IT students at Bath College build website for Yeovil Youth Theatre

Students at Bath College are planning, designing and hosting websites for customers to improve their employability skills and build up a portfolio of their work.

Level 3 IT students Alex Ball and Matthew Barnett have just finished work on a new website for aspiring performers at Yeovil Youth Theatre.

The website, built from scratch, will help recruit new creative talent and pull in customers for Yeovil Youth Theatre’s popular shows.

The pair, who are both due to start at Plymouth University in September, worked on the project with Yeovil Youth Theatre director and committee member Alan Forster.

They were part of a team of students working to build websites for local organisations and businesses over the course of a year.

Matthew, 18, from Radstock, said: “I’m glad that we had this opportunity. It was good to follow the whole process from start to finish.

“We had built practice websites, but this time we were building a website for a client. It’s taught us how to communicate. We’ll definitely be using these skills when we go to university.”

Yeovil Youth Theatre caters for young people aged 13 to 18 with an interest in performing, as well as sound, lighting, costume design and set design.

Mr Forster said: “We’re an inclusive company. We’re trying to give as many people the opportunity to get involved.

“We were running without a website for 18 months and it was critical to everything we did. It was the one place you could go to get any information you needed, whether you were a prospective member or a current member.

“This opportunity came along which seemed too good to miss. The students should be proud of what they have come up with.”

Alex, 18, from Corsham, said: “Developing the website has been very interesting, I’m glad to see it has come together.

“It’s given us some challenges. If we did this again we would do it even better and build the website faster.”

Bath College lecturer Steve Harries said: “This gives our students a chance to build a portfolio, develop a reputation as website developers and to challenge themselves.

“The students have had the opportunity to work for an external customer on a project, receive and respond to constructive feedback of their work and then make improvements.

“For some of the students, it has opened up opportunities to work in industry and some are now considering full-time employment in website design.”

Next year’s students will start their website projects in October.

Websites are free to design and build and cost £20 per year to host. Customers need to invest their time and meet with students throughout the project.

If you’d like a website designed by students at Bath College please e-mail [email protected]

To visit the website when it goes live go to www.yeovilyouththeatre.org.uk