NORDEC at Bradford College celebrates successful first 12 months

The Northern Dental Education Centre, a state-of-the-art dental training and education facility based at Bradford College, was opened last year by Bradford MP Judith Cummins.

It offers dentistry courses, primarily to apprentice and trainee dental nurses, and since it opened it has welcomed three cohorts of dental nursing apprentices and seen its first group of Level 2 students record a 100 per cent pass rate.

In the next 12 months, NORDEC will continue to deliver the Level 2 programme of study, and is also aiming to become one of the region’s leading centres in the delivery of professional development through a range of Continuing Professional Development and commercial courses, which have been launched at the centre this month.

Eve Massaad, NORDEC centre manager, said: “Over the course of the first 12 months, there has been great focus placed on community outreach with regards to increasing public awareness of oral health within our local community.

“A number of events have been introduced in order to both encourage and improve oral health within the Bradford community.

“Events and incentives have been run with the aim of encouraging the youth of Bradford into the various career pathways available within the dentistry sector.”

The £500,000 facility was a joint enterprise between the college and Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, and is housed in Bradford College’s £10 million Advanced Technology Centre.

Henna Hussain was one of first students to complete the Level 2 qualification, and has now secured a dental nursing apprenticeship at Rayner Dental Practice in Bradford.

She said: “I had an incredibly wonderful year and would most definitely recommend the Level 2 course.

“Gaining an in-depth insight into the dental field has made a profound impact on my ability to progress in my dental nursing apprenticeship.”

For more information about studying at NORDEC, head to bradfordcollege.ac.uk