualifying for the under 18 British surf squad, writes Yasmine Blackman.

“With surfing you can constantly travel, keep fit and have a tan,” says competitive surfer Louis Thomas-Hudson.

The lifestyle certainly sounds idyllic — even if he does most of his training in the freezing North Sea, near his home town Tynemouth, North Tyneside.

The teenager balances his surf passion with A-level studies in media, business and sport at Queen Alexandra Sixth Form College, in North Shields.

He said: “I generally do my coursework around the surf. I work better after a surf anyway. I can always find time to squeeze both in.

“Even though I have been training quite a lot lately, my teachers at college have been brilliant and have given me work to take away with me so that I don’t fall behind.

“They will always let me have time off for all of my surf trips and the training camps that I need to go to.

“They give me work to do either before I go away, or to catch up on when I’m home.”

College head Denise Bolton said: “Despite all of the training sessions here and abroad that Louis has had to attend, he has managed to keep up with his course work.

“He is a very determined young man and we wish him all the best with his surfing career. I am delighted that he has been picked to train with the British squad.”

Louis was selected for the six-man under 18 British surf squad through finishing sixth in his age group in the UK Pro Surf Tour — after he won eight competitions in Cornwall, North Yorkshire, Northumberland and the north coast of Scotland.

He recently spent a week with the squad at a high performance surfing training centre in Viana do Castelo, Portugal.

The teenager thinks his sport studies course help him cope with the elite-level training.

He said: “When we’re doing the circuit training, muscular endurance or muscular strength, I’m relating it to surfing.

“It gives me an idea of what kind of muscles I’ll be using and when I’m surfing, which ones I’ll be using the most.

“I was so happy to have been picked for the British squad. Surfing is my passion and staff at college have been really supportive.”

The teenager has also travelled to Hawaii, Indonesia, France, Spain and Morocco for competitions.

He said: “Unfortunately, the North Sea is definitely not as consistent as those places, especially not Hawaii.

“Sometimes I don’t surf for around three weeks due to lack of waves. The Cornish and Portuguese can surf pretty much every day.

“The sea is considerably colder here in the North East. You have to wear hoods, boots and gloves for the majority of the winter.”

Louis, who has been surfing since he was six years old, won the under 12 British national championships in 2007 and 2008.

He was taught to surf by his dad, Stephen Hudson.

Louis said: “My mum [teacher Melanie Thomas] and my dad are both really supportive. They take turns in driving me down to all of the competitions that I need to get to.”

Cap: Louis Thomas-Hudson riding a wave in the North Sea, off the coast of Tyneside

 

 

Derby College learners spent two weeks gaining work experience in Germany.

The students, who are all working towards level three engineering, information technology, or motor vehicle qualifications, travelled to Derby’s twin town Osnabrück through a work exchange programme organised by the European Union.

They were hosted by Osnabrück Technical College and worked with a range of local employers.

Motorcycle maintenance student Craig Glover, aged 29, worked at a Harley-Davidson dealership customising machines.

He said: “This work experience will be invaluable. Everyone was very welcoming and spoke such good English that I only really needed to use German when out in the town rather than at work.”

The other learners who took part were Jack McDonagh, 17, Daniel De Barrie, Shane Ireland, both 18, Lewis Slack, Craig Kerry, Mitch McMeechan, Samuel Woodward and Ansar Maqsood, all 19.

Cap: Craig Glover working on a Harley-Davidson motorbike in Germany

Young actors in the North East stole the scene when an award-winning film company held auditions for its latest show at their college.

Drama students at Sunderland College were invited to take part in a psychological thriller, entitled Temporal, produced by Solarus Films.

Producer Theodore Divanis said: “We were actually blown away by the students and re-wrote the script to give them bigger roles.

“Every single one of the students was fantastic, very professional and a pleasure to work with — we’ll definitely be working with some of them again as they are rising stars.”

Parts of the film were shot on location at the college, allowing more students to get involved as extras.

Drama lecturer Gemma Whelam said: “We are delighted our students’ skill and talent has been recognised by such a high profile film company.”

Cap: Director Rob Burrows, writer and producer Theodore Divanis with Sunderland College students and actors Kate Hope and Alex Parkin-Goodchild, both aged 17

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock congratulated Walsall College on doing a good job as its Job Shop celebrated its first anniversary.

Since April 2013, the Job Shop has helped 642 apprentices to find jobs, offered training to nearly 300 job seekers and given 144 people pre-redundancy support.

Mr Hancock said: “There is no doubt that many schools and colleges could learn from Walsall College.

“The focus on raising student expectations and confidence, combined with the cutting edge technology, and the clear focus to help them progress to a job or apprenticeship runs throughout everything I have heard here today.”

The college has set itself a target to recruit a further 222 apprentices and 120 traineeships through the Job Shop by June.

Cap: Level two business administration apprentice Laura Farmer, aged 18, deputy principal for delivery and success Fazal Dad, Skills Minister Matthew Hancock and level two business administration apprentice Thomas Bell, 18

Brave little Evie Clasper has new hope for life after a heart transplant operation over the Easter weekend. And nobody will be happier than staff and students at Middlesbrough College who raised more than £1,500 for the heart unit that has been treating her, writes Paul Offord.

Staff and students at Middlesbrough College went the extra mile for a brave little girl whose life has been blighted by heart problems.

Three-year-old Evie Clasper, whose aunt, Helen Spencer, is an administrator in the college’s health and care department, was diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome before birth.

She has spent much of her life on the operating table and with the Children’s Heart Unit at Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital.

Her fight for survival has caught the imagination at her aunt’s college, where 20 volunteers aimed to raise money for the college by completing 86 miles between them on running machines — the length of the round trip between the college and Freeman Hospital.

But they ended up completing more than 200 miles, which raised more than £1,500 for the hospital’s Children’s Heart Unit.

Ms Spencer said: “The support we’ve received has been amazing. People want to help in any way they can and we’ve already exceeded all our expectations by the number of people volunteering to take part and the donations that have flooded in.”

Evie was diagnosed with heart problems when her mother [Miss Spencer’s sister], 41-year-old Dawn, was 20 weeks pregnant with her.

She needed surgery as soon as she was born and endured 14 operations before doctors finally allowed her parents to take her home in December 2010 when she was six months old.

And a suitable new heart was found for little Evie on Saturday, April 19.

Miss Spencer said: “We found out she was getting the transplant at lunchtime [on Saturday] and she was in theatre a couple of hours later for an operation that took 12 hours.

“She has been a stable condition since. It was the best possible Easter present. Her skin was pale and her lips would often go blue before the operation, but they are now a healthy looking pink.”

Most of the miles for the fundraising event were clocked up on exercise treadmills at the college, with principal Zoe Lewis running the first mile.

She said: “We know how important the children’s heart unit is to poorly youngsters across the region and we’re proud to show our support in any way we can.”

Most people who took part walked or ran three miles.

But health and care lecturer Karen Gibson and course co-ordinator Laura Cochrane, who also helped organise the event, ran 10 and eight miles respectively.

The only volunteers who did not use the running machines were health and care lecturers Dan Yates, 52, and Matt Hopton, 39, who opted to walk 43 miles from the college to the hospital over two days. Miss Spencer said: “Evie’s mum was texting me all the time asking how it was going. They are really proud of what we have done and told Evie about it.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/chuf to boost the fund.

Cap: Zoe Lewis, Middlesbrough College principal, walking the first mile for the fundraising event and (from left) staff members Matt Hopton, Laura Cochrane, Dan Yates and Helen Spencer

 

 

Local MP Angie Bray dropped in to Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College’s apprenticeship fair to find out more about the programme.

The Ealing Central and Acton MP joined more than 30 organisations, including Lloyds Bank, Ealing Council and the Army, who were promoting their apprenticeship opportunities to young people in West London.

Ms Bray said: “Apprenticeships are a great way to start out. What we’re seeing is the more apprenticeships are taken up, the more the word gets out there.

“Young people are hungry for apprenticeships and it’s really starting to take off.”

Terry Amoah-Boateng, aged 19, attended the event and wants to train to become a fitness instructor. He said: “Events like this are helpful for young people like me to talk to potential employers about apprenticeships.”

Cap: Angie Bray MP with ESOL student Laurrice May Cuyong, aged 19

Everything went swimmingly when students from Winstanley College in Wigan performed a mermaid-themed musical to children and their families.

The level one performing arts students produced and acted in the show, called A Mermaid’s Tale, as part of their course which requires them to learn about theatre for children.

The show was targeted at four to seven-year-olds.

Pupils from Maharishi Free School, in Ormskirk, and St Thomas the Martyr School, Skelmersdale, also met the cast before the show started.

Elise Carman, aged 16, who played Ariel the Mermaid in the show, said: “It was a fantastic experience to perform in front of so many primary school children.

“The response from them was very different from anything else I have done as an actor.

“It has given me a thirst to explore different avenues and types of theatre to the ones I would usually do.”

Cap: Performing arts students dressed in mermaid-themed costumes with primary school pupils who watched the show