WEA Hunter has adopted a new name, Atwea College, to unify the organisation’s seven campuses, almost 100 staff, thousands of students, hundreds of courses and programs in the Hunter and mid North Coast.
Atwea College Executive Director, Rowan Cox said the name was created to respect the organisation’s strong education history while setting a direction for the future.
“Atwea College is a new name, for a new start. We have also adopted the tagline of unlocking potential that our Chairman, Martin Coates coined when he first heard the new name,” Rowan said.
“For just over 105 years, WEA has been privileged to share a strong partnership with our community. We have an amazing history as ground breakers when we started offering community education to blue collar workers. You can’t go anywhere without someone saying to you ‘my mum, dad, uncle, aunt or I went to WEA’ to learn a language or course, like lawn mower maintenance. This is a fundamental part of our legacy.
“In 2019, we are so much more than that. We provide senior secondary and vocational education to thousands of people annually across more than 6,000 square kilometres of NSW. We needed a new name to unlock our potential.”
The Atwea College team embarked on the renaming project in 2018 with the assistance of Louise Karch of BRANDFluence and Author of Word Glue. Louise is a specialist in helping individuals and organisations create brands that stand apart.
“This has been a bold move by an organisation that has been around since the turn of last century. I commend the work and support of our board of directors who understood the opportunity for the organisation to continue to grow. I also thank Lousie Karch for her guidance and the staff who have embraced the new name,” Rowan said.
All services and educational products provided under WEA Hunter and WEA Coast will now be offered under the name of Atwea College. The exception to this will be high school education delivered through Alesco Senior College, which will maintain its name and brand as part of the Atwea College group.
Atwea College will roll out its new name across various platforms in coming weeks. The identifiable red lily adopted by WEA Hunter a few years ago has been retained as the organisation’s emblem graphic of the Atwea College logo. The college has also adopted a slightly refreshed look and feel to its communication which will be unveiled as part of its Term 2 magazine and course guide. The organisation also retains its legal entity name of WEA Hunter (Workers Educational
Association Hunter) but uses Atwea College for all promotional and communication activities.
IMAGE | CEO, Rowan Cox and Chairperson, Martin Coates of Atwea College.
