Cupcakes were at the centre of Colleges Week celebrations at Richmond upon Thames College.

Visitors who made it to the catering department during an open evening were encouraged to roll up their sleeves and practise their icing and decorating skills — with the promise of a tasty treat at the end. Pre-decorated cupcakes were sold to raise money for Children in Need.

“It was great fun learning how to pipe the icing, and I was really pleased with the result as it looked and tasted delicious,” said Georgia Petrou, 16, from Sunbury Manor School.

Richmond’s catering department is home to Merits, a training restaurant where students gain the skills to become the chefs and food service staff of the future. Helping at the Colleges Week event were students Laura Bamford, Rosie Buckle, Ben Harris, Marion Kamau Njoki and Scott Tuckwell.

“It was fun being the teacher instead of the student,” Laura said. “And the cupcakes decorated by the guests looked brilliant. They were really enthusiastic and it was nice to show off some of the skills that we’ve been taught.”

You either love it or you hate it. Former Coleg Gwent student and artist Nathan Wyburn loves it – and so he should. The 23-year-old is best known for his portrait work produced by spreading Marmite on toast…

Nathan recently visited current students at the college’s Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone to teach them about using alternatives to paint, such as sugar, chocolate or ketchup.

Inspired by everyday objects that most people take for granted, Nathan has also used snow, pen lids, soil, newspaper cut-outs and candles to produce his art. He also films the process and broadcasts the time-lapse videos on his YouTube channel.

Nathan showed A level and BTEC art students a variety of his work commissioned for big name brands such as Marmite, BIC, Costa and Hovis, as well as for charity projects.

“Coleg Gwent have always been really supportive of my work, so it’s great to speak to art students here. Hopefully it’ll inspire them to try new things,” he said.

Motivated by Nathan’s radical approach, students experimented with toast and marmite to produce an impressive mosaic of British singer songwriter Tulisa Contostavlos.

Nathan Morgan, 20 from Tredegar, said: “It’s brilliant to learn from someone successful, but also approachable and friendly. Nathan’s from our local area so we can really relate to him.”

The session was part of students’ enrichment programme, which provides extra opportunities for students to improve their skill and experience.

Students at a Teesside college have made a film to stop companies starting out from making costly mistakes.

Ten Prior Pursglove College students wrote, filmed and starred in Business Busters, with help from writer and director Laura Degnan and support from the Redcar and Cleveland Enterprise Team.

The film features a city girl who is given the chance to follow her dream and run a cake shop. She stumbles across problem after problem until the Business Busters swoop in to help her find solutions.

Laura, a director at Writers’ Block, a North East company that runs writing, drama and film-making workshops, worked with the students for several weeks.

Student Zoe Dean, 19, from Brotton, said: “We’ve all had the chance to take part, by either directing, starring or writing. We hope it will be helpful for anyone who is starting their own business or expanding current enterprises.”

The film was unveiled to an invited audience, including local MPs, at a red carpet premiere at the Guisborough college.

Laura said: “The students were able to learn not just from me but from one another. They developed some really creative and extremely funny ideas and delivered them in a very
visual way.”

Chart-toppers of the future will receive a head start at MidKent College with a new soundproofed live room.

The facility will give music students the opportunity to practise in private while their music technology counterparts can use the latest high-tech equipment to ensure the quality of performances shines through.

Sevenoaks musician and former college lecturer Dan Clews, who performed alongside Tim Minchin during Children in Need, officially opened the room during Colleges Week.

“The UK is the second largest music exporter in the world behind America; it’s important we continue to invest in the future of the industry,” he said.

“I came across some talented musicians during my time at the college and it’s great they now have a room of exceptional quality to practise that talent in.”

Louise Molton, head of the creative and visual arts faculty, said: “This room gives the musicians their own self-contained area to perform in, and will really help to raise their performance levels.

“But it’s not just music students who will benefit. Our performing arts students can also use the room, and our creative media students can film the various events that go on here.”

Sheffield College photojournalists helped with the filming of a new drama that highlights the dangers young people can face on the roads.

“Crash,” which shows a serious accident and how the three emergency services respond, is due to be screened in South Yorkshire schools early next year.

Students on the press photography and photojournalism course helped the film crew on location earlier this term.

Tom Maddick, 26, said: “I had the chance to take some good photos of actors and trainee surgeons in an intensive care unit mocked up at Sheffield Hallam University and I lent the crew some of my lenses for filming. The two days on set also gave me the chance to capture a number of images for my portfolio.”

Diane Malpass, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue group manager, said: “Some of the material in the film will be shocking but is designed to have a strong impact on the youngsters to bring home the consequences of careless or reckless driving.” Nationally, road accidents are the biggest killer of young people aged 17 to 24. The film’s main message is that they could often be avoided by simple changes in behaviour.

Students ate a pig’s head, devoured an octopus and handled a tarantula when Canterbury College held a series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here-style challenges to raise more than £1,000 for Children In Need.

Eleven brave students tried weird and wonderful dishes cooked by the catering department, including pig’s tongue, frogs’ legs, lumpfish roe and Bourgogne snails.

A crowd of nearly 200 students gathered to see if the contestants could stomach all nine courses. All but two finished — although none came back for seconds.

But students’ union president Harry Fox, 18, was up for more. After the last course he volunteered to eat a pig’s eyeball for more money. The crowd handed over the cash — and Harry took several minutes to swallow the delicacy.

Catering tutor Fodos Skordi prepared the dishes. “The students may have found it disgusting but in other countries what we served is gourmet food,” he said.

Seven staff and students then handled some of the animal care department’s creepiest critters for another challenge.

They plunged their hands into a tank of meal worms, held hissing cockroaches, got up close and personal with a palm snake, and let a Chilean tarantula crawl over them.

Two aspiring chefs will showcase their cooking skills at the regional final of Springboard’s FutureChef 2013 competition after victory in their local heat at Central Sussex College’s Crawley campus.

Lauren Sinfield, 14, from Lancing, and Rhianna Catt, 15, from Brighton, both wowed judges with their culinary creations. Lauren, a pupil at Sir Robert Woodward Academy, prepared salmon fillet in a white wine sauce with rice and courgettes, followed by a passion fruit soufflé served with raspberry coulis. Meanwhile, Rhianna, from Dorothy Stringer High School, served pigeon breast with a potato rosti, mushrooms and a balsamic jelly, followed by a cherry chocolate fondant and clotted cream.

Head judge Francis Estephane, chef lecturer at the college, said: “Both Lauren and Rhianna put in outstanding performances. Their menus were exceptional.”

“I’m still quite surprised,” said Lauren. “I love cooking at home and would like to be a chef in the future.”

Rhianna said: “For me, cooking is a real passion. The pressure of expectation made things quite tough today and so I was really pleased when the judges announced the result.”

Fashion designer Simon Carter dropped in on Kingston College students to give advice on how to get creations from the classroom into stores on the high street.

The menswear and accessories designer, who has shops across the UK, told students how he first created his brand 27 years ago.

“One of my earliest defining moments took place when I was trying to get my accessories into Next,” he said. “The buyer said she would come to my showroom. I cleared my kitchen table, laid out my stock and invited her to view — in my flat, as I did not have a showroom^­  in my early days. One hour later she had placed an order for £27,000; you can imagine my astonishment and excitement.”

Media student Josef Cisneros, 19, said: “I loved the way Simon showed us his products and got us all involved. It was useful to hear how he started on a small scale and built his way up. Simon also talked about other designers such as Paul Smith and how his influence informs the entire industry.”