CONNECT November 2018

CONNECT N E WS

|

U P DAT E S

|

D I A RY DAT E S NOV EM B E R 201 8

Gina Bubbins, Mark Livingstone and Rosetta Triolo celebrate being the number one provider.

M e m b e r s o f B e d fo rd Co l l e g e ’s B u s i n e s s D eve l o p m e n t Te a m , Ro s e t t a Tr i o l o, M a r k L i v i n g s to n e a n d G i n a B u b b i n s , l ov i n g L u to n .

BCS BEDFORD COLLEGE SERVICES

EDITOR’S NOTE

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY November 2018 29 NOVEMBER 2018 Northamptonshire Achievements Ceremony

Hello everyone!

December 2018

Welcome to the November Edition of CONNECT Magazine.

6 DECEMBER 2018 Bedfordshire Achievements Ceremony

As the end of the year approaches we are getting ready for not one, but two Achievements Ceremonies!

I’m sure these will be fantastic evenings that celebrate all the hard work of staff and students.

14 DECEMBER 2018 End of year staff social – all campuses

Keep sending in your news and photos!

4 JANUARY 2018 All Staff Meetings: Shuttleworth College 11:30am Bedford College 3:00pm

January 2019 3 JANUARY 2018 Staff development days

9 JANUARY All Staff Meeting – The Bedford Sixth Form 3:30pm

10 JANUARY ALL STAFF MEETINGS: Tresham College, Corby campus 9:00am Tresham College, Kettering campus 3:00pm 22 JANUARY 2019 Bedford College Open Day 23 JANUARY 2019 The Bedford Sixth Form Open Day 24 JANUARY 2019 NC4M Open Day 26 JANUARY 2019 Shuttleworth College Open Day 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

CONTENTS PAGE 3

PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE

PAGE 4

EMBEDDING ENGLISH AND MATHS

DAISY CRANFIELD

PAGE 5

CELEBRATE YOUR OWN ACHIEVEMENTS THIS YEAR

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

PAGE 6

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP

PAGE 8

YOUR PICTURES

PAGE 9

PEOPLE NEWS

PAGE 10

EQUALITY & DIVERSITY

Corporate Communications Executive

Corporation News The Corporation continues with their busy meeting cycle for the Autumn term.

The Board meeting on 8 November saw formal confirmation to the Board of the achievement of The Bedford College Group in 2017-2018.

Governors past and present will be represented at the College Achievements Ceremonies both in Kettering and Bedford on 29 November and 6 December where they will celebrate student success.

2

November 2018

The Corporation recognise that no success is possible without the dedicated and passionate staff in all areas of the College.

On behalf of the Corporation, congratulations to you all and seasons greetings.

Any questions in respect of the Corporation should be directed to rnicol@bedford.ac.uk

RACHEL NICOL

Clerk to the Corporation T: 01234 291003 E: rnicol@bedford.ac.uk

“

“

We’ve had a great year and we’ve ended it on a high.

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

PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE Keeping Up with the Jones’s We’ve had a great year and we’ve ended it on a high after the unveiling of the shortlist for the FE TES Oscars at the AoC Conference last week.

Pat Jones, our Finance Director, has been shortlisted for Leader of the Year for her stewardship of our finances and securing the funding for the Advanced Engineering Centre and the Wellingborough redevelopment.

Sam Jones, who has helped create our thriving research community, has been shortlisted for Teacher of the Year.

The winners will be announced in London in March.

The NICDEX

Souper Troopers

Bedford is the 7th worst town in England for homelessness.

A new charity Soupfest was set up last year to raise awareness and money to help those in this position. I’m really pleased that our performing arts students helped the event by playing live during the day. It is good to see students helping out at events like this. Kettering students performed live at the firework display at Wicksteed Park too.

Fantasy football

Our Tresham football academy first team has been crowned best in the East Midlands at the AoC Regional Championships, another excellent achievement, showing that our college successes can now make the front pages or the back pages.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

The FE paper FE News produces an annual league table of colleges based on public data on student and employer satisfaction, and 16-18 and adult progression.

Last year Bedford College was ranked 18th overall and Tresham College 137th. Bedford was 6th best for the progression scores, Tresham about 100th.

The latest table was produced to coincide with the AoC Conference. It is the first that shows us as a merged college. It is very pleasing to see we remain strong on progression at 8th best in the country, and overall we were ranked 52nd. Any performance table is interesting. This suggests we made very good progress in our first year of merger.

The winning team!

November 2018

3

INDUSTRY ARTICLE EMBEDDING/DEVELOPING ENGLISH AND MATHS Some of the best strategies that I have seen teacher use to develop English and maths skills have involved learner creativity or inventive starters. This month, I would like to highlight a few of the tools I have come across to help teachers do just that.

The first is www.stripcreator.com . This is an online tool that lets you create comic strips. If, like me, you suffer from a complete lack of artistic ability; with Stripcreator you can choose from an array of pre-built characters and simply add text and narration. Here is one I created as an example below. (Figure 1.)

This is a nice easy starter activity for the group to do together as it just keeps going to different images and diagrams. For maths, you may also like ‘Starter of the Day’ (https://www.transum.org/Software/SW/Starter_ of_the_day/), which provides a different maths starter for each calendar day. There are tons of great puzzles and riddle there.

Developing maths and English skills doesn’t have to add workload; there are plenty of other tools available to help you do the job.

MATH HUMOUR

Using this as a fun way to review or explain content could be really powerful and a great way to embed English into your lesson by getting students to think about things like dialogue and even character development. You can create a free account and save your strips or simply use the Windows snipping tool to take a picture of the comic and save it that way. So, have a think about how you might use this as a learning tool, perhaps an assessment/ assignment or just a bit a fun. No matter what you decide to do with it, I think you will agree, this website is pretty cool.

For maths; one of my PGCE students introduced me to this tool from mathplaygroud.com (https://www.mathplayground.com/puzzle_pics_2/ tilesmath_fractions.htm) which creates a jigsaw out of images that you use fractions to solve.

Figure 1.

4

November 2018

MARK TINNEY Teacher Education Course Leader/ILT Development Coach

Tresham College

INDUSTRY ARTICLE CELEBRATE YOUR OWN ACHIEVEMENTS THIS YEAR With the final issue of Connect for 2018 being all about achievements, it’s easy for us to relay all the great things that have happened among students, staff and across the Group itself since January.

There have been so many brilliant success stories. What, I’m sure, is more difficult for most people reading this is to recall their own, individual achievements this year.

When I was interviewing the student and staff winners for their Achievement Ceremony case studies earlier this month, many of them found it difficult to tell me why they thought they had won their award. Of course, they could list off what they’d done during the year, but pinpointing what effect these achievements had had on colleagues and the College was, naturally, more difficult. The truth is, most of us find it hard to ‘blow our own trumpet’!

As a freelancer, I’ve come across lots of services out there to help people do just this, but they mostly focus on your business or the product you’re selling, rather than the individual. But I think many

of the methods they use can be applied to those who suffer from low self-esteem or just want to learn more self-appreciation.

Here’s one such method that marketing and sales teams commonly use. It’s the FAB analysis: features, advantages, benefits (sorry, not the ice lolly variety!).

Think of a Kindle. A feature of a Kindle is that it is pocket sized, an advantage is that you can read books on the go, and a benefit is that this will save you time and let you multitask.

One of your features might be the number of years’ experience you have in your role. An advantage would be how this sets you apart from others, for example, you are knowledgeable in your field and committed. A benefit would be how this impacts on those who work around you, for example, you can bring a deeper understanding to situations to help solve problems.

Bedford College Group puzzle, so when you read about a new multi-million pound building being constructed, or a department gaining professional status, new partnerships being formed or competition winners being crowned, take a moment to reflect on how you helped make that happen, and practice a little selfappreciation.

I’m sure many of you are following The Apprentice - these guys never doubt themselves despite Lord Sugar’s comments (and perhaps viewers’ disbelief from time to time!) It may not be the best example, but you can’t deny they are proof that a little self-belief can go a very long way.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

SARAH HYDE Feature Writer

@SH_Content

Your ‘benefits’ are what make you an important part of The

November 2018

5

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP APPRENTICESHIP CHAMPION Bedford College Governor Mark Lawson has won an National Apprenticeship Champion Award for the East Midlands region.

He now progresses on the UK-wide stage of the awards representing all that is best about the area in which The Bedford College Group is the premier apprenticeship provider.

Mark, himself once an apprentice, is now Head of Engineering Technical Facilities and Engineering Apprentice Manager at Lockheed Martin UK Ampthill. Bedford College provides apprenticeship training to those in engineering, IT Software, Finance and Business at the global company.

Mark gives up his spare time to be part of the Bedford College Board of Governors.

achievement and are so very grateful for the time he spends with us at Bedford College.

He said: “As an ex-apprentice myself I am immensely proud to be helping the next generation of engineerings to be successful in their careers.

“We are very privileged to have such an wide range of top class individuals from industry who give their time to be part of The Bedford College Group and in doing supporting young people into the careers of tomorrow.”

“The award of Apprenticeship Champion is a proud moment, but also humbling in the company of our brightest young people. It further inspires me to keep banging the drum for apprenticeships.”

Ian Pryce CBE, CEO of The Bedford College Group said: “We all congratulate Mark on this

Read more about Mark here: www. bedford.ac.uk/about/corporategovernance/the-bedford-collegegroup-board-of-governors

INTERFAITH WEEK

The Interfaith week was marked with a display of objects of significance to different religions and beliefs. Students and staff were invited to talk about what faith meant to them and to complete a quiz on different religions represented in Britain.

Staff working on the display.

Staff enjoying Interfaith Week.

TRESHAM ACADEMY OF SPORT REGIONAL WINNERS!

The winning team with their certificates.

6

November 2018

Congratulations to the Tresham Academy of Sport football team who have won the AoC Sport East Midlands Regional Football Tournament. The team has now qualified for the National Finals which will be held in April and will see the team competing against other regional winners as well as students from other nations.

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP LOVING LUTON Bedford College LOVES Luton.

The region’s No. 1 provider of apprenticeship and professional training is winning over new employers every week in the boom town of Bedfordshire.

With international companies like Vauxhall offering fantastic job opportunities locally, and working with The Bedford College Group for training, they lead the way in working with the top team. Led by Director Gina Bubbins, the college’s Business Development Team are the conduit between employers, Government grants and the most eager would-be employees in the county.

“We have been working with the biggest and best employers in the South of the county for years, but as Luton takes off with some any exciting developments at the airport and elsewhere, we are forming more great alliances,” said Gina.

A dedicated Luton business development manager Mark Livingstone is on the road meeting managers who need advice on apprenticeships and advanced training for staff. He reports into Head of Business Development Rosetta Triolo who is well known from her years at Heart Radio and Central Bedfordshire Council.

Together with the rest of The Bedford College Group team they have their sights firmly set on securing Luton business.

HORROR AT THE BEDFORD SIXTH FORM

“Bedford College understands the needs of businesses and employers, we work with them and to their timetables and have the expertise to guide companies through the ever-changing Government funding around, for instance, the Apprenticeship Levy.

Ask us for help, we know how to navigate the paperwork,” added Gina.

Organisations from Luton who train their staff via Bedford College include Vauxhall, GKN, Luton Airport (Dart), Trumpf, Luton Borough Council and NHS Luton.

“In addition Bedford College is delivering the Level 5 Management apprenticeship to departmental managers within our business. We look forward to further developing our staff with the help of programmes delivered

by Bedford College.

“The partnership with Bedford College allows us to fulfil our wish to support local businesses as well as fulfilling our commitment to further development of staff within Cawleys that will help us to become an employer of choice in the local area.”

Cawleys Waste Management gives credit to the Bedford College team: Kirsty Dwan, HR Manager at Cawleys Waste Management, said: “When the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced, we at Cawleys decided to use it to develop our existing staff using local colleges.

“We partnered with Bedford College to deliver a supervisory and Management programme to our aspiring leaders. The communication and support from Bedford College has been great and we are just launching the first of two cohorts for the Level 3 Team Leader/Supervisor Advanced Apprenticeship with the second cohort due to start in early 2019.

Gina Bubbins, Mark Livingstone and Rosetta Triolo celebrate being the number one provider.

A cross-curricular project, combining Textiles, Drama and Art students in the creation of a horror maze that took over the Grand Hall at the Bedford Sixth Form. Each A2 Drama group performed, one of each night on the two nights leading up to Halloween. The theme was a 1920s burnt down fashion house. Audiences of ten were lead around the maze by a tour guide, where they were accosted by various ghosts who haunted the house. This event was sponsored by Bedford Timber.

Drama students at The Bedford Sixth Form

November 2018

7

NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP NAOMI’S FINE ART Bedford College Fine Art student Naomi Boika was invited to exhibit two exceptional pieces of art based on the refugee crisis. Naomi, a Level 3 student, made a huge impression on the organisers of the exhibition, which was part of the closing celebration of the Higgins Museum’s exhibition Voices: Different Pasts, Shared Futures.

The exhibition was available to view at the Harpur Suite of the Bedford Corn Exchange. Well done to Naomi and thank you to course manager Steven Harris for sending this through to us.

These pieces and other Fine Art work can be viewed on Instagram @ bedfordcollege_fineart

Art work produced by Naomi.

NEW EQUIPMENT The Land and Environment department at Shuttleworth College have been given thousands of pounds of cutting edge equipment to use in student practical sessions from one of the largest manufacturers in the sector.

Continuing links that have been created with Land & Environment Lecturer, Tom Bowen and Stihl, mean that three brand new chainsaws, a cut away disc-cutter (to show how a two stroke engine works internally) and a battery power-pack and hedge cutter

Land & Environment tutor Tom Bowen testing out the new equipment.

8

November 2018

have been offered by Stihl for the students to use in practical sessions.

Tom explained “The way this industry is moving and the advances in the technology used to create these machines means that we expect to see a lot more battery powered machines in the coming years and the technology is going to close the gap between petrol and batteries.

Stihl have been very helpful with the resources and help they have provided in the past and the

students really appreciate the technical support days”.

Stihl regularly run demonstration days for the learners to operate the machines which allows them the opportunity to try cutting edge machines in a setting that they wouldn’t normally be exposed to.

Tom added “It’s a great relationship as it allows us to demonstrate the latest machinery with the learners and integrate it.”

The new equipment donated by Stihl.

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.

partment Adventure de comed 20 The Outdoor el th College w at Shuttlewor d over 100 an s tie universi employers, 5 ‘Careers and their annual students to t. ent’ even Work Placem

Sam a ‘Teac ntha Jon e h for ‘F er of the s is nom inate E Le Year d a FE A ’ ward der of th and Pat for s 20 e Ye ar ’ in Jones 19. the T ES

Katie Feathe rstone was na med ‘Marketer of the Year ’ at the FE First National Mar keting Awar ds 2018.

Elect ric Ninja al YouTu b visite d the e sensatio Tresh a n s tech- m College taff and s Sparky tuden talk. to giv ts at e the ma

Bedford College mu sic students raise money for Child ren in Need.

new their sing u s t n stude worth rs. le t t u eu Sh secat Felco

November 2018

9

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.

Associate Lecturer- AAT Location: Kettering Salary: £20.50 per hour (Unqualified) / £21.50 per hour (Qualified teacher) Application closing date: 05/12/2018 Lecturer – Maths Location: Kettering Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum.

Application closing date: 07/12/2018 Senior Recruitment Co-ordinator Location: Bedford Salary: £25,000 per annum Application closing date: 07/12/2018 Technician - Music Location: Bedford Salary: £15,500 - £20,000 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 09/12/2018 Lecturer - Plumbing Location: Bedford Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum.

Application closing date: 09/12/2018 Lecturer - Engineering Location: Bedford Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum.

Application closing date: 09/12/2018 Training Coordinator (Assessor) Carpentry/Joinery Location: Bedford Salary: £28000 to £34000 per annum Application closing date: 09/12/2018 Training Coordinator (Assessor) Construction & Civil Engineering Location: Bedford Salary: £28,000 to £34,000 per annum Application closing date: 09/12/2018 Lecturer - Music Location: Kettering Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 11/12/2018 Associate - Lecturer / Teacher - Business Location: Bedford Salary: £20.50 per hour (unqualified) / £21.50 (qualified) Application closing date: 12/12/2018 Curriculum Administrator Location: Kettering Salary: Circa £16,000 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 16/12/2018

10

November 2018

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.

3rd 10th Hanukah (Jewish) 8th Bodhi Day (Buddhist) 21st Winter Solstice/ Yule (Druid, Pagan) 25th Christmas Day (Christian)

DIVERSITY CALENDAR – DECEMBER 2018 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 videos, quizzes and inspiration go to Diversity Calendar December 2018 on Connect https://college.oak.com/Content/Page/Index/93424128-a2dd48e0-8b13-c3159313c0ae?dialogType=1&reviewComplete=False

1ST - WORLD AIDS DAY

It’s an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Founded in 1988, World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day.

10TH - HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

It marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.In 1948 The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘All human beings are born with equal and inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms.’

3RD - INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES The theme for this year is “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”. Disability has wide-ranging implications such as accessibility, age, health, work, leisure, education and migration.

SPOTLIGHT ON...

ADDITIONAL LEARNING SUPPORT - CO-ORDINATORS

Elli Kyr ou ALS As se Co-ord ssor & Needs inator

alloway Laura G -ordinator Co EHCP

Lynn B Autis rayford m As sistan t

WHAT DOES MY DEPARTMENT DO? We are part of the Additional Support Team at Bedford, with a focus upon students supported through High Needs Funding. We offer mentoring, social communication support, preparing Individual Support Plans and assessing for exam arrangements, and social events to develop skills.

We support students to understand their Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

WHERE ARE YOU BASED? Elli, Lynn, Wendy and Laura are based at College House, known as The Haven and available for all students within the college who have additional needs.

Suzie is based in the Bruntland Building, opposite the Education Department.

At Shuttleworth we are based in The Haven, which students can either access through Student Services or the door opposite the Outdoor Ed toilets.

on Suzie Samps nator di or oC f Dea

Wendy C Autism ook Co-ord inator

curriculum area and personal tutors; working towards achieving their EHCP outcomes and having an overall positive educational experience.

Staff within the team have specific areas of specialism, although all are able to provide help and support to students and staff relating to additional needs. Elli, Wendy and Lynn work predominately with students on the Autistic Spectrum, Suzie supports our Deaf students and Laura supports students with other Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities.

improve their social skills and confidence •

Improved links with Teaching Staff, Personal Tutors and Support staff

•

Raising the profile of different difficulties and disabilities through organised events

•

Working with students who progress onto positive outcomes from College.

WHAT CHALLENGES WILL YOU BE FACING THIS YEAR?

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT?

•

Each day will bring new challenges but it will also bring successes.

To develop stronger relationships with the wider college, ensuring that Additional Support needs are acknowledged and met

•

To organise more engaging ‘Awareness and Acceptance’ events

•

To be more aware of academic achievements.

WHAT ROLE DO THE LEARNING FACILITATORS HAVE?

WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS DID THE TEAM ACCOMPLISH LAST YEAR?

We aim to coordinate all aspects of support for the student, by linking with students, parents/carers,

•

Organising enjoyable social events for our students to

•

A supportive, close knit team

•

Fun.

ANY INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT YOUR DEPARTMENT? •

College House is the oldest brick building in Bedford.

To find out more about us visit our page on the Staff Intranet November 2018

11