News & Events - General

Students from the College’s Skills Centre, a specialist provision where learners with a disability develop their skills, have been working alongside staff from Passiflora, the company which supplies and looks after the College’s indoor plants. Passiflora is sharing its knowledge and expertise of indoor plants with the students and is also generously donating plants for the students to work with. In December, staff from Passiflora also donated a wonderful Christmas tree and gave up their time to come and teach the students how to make tree decorations, again supplying the materials for this.

Olwen Douse of Passiflora comments: “I have been amazed at the skills and knowledge the students have gained in such a short time. Two or three students usually accompany me on my rounds helping to ensure that the plants are well maintained. I really missed the students when they were off over the Christmas break. The partnership with the College is working well and we recently taught the students how to make bows and other decorations in their classes at the North Kingston Centre: their concentration was astounding and they used the results to decorate the Christmas tree we donated – the result was stunning!”

Keith Mellor, a lecturer from the College’s North Kingston Centre site where Skills Centre students study, explained the new partnership: “We are always eager to establish worthwhile partnerships with local businesses who can offer practical experience for our students. Working with Olwen and Tracy from Passiflora has exemplified this aim and has proven to be both enjoyable and achievable. Olwen has created simple and effective work sheets which allow each student to log and number every plant as it has been sprayed, cleaned and watered. The students take responsibility for their particular tasks and are keen to ensure the job has been done thoroughly. The partnership has also brought in a small financial boost as Passiflora acquired the plants for our Christmas fundraising sale at cost, which allowed a larger return to be re-invested back into the Skills Centre gardening project. Passiflora has shown that with the right commitment and a little personal effort partnerships like this are perfect for our Skills Centre students.”

Passiflora
Passiflora is an award winning company specialising in interior and exterior Plantscaping (interior and exterior office plants) and grounds maintenance. Established in 1966, the company supplies hassle-free plant displays and maintenance services to organisations and private individuals all over London and the south east. For further information on Passiflora, visit: http://passiflora.co/

Skills Centre
Kingston College Skills Centre offers an exciting range of opportunities to help people with a disability develop their skills.  Students attending the Skills Centre have the opportunity to develop skills to progress to further learning, to find employment, to live independently and for personal and social development.  With a wide range of facilities and a nurturing environment, students are able to flourish.