Archbishop Wilson of Southwark opens new T-Level Hospital Ward at south London sixth form college

CTK Emmanuel were delighted to secure the funding from the Department of Education, to open this fantastic, state-of-the art vocational facility, which is used to train and support Health T Level students who are studying to become Adult Health Nurses.

The ward is named St Theresa’s in homage to the secondary school, which was originally at the CTK site at Belmont Grove, Blackheath, London SE13, before it became a Sixth Form in 1993.

These outstanding new facilities have been designed by employers to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet the needs of employers to train up future nurses and medical professionals.  The ward features a range of equipment, such as, specialised prosthetic patients, across a range of ages and with a variety of illnesses, hospital beds and an observation room.  Students will be able to learn tasks such as taking swabs, blood pressure readings, vital statistics and temperatures, and to gain experience in treating patients and diagnosing symptoms across a range of illnesses from child to adult.

St Theresa’s Ward is the third project to be completed for students studying at CTK Emmanuel, with earlier projects creating a contemporary business space and revolutionising the engineering space into modern technology labs.

As a specialist vocational Catholic Sixth Form, CTK Emmanuel places great importance on employment links.  Students attend weekly work placements and the Sixth Form has forged relationships with local hospital trusts. Staff from Queen Mary’s hospital in Sidcup were delighted to attend the grand opening and see for themselves the outstanding facilities on offer.

CTK Emmanuel, located on Belmont Hill, close to Lewisham and Blackheath, is a successful Sixth Form serving 16-19 learners from in and around Southeast London.   The Sixth Form offers the widest range of vocational courses locally in a Catholic Sixth Form environment and has recently added T Levels to the curriculum.

“I was delighted and honoured by the invitation to visit CTK Emmanuel Sixth Form, andto open and bless the new T-Level Health and Science teaching and learning facilities, which included the aptly named, St Theresa’s Ward,” said Archbishop Wilson.

” It was a joy to witness the tremendous work and dedication of the teachers, along with the remarkable enthusiasm of the students towards their studies.  The Lord Jesus teaches us to bring the Gospel message of His love into our daily lives, and into our world. It is my continued prayer that the CTK community will continue to flourish in this mission; and thus, I give thanks for their exceptional contribution to the Catholic Education of our young people in the Archdiocese of Southwark, and invoke God’s blessing upon all the staff, students”.

Christ the King Sixth Forms Executive Principal Shireen Razey commented: “We were delighted to receive this funding from the Department of Education to develop these outstanding facilities.  These new state-of-the-art facilities will benefit our leaners for many years to come and the T Level in Health will ensure we are meeting local employers and skills needs and training the next generation of medical professionals. We were honoured that The Archbishop could officially open and bless the new area for us.  The addition of this hospital ward to our other new facilities at CTK Emmanuel means we are able to offer learners the widest range of vocational courses in a Catholic Sixth Form environment”.

CTK Emmanuel Student Governor Portia gave a heart-warming speech. She thanked everyone for coming and talked about how impressive it is that students will be able to operate such great facilities with real-life scenarios.

In keeping with the Sixth Form’s Catholic mission, Archbishop John Wilson, blessed the opening of the new centre and the CTK Emmanuel Gospel Choir sang a beautiful rendition of ‘Let your presence fall’, ‘The goodness of God’ and ‘Hallelujah’ to the VIP guests and students. Staff, students and Christ the King Sixth Form Governors, were delighted to be able to celebrate together at this momentous occasion for the Sixth Form.