College salon recognised as a centre of excellence

Burton and South Derbyshire College (BSDC) has announced the professional hair company, Wella now recognises the college’s Innovations Salon as a Centre of Excellence.

This award is presented each year to a select number of colleges who meet its high standards of facilities, qualifications and student talent.

The College’s Innovations Salon partnered with Wella in 2021.

Kay Simpson, hairdressing course leader at BSDC, previously trained with Wella herself and was glad to partner with the company:

Kay said: “It’s the support that you get with Wella that makes it such a good company to work with.

“Once you partner with them, they offer so much to benefit our students, from time at their studios in Manchester as well as sending professional guest speakers to the college.

“Wella products are very popular, particularly with local salons in and around Burton, so by training our students in partnership with them, we are giving our students the best advantage to progress more easily into local work with familiar products.”

Achieving this recognition means the hairdressing department has been consistently delivering the highest standard of training to students, providing them with opportunities to enhance their learning.

This includes entering students in industry competitions like Xposure, a creative colour hairdressing showcase, for the chance to receive recognition right from the start of their career and instilling pride in their work.  

Wella also recognised the increase in colour work at the salon, and Kay Simpson believes this is because they have worked hard to market the salon to a more diverse clientele, allowing students the opportunities to experiment with creative colour on real clients.

On receiving this recognition, Kay said: “We are so honoured to receive this award that only so many colleges achieve. It makes our staff and students proud to work in a Centre of Excellence, encouraging them to continue to produce high quality work.”   

The Innovations Salon at BSDC offers a wider range of training, beyond its current cohort of students.

It also hosts retraining and upskilling courses throughout the year for those already working in the hairdressing industry, in partnership with Wella Professionals.

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Pictured from left to right: Laura Hollins, Level 2 Hairdressing Course Leader at BSDC with Chloe Bullimore from Wella