A FASHION retail team at a Basingstoke college have been presented an award for its teaching.

The team from Basingstoke College of Technology were given the ABC Award in recognition of becoming a Showcase Centre for the third year running, for demonstrating the highest level of teaching.

ABC is a leading national awarding organisation. An external verifier assessed the team at BCoT and reviewed student achievement and how the team shares best practice with other colleges, before deciding the award.

Bobby Upple, commercial director from ABC, presented Sarah Gallagher, BCoT’s head of fashion retail, with the award.

He also spent time chatting to students at the college, in Worting Road, about their experiences on the course and looked at their displays of work.

He said: “This is a unique course and becoming a Showcase Centre confirms the college’s status as the number one provider of Level 3 fashion retail in the south. BCoT is definitely one of ABC’s stars.”

Mr Upple visited BCoT’s shop, Vintage Treasures, in Church Street at the Top of the Town, which was designed by many of the fashion retail students.

He said: “Vintage Treasures gives students a fantastic opportunity to develop and showcase the skills they have learned in the classroom into a real working retail environment.

It gives them the employability and enterprise skills which are vital to the success of their future careers – I cannot commend this venture highly enough.”

Students are now working on their final major project, for which they develop a fashion retail business idea incorporating key units from the course such as marketing, PR, branding, styling and fashion buying.

Sarah Gallagher said: “This project allows students to develop and grow as employable young people.

“They can take everything they have learned throughout the year and refine it into a piece of work which defines them as individuals.”