CONNECT January 2019

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Student performance at the Bedfordshire Achievements Ceremony 2019.

BCS BEDFORD COLLEGE SERVICES

EDITOR’S NOTE Hello everyone!

Welcome to the January Edition of CONNECT Magazine and my first as the new Editor.

At the end of last year we celebrated the amazing achievements of staff and students at the Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire Achievements Ceremonies. Both were fantastic events and showed just how brilliant our Colleges are at producing high achieving students.

If you have an interesting or inspiring stories for others to hear, please send in your article and photos through to me at omorton@bedford.ac.uk

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY January 2019 29 JANUARY 2019 – Tresham College Open Day, Corby campus 30 JANUARY 2019 – Tresham College Open Day, Kettering campus 31 JANUARY 2019 – Tresham College Open Day, Wellingborough campus

March 2019 9 MARCH 2019 – Shuttleworth College Open Day

20 MARCH – Tresham College Open Day & Taster Event, Kettering campus 21 MARCH – Tresham College Open Day & Taster Event, Wellingborough campus

April 2019 2 APRIL 2019 – The Bedford Sixth Form Open Day 4 APRIL 2019 – National College for Motorsport Open Day, Silverstone

13 MARCH 2019 – Bedford College Open Day & Taster Event 19 MARCH – Tresham College Open Day & Taster Event, Corby campus

CONTENTS OLIVIA MORTON

Corporate Communications and Events Manager

T: 01234 291026 E: omorton@bedford.ac.uk

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PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

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FLIP GRID

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NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP

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YOUR PICTURES

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PEOPLE NEWS

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EQUALITY & DIVERSITY

Encourage our students to enter and ultimately win skills contests.

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Did you know you can follow Ian on Twitter? @ipryce

PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

Educating Corby

Almost exactly a year on from establishing our first Learning Centre in the town centre of Kettering it is great to have secured an additional Learning Centre in Corby which will enable us to serve hundreds of students each year. The development of these centres is a key part of our adult education strategy.

World beaters

At the beginning of the year I spoke at the staff meeting about the need for all areas of the college to encourage our students to enter and ultimately win skills contests and other competitions to showcase the skills they are learning. With this in mind, it’s been great to start the year with a success story. Bedford arts student Eva Sophie is one of 25 students, selected from 4,000 worldwide to have her work showcased at the Space Foundation International Art Collection in Colorado Springs. Read more on page 6

Pauline Prow

Sadly our excellent interim HR Director Pauline has left us for a permanent role with a major private sector company.

Pauline has done a superb job taking forward the development of a new People Strategy for the college and overseeing the implementation of the iTrent system.

I am pleased that we have been able to secure the services of another local HR Director to be our interim Director until the Corporation is able to appoint a permanent full-time person. Sherida Carter, previously the HR Director for local engineering company Bourns Ltd, will join us at the end of the month. Sherida knows the college well given the number of apprentices Bourns has with the college, and she is a member of our academy trust too.

Eva Sophie’s art.

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INDUSTRY ARTICLE FLIP GRID One of the best parts of my job as it relates to ILT is that I get to explore and constantly search out new tools. This taps into my inner geek as I watch reviews and tutorials and explore new and emerging technologies. A few years ago I came across one particular technology called MiiTu, which allowed companies to send out and post surveys to clients or students and allowed students to post video responses. I immediately saw the potential for this in the classroom, but the cost was high and it was really designed for marketing and business applications. Well today, I want to introduce you to Flipgrid, which has taken that very idea and applied it to the classroom.

Flipgrid even allows you to grade using either a generic or custom rubric, so it may also work for formal assessment content. The site has a range of features that make it easy to secure content by password protecting it so only you and your learners can get to it. You can also get learners connected easily through the app, where, once they add themselves to your grid they will see new topics as you post them.

Put simply, flipgrid.com allows teachers to create classes/groups (called grids) and post assignments or discussions (called topics) to them. Teachers can attach files and videos to stimulate discussion and even present material and learners can then post a video response to a question, analysis of content or general thoughts.

What makes Flipgrid really powerful is the range of controls built into it. You can control the length of video responses (15 seconds to 5 minutes) and even moderate all videos so that none are posted until they have been approved. Flipgrid has a social element to it as well, which can facilitate group discussion and interaction or even peer assessment. All learners need to create an account, so all posts are tagged. I also really like that the site allows you to add a ‘copilot’ to a grid so more than one teacher can moderate, participate and evaluate posts.

What I think gives this tool a great deal of potential is that it is a unique approach to assessment and discussion, in a format that will work for a range of abilities and levels. It is also a tool to help learners build their confidence and communication skills, particularly considering applications where they may have to address a range of criteria in a designated time frame.

If this sounds good to you, then I would suggest you start by creating a free account and watching this tutorial on YouTube, (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=vJOoloQ7k5Q&t=485s) which will help you set it up.

This one is a new tool for me, so if you try it out, please feed back to me about how you used it and how it went. I would love to hear some case studies and a range of ideas for how teachers might be able to use it.

MARK TINNEY Teacher Education Course Leader/ILT Development Coach

Tresham College

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NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP TOMORROW’S WORLD TALKS WITH MP International and national companies joined a round table discussion about shaping engineering apprenticeships with Corby MP Tom Pursglove at Tresham College.

The event was the latest in a series of Employer Forums to be organised by Julie Hoult, Head of Business Development at the Corby campus, and is already leading to strong co-operation between the College and key local employers.

MP Tom thanked The Weetabix Food Company, RS Components Ltd, Tata Steel, Tayto and Benteler Automotive for giving him important feedback about changes they wanted to see made to the current apprenticeship scheme to enable them to train more people to meet industry demands.

“I want to say an enormous thank you to the companies here for the great opportunities they offer young people. I feel incredibly strongly about the value of apprenticeships and Tresham College could be held up as a national example of how they should be delivered in partnership with employers” said Tom. “Corby is getting to grips with quality youth employment and I know that apprenticeships can raise earning potential for young people who may not want to go the university route.”

Michael Johnston, Vice Principal of The Bedford College Group, said: “Forward-thinking employers encourage progression and promotion within their organisations as they are investing in their people. It’s a great life choice for many young people and a viable alternative to university.”

Schools should promote apprenticeships The Northamptonshire employers also said they wanted to see schools doing more to promote apprenticeships rather than just having a “leader board” of those who went to university – without any evidence of them going on to good careers after that.

One said at his son’s careers event there was no mention of apprenticeships: “Where the next generation of engineers going to come? In Germany apprenticeships are the most valued route into employment.”

MP Tom agreed: “Technical skills should be on a par with A Levels and degrees and schools should be promoting the choices to pupils and parents.”

Mentioned in Westminster Shortly after attending the forum in Corby, MP Tom Pursglove mentioned the great work being done between Tresham College and local employers during a session at Parliament, highlighting the need to raise the profile of apprenticeships to young people.

RESEARCH IS THE ANSWER

The Bedford College Group has expanded thanks to expert research into local community demands for education and training.

In recognition of the success of this ground-breaking work Katie Featherstone has been awarded the Outstanding Individual Award at the national Further Education College Marketing Network (FE First Awards 2018).

Katie set up a brand-new research facility at Bedford College in 2011, which was then pioneering in Further Education Colleges. Since then she has led on high profile projects that have resulted in The Bedford Sixth Form being launched with now 500+ students, an extra 400 full-time students being recruited at Tresham College, and the opening of a new secondary school at Wixams with 100 students in each year group.

“Katie’s research has provided the College with clear insights into the areas she has considered; clarified how best the College should proceed with major strategic projects, and significantly improve our practices and outcomes.

“Every piece of work Katie has done has yielded clear benefits to the College and its students,” said Ian Pryce CBE, Principal and CEO of The Bedford College Group.

Katie is part of the team led by Sales and Marketing Director Sarah Baxter.

The whole team were Highly Commended in the category for Making Effective use of Research.

Katie Featherstone recieving her award.

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NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP CELEBRATING AT THE ACHIEVEMENTS CEREMONIES students on to positive destinations our achievement ceremonies are an excellent opportunity for us to recognise this.

Janis Cirss recieving his runner up award.

Once again, students and staff from the colleges across the group were able to celebrate the success they achieved at the annual Achievement Ceremonies. The celebrations were hosted at the end of last year at the Kettering Conference Centre on Thursday 29 November 2018 and the Bedford Corn Exchange on Thursday 6 December 2018 with students being awarded for their hard work and dedication throughout their studies.

As one of the top 10% of colleges within the UK for progressing

Student of the Year for the Bedfordshire Achievement Ceremony went to Liam Kilby, who after a shaky start at school, excelled at college and took part in the World Skills competition. He is now studying for a BSc in Computer Science at the University of East Anglia.

Runners up to the award went to Janis Cirss and Summer Gill. Janis was an active member of student life at the college setting up the first ever debating society, working as a Student Ambassador for the college and was Student Governor for two years running, all whilst achieving D*,D,D in his Business Extended Diploma. Summer Gill was awarded for being an exemplar student, achieving Distinction grades across the board as part of her Level 3 Fashion & Textiles study programme.

Summer won a 6 month placement at Vivian Westwood and her

winning designs for the International Professional Clothing Awards are on tour in the USA Student of the Year at the Northamptonshire Achievement Ceremony went to William Phillips, who has progressed from his studies at the Kettering campus to Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. William excelled at college after being home-schooled and fully embraced student life by becoming an active member, and officer of, the student union. He was also a member of the LGBT group and attended the NUS LGBT Conference to debate national policy.

Well done to everyone involved in the achievements ceremony and we are looking forward to being able to celebrate more success stories at our 2019 ceremonies.

The events will be taking place on Thursday 28th November 2019 for the Northamptonshire Achievement Ceremony and on Thursday 5th December 2019 at the Bedford Corn Exchange.

INTERGALACTIC SUCCESS FOR ART STUDENT

Level 3 Year 1 Fine Art student Eva Sophie has come third in the year 17-18 category of the Ninth Annual Space Foundation International Student Art Contest. Eva was selected as one of 25 talented winners from among nearly 4,000 global entries, a great achievement.

Her work will be displayed at the Space Foundation’s 35th Space Symposium and then at the Space Foundation World Headquarters and Discovery Center, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA (and on-line at https://art.spacefoundation.org/ )

TRAVEL & TOURISM VISIT THE SITES OF THE CITY Level 2 and 3 students from Travel & Tourism courses at Bedford enjoyed a visit to London to experience key visitor attractions, and review their marketing and customer services.

Students had lunch at Pizza Express before defying gravity with a trip to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria. For several students this was the first time

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Eva Sophie’s art.

they had experienced a theatre and for some, the first time they had visited the capital.

Student feedback was that it was a great experience and that they got to see a visitor attraction that was very different to anything else they did at school.

The group is now looking forward to the HNC/D residential to Dubai at the end of January and the level 3 trip to Marbella in February.

Go team Travel!

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP MAKING WORK EXPERIENCE MORE THAN A LIDL SPECIAL

Identical twins studying in The Bedford College Group, Jasmine and Shola McAteer, aged 16 from Wixams, appeared on national TV screens in the Christmas Lidl advert “Make Christmas a Lidl special”.

They were seen tucking into Christmas lunch surrounded by an orchestra in the Lidl family home.

Jasmine is studying Level 3 Extended Diploma in Dance at the South Banks Arts Centre of Bedford College, and Shola is at The Bedford Sixth Form studying English Literature, English Language, Sociology, Fine Art and Dance. Both gained their TV roles through Adelle Moss of the AM Kids Agency, and Bedford College performing arts lecturer.

Shola said: “Adelle has played a massive role in my working life, she’s continuously offered her advice and opened many doors for me as a young actor and dancer. From the age of nine she has mentored me, giving me a kick start as a young performer.”

The Bedford College Group Principal and CEO Ian Pryce CBE said: “When we say we offer the most wonderful work experiences thanks to our star staff members, we deliver on those promises.”

Link to TV ad https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=tobL9Lm2Q2k

Jasmine and Shola with Ian.

SUPER SIX PASS WITH FLYING COLOURS Testing trials of fitness, and interview skills were all passed by six candidates on the latest Bedford College Prince’s Trust Team 2 group.

College Team Leaders Mark Williams and Matt Tyldesley joined forces with Beds Police secondee Dan Cooper to put the squad through their paces.

The young people from Bedfordshire and beyond, some of whom have never stayed away from home, went to the Peak District where they got involved in caving, abseiling and rock climbing. The tucker trials had them all preparing and serving real meals whilst on the week-long trip.

The rest of the programme included a fund-raising and community project for the King’s Arms Night Shelter in Clarendon Street, and coaching sessions on CV writing, interviews and the basics of setting up a business supported by Barclaycard, Northants.

In the final weeks of the challenge they supported the Bedford Homeless Partnership Soup Fest in Bedford, persuading the Harpur Centre to give them an empty shop to use for promoting the activity.

At a presentation night at the Trinity Theatre in Bromham Road, part of The Bedford College

Group estate, Warrant Officer Michelle Smith handed over their certificates. She had welcomed the group to an exclusive search and rescue exercise at the Joint Forces Command Chicksands in Central Beds. She said to the super six: “You have achieved so much in 12 weeks, take that experience and use it in your next move in life and remember how far you have come.”

Mark Williams thanked Barclaycard, Brewers Decorator Centre, Travis Perkins, Signs Express, Cottage Bakery and all the families and friends who helped the team members.

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NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP FLYING HIGH WITH BRITISH AIRWAYS Last month our second year BTEC students and part time Cabin Crew went to British Airways, Heathrow to experience a full day SEP training. Our students were put through their paces working the emergency exits, practising their brace positions, giving a safety demo in the I-Cabin, completing the smoke filled cabin challenge and fighting a galley fire.

BA trainers once again praised the students’ knowledge and behaviour, and the students said the day had made them rethink their career choices with several now wanting to fly for BA.

NEW AND FAMILIAR FACES JOIN THE MARKETING TEAM We are delighted to welcome three new members to the Marketing Team at The Bedford College Group.

Georgia Rose, Alarna Sparrey, Annette Henderson and Olivia Morton have all joined the team in the last few months. Georgia Rose is the new Senior Marketing Business Partner looking after full-time, part-time and Access to HE courses for Bedford College.

Alarna Sparrey is maternity cover for Marketing Business Partner,

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Samantha Bennett. She will be looking after the Shuttleworth College, The Bedford Sixth Form and the Wixam’s Primary and Academy accounts.

Also re-joining the team is Olivia Morton, Corporate Communications and Events Manager. Olivia previously worked for Tresham College and was part of the communications team that managed the merger process. Her role will include

the development of the Intranet, the editing of the Connect magazine, launch events for new developments such as the Zoological Education Centre and organising our two Annual Achievements Ceremonies.

A full list of the roles and responsibilities of everyone within the Marketing Team can be found on the Intranet.

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP 7-A-SIDE FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT AT CORBY The first football tournament of the 2018/19 season was held for students across the Engineering, Motor Vehicle and Construction departments on a very cold December afternoon at the Corby Campus.

Students were split into three groups, where they played hard in tough but fair games enabling them to show their range of footballing prowess.

The semi-finals pitted Motor Vehicle vs Motor Vehicle – going to a penalty shootout and

Mechatronics vs Engineering with a 5 – 1 score as a final outcome.

The final was a close run match with the Motor Vehicle keeper stopping shots with only minutes to spare.

A run from the left wing and a clinical pass to the Mechatronics front man who put it away led to their win.

Keep an eye out for plans for the next tournament in the next term.

UCAS END OF CYCLE REPORT 2019 Each year UCAS publishes a series of End of Cycle reports about the demand for Higher Education.

Key statistics from the UCAS End of Cycle reports for 2018: • Applicants to full-time undergraduate degrees in the UK decreased by 0.6 per cent, bringing the total number of applicants down to the lowest levels since 2013. Declines will have been for a number of reasons but particularly the fall in the number of 18 year olds in the UK. •The number of acceptances has however remained stable, resulting in an increase in acceptance rates.

This indicates that providers may be choosing to expand the range of usual entry requirements to accept applicants with different grades or qualification profiles.

•As well as the increase in acceptance rates, there has been an increase in the entry rate (proportion of 18 year olds in higher education at the end of the cycle) showing that the appetite for higher education remains strong and continues to grow.

•Mature students have distinct characteristics, typically applying to and accepting places at providers closer to home. They also tend to apply later in the cycle, to a smaller number of courses.

Courses that mature students tend to apply to include subjects allied to medicine, business and admin studies and education.

•In 2018 there was a decline in most acceptance routes, but an increase in direct to Clearing (9 per cent of acceptances).

•The gap between women and men has grown wider each year since 2013, with women 36.7 per cent more likely than men to enter HE in 2018.

Sources: End of Cycle Report 2018, Summary of applicants and acceptances, UCAS; End of Cycle Report 2018, Patterns by applicant characteristics, UCAS To read the full reports visit https://www.ucas.com/dataand-analysis/undergraduatestatistics-and-reports/ ucas-undergraduate-end-cyclereports/2018-end-cycle-report The College has purchased data on subject choices for 2017 UCAS applicants who are domiciled in Bedfordshire or Northamptonshire. If you would like a copy of this, please contact Katie Featherstone, Market Research Manager.

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YOUR PICTURES Every month you send the marketing team wonderful images from our different campuses that we post on to our social media channels. Here are some of this month’s highlights.

getting venture team Outdoor ad ite the cold ive spirit disp into the fest sport and le dd uding pa weather incl sailing.

Coun tr creat yside leve ing b l 3 stu u Colle ge O g hotels in dents hav rchar e the S d. huttle been worth

Here’s Megan , one of our Pa & Decoratin g students en inting joying the start of her work placem ent with Metcalf.

am sh C re AO T r fo the all on d. b y ms oa lle r vo s tea ills f l H o y gir vs. da g and cup i B ys al bo tion na

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Tw o in t comp he utin V ups , ra EX ro g dep nke b d 8 otics artme n th a r nd egion t team al w 9th s ! arm

PEOPLE NEWS CURRENT VACANCIES Here are the current vacancies available across the Group. Visit the Staff Intranet to find out more information on how to apply.

Course Manager (Lecturer/ Teacher) – AAT Location: Kettering Salary: £30,000 - £39,000 per annum Application closing date: 06/02/2019 Teacher – Health & Social Care Location: The Bedford Sixth Form Salary: Band 1 Teacher BSF Application closing date: 04/02/2019 Lecturer – Engineering Location: Bedford Salary: £20,500 - £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 03/02/2019

BECOME A GOVERNOR

The Corporation seeks applications from talented, prospective governors on an ongoing basis. The Bedford College Group serves an ethnically diverse community and our Board should be representative of the local community. In order to improve the composition of the Board in terms of diversity, the College welcomes all applicants and particularly applications from women and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

It would be much appreciated if staff could promote the governor roles through their links in their communities and log any activity and feedback with me on rnicol@bedford.ac.uk or 01234 291003.

Below is a link to the website page “Become a governor”. www.bedford.ac.uk/about/corporate-governance/become-a-governor

RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS The Inter Faith Network website has a more detailed list of festivals with short descriptions.

Associate Trainer Location: Bedford Learning Centre Salary: £13 per hour Application closing date: 31/01/2019

1st IMBOLC Pagan

Lecturer – Health & Social Care Location: Kettering Salary: £20,500 - £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 03/02/2019

9th SARASVATI PUJA Hindu

Associate Trainer (Learning Centres) Location: Kettering Salary: £13 per hour Application closing date: 03/02/2019 Lecturer – Biology Location: Kettering Salary: £20,500 - £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 03/02/2019 Engineering Lecturer Location: Corby Salary: Competitive salary Application closing date: 03/02/2019

5th NEW YEAR FESTIVAL Chinese (2019 is the year of the Pig) 8th or 15th PARNIRVANA DAY Buddhist Note: From late January to the middle of February, many Asian countries (e.g. China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore) celebrate the Lunar New Year as a national holiday.

DIVERSITY CALENDAR – FEBRUARY 2019 Developing awareness of diversity and inclusion in a complex multi-cultural world and promoting the core values of British society: democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

For posters, videos, quizzes and inspiration go to ‘Diversity Calendar February 2019’ on Connect intranet.

4TH - WORLD CANCER DAY

It raises awareness of cancer and its prevention, detection, and treatment. The theme for 2019 is “I am and I will”.

5TH - SAFER INTERNET DAY

It promotes the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.

21ST - INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop awareness of cultural traditions and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

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