Tom Harrison – Inspiration in Education nominee
Tom Harrison – Inspiration in Education nominee
Tom Harrison has worked for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey and at Crewe Hall, Goldstone Hall, Aston Marina and Alton Towers but now he spends his time upskilling Staffordshire’s future chefs.
A former chef himself, he is now Curriculum Leader for Hospitality and Catering at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group where his work includes the award-winning Riverbank Restaurant.
He designs the curriculum and works on enrichment activities for students such as organising guest speakers, masterclasses, work and industry placements and training students to enter competitions.
Tom, who joined Stafford College as a lecturer a decade ago and has been Curriculum Leader for five years, has been nominated in the Inspiration in Education category of the Your Heroes Awards.
Mark Kent, Director of Professional Studies at NSCG, said: “Tom does not just do the job he is at the forefront of every possible opportunity to give the students the absolute best experience that we can facilitate. He is always looking for an opportunity to enrich the lives of his learners or looking at ways that he can make life just that little bit easier for them. Tom is not only passionate about his students but also ambitious for them and their careers.
“Typically, a significant proportion of learners in the catering department start their programme needing a lot of support for confidence and self-esteem. However Tom instils a core belief in his students and staff that they are more than capable and they can and should reach for their dreams. Tom along with the team he leads achieve this upturn in student self-esteem and confidence through a range of extra activities that he weaves into the curriculum irrespective of being a necessity to the qualification or not. For instance, Tom invests a vast amount of hours to upskill students to be ready for a very busy commercial restaurant.”
Restaurants including The Tawny, Little Seeds and Aston Marina have worked with students to devise menus and supported them in preparing fine dining dishes.
Mark said: “Tom is an expert in ascertaining when students are and equally are not quite ready for the challenge that this environment poses. Given Tom is an outstanding FE Lecturer, Tom swiftly identifies and supports any gaps on knowledge or skills so that students can make accelerated progress. Students gain the feedback and insight so they can focus on concentrated areas to develop in a nurturing fashion.”
NSCG students were named as the best kitchen team in the British Culinary Federation Student Cook and Serve competition.
Level 3 Professional Cookery student, Viacheslav Marynychenko took second place at the prestigious CombiGuru Challenge, a national culinary competition for UK colleges held in Italy.
Tom has encouraged initiatives such as cardiac screening fundraising for the CRY charity, the big FE Lunch aimed at care providers having a free afternoon tea in the restaurant and ESOL students working with catering learners to facilitate a World Food Awareness Event. He has been appointed as a teaching and learning coach within NSCG.
Mark added: “Tom is a lecturer who does not settle and wants to lead by example. To inspire his students to have a desire to grow and risk constructive feedback, Tom constantly wishes to challenge himself, his team and the college’s Riverbank Restaurant. Tom supports three public lunch services and one evening opening to the public that Tom with his team and students manage wonderfully.
“I sincerely hope Tom is recognised by the Your Heroes Award as an Inspiration in Education.”
Tom said he was shocked but grateful to have been nominated for a Your Heroes Award.
He said: “I’m part of a team that works really well together. Without them I wouldn’t have been recognised. We’re always looking at doing the best we can for learners.
“Being a chef has been in my blood since I was 13 or 14 and my aim has always been to improve opportunities within the industry.”