3 minute read
Wellbeing
Catherine Lloyd
Director of Land Based Studies clloyd@bedford.ac.uk
Life in Lockdown 3.0 Group News
During the third lockdown, work has continued at Shuttleworth to look after the animals and plants. The challenges are different this time to the first lockdown, as last March we were heading into spring and the better weather, but this time we have been firmly in winter. Lambing is underway at Kinghshill Farm with just under 250 ewes expected to give birth to around 380 lambs. Despite students not being with us, we are collecting videos and even attempting lessons live from the lambing yard!! The ewes are Suffolk X Mules, all in lamb to Charollais rams.
February is a busy month for the Shuttleworth’s herd of Red Poll Cattle. The four yearly herd’s Bovine Tuberculosis test is carried out this month, with all cattle also being blood tested for four of the major cattle diseases in order to (hopefully) maintain our Elite Herd Health status. The first of the cows are due to calve at the end of the month. The recently installed weather station at Kingshill is producing really useful data. This is a fantastic addition to the farm and we are looking at ways to use this information going forwards in terms of both farm operations and student projects. Last year we planted areas to provide winter bird food on the farm, which along with putting out supplementary feed is supporting wild birds during the cold weather. Zoological Education Centre external enclosures and landscaping are now well established providing an excellent resource for students and we received extremely positive feedback from the students last term. Our tropical bird flights have been successfully completed and we hope to encourage training and breeding opportunities for endangered species in the spring. The staff have been looking after our vast collection of animals during lockdown, it is certainly a varied job, from wallabies in the paddocks through to frogs in the amphibian zone. Activity has been continuing in the walled garden area, with filming of practical demonstrations to share with the students. There is a lot of work looking after the large collection of stock plants ready for when students return to college. The picture shows a flowering Crassula ovata from the Agronomy greenhouse.
article demonstrates TV shortcomings
Writing a critique of the world famous TV programme The Simpsons, has led to teacher Ricky Kingshott being featured in the Media Magazine. The publication is essential reading for students at The Bedford Sixth working towards an A-Level in Media. After seeing a news story about how actor Hank Azaria was no longer going to voice the character of Apu, Ricky contacted the Editor of Media Magazine and proposed an article examining the range of stereo types within the show.
“When studying Media, students are encouraged to think about how certain groups are represented. In the case of The Simpsons, billionaires, police and politicians, who wield great power in society, are worthy targets of satire. “However, most of the stereotypes target subordinate groups who are already marginalised, such as the South Asian American community, as represented by Apu, as well as America’s poorest community, through Cletus Spuckler, a redneck outrageously nicknamed the ‘slack jawed yokel’.”
said Ricky. Art students of The Bedford Sixth Form have created some original works based on the Progress Pride flag as part of UK LGBT+ History month. The fantastic entries were judged by successful designer David Litchfield www.davidlitchfieldillustration.com/ Art teacher Natalie Wells collated the entries into a virtual gallery. The Top 3, were awarded Amazon voucher prizes.
