Update - November 2013

Update the latest news from around your College

November 2013

students on the big screen

page 3

students in parliament

page 5

waste facility visit

page 6

Dates for your diary Bedford College Open Evening

Principal update

2

Corporation news

2

Centre for the Creative Arts news

2-3

Centre for Enterprise & Technology news

3-4

The Bedford Sixth Form Thursday 7 November 2013, 5.00pm-8.00pm

Centre for Professional & People Services news

4-5

Shuttleworth College Open Day

Shuttleworth College news

5

Sustainability news

5-6

Sales & Marketing news

6

Quality news

6

People news

6

FIND US ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/bedfordcollege www.facebook.com/shuttleworthcoll www.facebook.com/bedfordsixthform

Bedford College Wednesday 6 November 2013, 5.00pm-8.00pm

The Bedford Sixth Form Open Evening

Shuttleworth College Saturday 9 November 2013, 9.30am-12.30pm

Bedford College Achievements Ceremony 2013

Bedford Corn Exchange Thursday 21 November 2013, 6.30pm-10.00pm

Bedford Technical Academy Consultation Event

The Bedford Sixth Form Saturday 16 November 2013, 10.00am-12.00pm

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/bedfordcollege www.twitter.com/shuttleworthcol www.twitter.com/thebedfordsixth

Want to contribute?

If you have something to contribute, please email update@bedford.ac.uk by Friday 8 November 2013. 

Principal update There’s something about Mary The College played a centre stage role for Mary Portas’ visit to our High Street on Monday 14 October. Accompanied by the Minister for High Streets Brandon Lewis, who praised the College for the part it plays in maintaining a vibrant town centre, Mary joined the students as they flooded across the town bridge at lunchtime, and visited Bedford Learning Centre and BROOKS (below). She was really impressed with the central role we play with the Bedford BID and the Portas Pilot.

Care in our community I am delighted to report that our latest Ofsted inspection of our care of residential students at Shuttleworth was a further improvement on last time, and within a whisker of being outstanding. We were graded ‘good’ with many outstanding features. Most importantly we were outstanding for safeguarding and outstanding for outcomes. It is an excellent result, especially given the limited ability we have to develop the accommodation, and shows how much our staff care about the wider development of students.

Maths and English You will have seen the commotion over the international study that showed English youngsters aged 16-24 have some of the lowest levels of maths and English in the developed world, and have lower skills than 54-65 year olds. We have always invested heavily in raising the maths and English skills of our students, and last year our functional skills success rates improved again to 81% – an exceptional achievement. One of the issues for colleges is that students with a grade C at GCSE in maths or English are supposed to have Level 2 skills in those areas – our testing shows that this is not the case. We have just completed all the initial testing and it shows that in English only 54% of students with a grade C at GCSE come out in our tests at Level 2, and in maths only 38% of those with a grade C come out in our tests at Level 2, which is very worrying.

Corporation news Since the start of term several committees have met: the Search Committee met and has recommended two potential new governors for appointment – the Board will meet in November and will have the final decision on whether to appoint the proposed new governors. The Corporate Governance Committee met in September and considered ways to improve the Board’s operation and how best to ensure our governors are well trained on a very limited budget.

The Quality Standards and Achievement Committee met in October and was pleased to see strong success rates. It is clear that there has been a significant improvement in the quality

Update November 2013

of teaching and learning, and this is being reflected in success rates across the College. The Committee also discussed the work being done around the College to improve standards of behaviour.

As ever, if you have any questions about the Board or any of the meetings please speak to your staff governors (Denise Troughton and Noki Nyoni) or contact the Clerk to the Corporation Ellen Heaney on ext.5003.

Centre for the Creative Arts news Cinemasports challenge Bedford College students recently had the opportunity to take part in the Cinemasports 10-hour short film challenge.

Entrants were tasked with producing a minute-long film in just 10 hours. A screening of the finished films, with entries coming from around the world, took place on Sunday 13 October at Bedford Cineworld, with almost 300 guests attending across two screens. At the end of the screening it was announced that certain films had been selected for a screening at the 36th Mill Valley Film Festival in California, including ‘Oliver’ an entry from Bedford College.

Particular praise was reserved for College Media student Luke Rance, whose film was described as ‘amazing’ by the director of the Skopelos International Film Festival for Youth in Greece, and is a contender for a national and international film competition.

West End workshop Second year Dance and Musical Theatre students recently took part in a full day workshop led by original cast members of the musical ‘Matilda’, in preparation for the students’ Achievements Ceremony performance. Students gained handson experience got a taste of a day in the life of a West End performer – the team can’t wait for everyone to see the results!

Bonfire Design On Friday 27 September Stephen Judge, Strategic Development Director and Founding Partner of Bonfire Design, visited the College’s Graphic Design HND students to set them a two-day design challenge consisting of a choice of three design briefs. The results will be presented to Stephen and his company, and the two students demonstrating the highest levels of creativity will be offered a direct mentoring link with Stephen and one of his fellow directors for the remainder of the academic year.

Design Bridge From Thursday 9 January to Friday 24 January 2014, the College’s award-winning Graphic Design HND course will be open for business. Trading as Design Bridge, the 17-strong student team, guided by tutors Jeffrey Tribe, Danny Stijelja and

Page 2

David Litchfield, are inviting local businesses and individuals to employ students for the design of logos, adverts, leaflets and any other small print items for an astonishing one-off flat fee of £150.

To express interest in submitting a project to the team please contact Jeffrey Tribe (jtribe@bedford.ac.uk) for more information.

The deadline for submissions is Monday 6 January 2014.

‘Ready, steady, cook’ 2013 Hospitality Management students undertook a ‘ready, steady cook’ activity recently as part of their induction programme.

The students were divided into four groups and were given identical sets of ingredients in order to prepare one or more dishes of their choice. Learners were given an hour to plan, prepare and serve their chosen dish. Learners practised their team building and leadership skills as part of the activity.

Course manage Lisette Toetenel said: ‘These type of practical activities are key in our industry, as they help students think very quickly on their feet and come up with practical solutions’.

Mark’s marathon challenge Hospitality Assistant Director Mark Lewis has started his training in preparation for his mammoth challenge of completing four marathons in four weeks in April 2014.

As part of his preparation he completed the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Sunday 6 October. It was a slow run in warm conditions, and was completed in 1 hour and 55 minutes.

‘A year in the life’ Hospitality and Teacher Education Advanced Practitioner/ Lecturer Lisette Toetenel was recently featured in the graduate newsletter of Oxford Brookes University, where she told of her experiences of studying a PhD. Lisette is currently studying while working at Bedford College, and is aiming to complete her PhD in 2015.

Female life models wanted!

The Art & Design team are currently in need of a female life model to participate in College classes.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old (or preferably a little older). You will be paid £13.00 per hour for your time, and can wear underwear/swimming costume if you are a bit nervous!

For more information, and to register your interest, please contact leighmelanie7000@aol.com

Centre for Enterprise & Technology news Learning Centres update Mary Portas (of ‘Mary Queen of Shops’ fame) visited Bedford Learning Centre this month. Mary visited different businesses along Bedford High Street, and was very impressed with the Learning Centre and its great location. The Learning Centre has also been running two-hour short courses this month in Photo Editing, Social Media, PC Maintenance and Navigating Outlook. To find out more about the short courses that are on offer at Bedford Learning Centre please call Ingrid Parello on 01234 2691347.

Mods and Rockers On Saturday 28 September an appreciative audience enjoyed an evening with Quadrophenia writer Martin Stellman, followed by a screening of the cult classic British film. The South Bank Arts Centre was delighted to be a host venue during the first Bedford Film Festival and will be working with the founders to develop what we hope will be an annual event for 2014.

A number of Bedford College staff gave up their Saturday evening to ensure the event was a success, so a sincere thank you to: Tom Wild, Simon Barker and our Media and Production students who volunteered their services; Mike and the Estates team; Mark Lewis, Lisette Toetenel, Sue Byles, Dave Lugg, Sam Ranasinghe and the Hospitality students who volunteered to run the bar. The popcorn and cupcakes were enjoyed as much as the drinks!

Update November 2013

Luton Learning Centre has been very busy this month, with new students enrolling onto the courses that they offer. The Centre will also be holding their annual achievers evening on Thursday 12 November 2013 to celebrate the fantastic achievements of the students that have attended the Centre in the past year. If you require any information regarding courses at Luton Learning Centre please contact Jackie Reilly on 01582 414178.

Page 3

Bedford College

Learning Centres Bedford · Luton · Rushden · Milton Keynes Rushden Learning Centre raised a fantastic £107 for Macmillan Cancer Research by holding a week of coffee mornings, and would like to thank everyone who donated the tasty cakes and attended the events. The Centre is also planning on arranging some fun and wacky fundraising ideas for Children in Need. For more information please call the Centre on 01933 358684.

Milton Keynes Learning Centre is continuing to build relationships with different agencies within the town to enhance their connections within the community. Babcock International will also be delivering careers advice in the Milton Keynes Learning Centre to support the local community in finding routes back into employment.

Professional & People Services news Care & Childcare students jump off the roof in tower block drama

at registration, which covers their placement costs, College t-shirt, textbook and educational trips throughout the year.

The overall response was fantastic – the difference in the classroom was tangible, as students with established rapport could hit the road running with enthusiasm and vigour in more enthusiastic classroom participation, discussions and learning from the outset. Plans are already afoot to repeat it next year, and discussions are continuing as to how this could be topped.

Managing Director of Adventure Ways, Kurt Perryman, has suggested how he could run a zip wire across the car park from the roof – that will be an interesting discussion with Barrie Baldwin and Mike Newton! Should any colleagues be interested in jumping off the roof for charity in June 2014, please email thowell@bedford.ac.uk to express an interest.

Public Services students hit the ground running New students studying the Uniformed Public Services Level 3 Diploma have enjoyed a busy start to their course. Within their first two weeks of teaching they have enjoyed the experience of a visit to the RAF officer training college based at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire. Apart from the rare experience of being able to watch an officer graduation ceremony, the students were also able to assist a trainee RAF careers adviser taking part in mock interviews, giving them a taste of what most of them will become very familiar with in the future.

Care & Childcare Assistant Director Karen Campbell is looking nervous as the team start debriefing their induction programme and planning for 2014! While in a quiet moment of reflection tutors may have wished they could throw students (or colleagues?) off the roof, this year the Care & Childcare Department did it for real, as they continued to push boundaries and comfort zones of new students on their annual induction activities.

While many seek innovative ways to induct new students, the small team on the 4th floor decided to challenge the students and each other to find a way to start group bonding and relationship building, as well as ensuring all the familiarisation, needs assessment and inducting objectives were met. The induction began with classroom-based ice breakers and goal setting, which enabled students to identify the high standards, commitment and hard work required to achieve for the academic year ahead. The highlight (no pun intended) of the programme initiated by the team was commissioning Adventure Ways (www.adventureways.co.uk) to help the groups get to know staff and each other through a range of wet and dry, low and high outdoor activities, including abseiling, team challenges, canoeing and katakanus.

Despite the expected initial resistance by staff and students alike (‘I don’t do heights’) a significant number of the 280 students abseiled down the 109-foot Tower Block, which became quite the talk of the town. Whether the tweet from Ian Pryce started it or not, relatives of staff with no connection to the College had heard through social media about the abseil, and several colleagues dressed in hoodies and baseball caps tried to disguise themselves as Childcare students to join in! The activities were funded from the £100 learners pay

Update November 2013

The following week saw the same students on a trip to the seat of power, where they had a guided tour around the Houses of Parliament. This was a very interesting opportunity for them, aimed at helping increase their knowledge of a subject they will be learning over the next couple of months, while also allowing them to put what they have observed into practice.

Childcare students join stakeholder forum Three Children & Young People’s Workforce Level 3 Extended Diploma students were recently invited to attend a stakeholder forum to work with the Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, to develop and scope potential proposals for future provision of Children’s services in Bedford. This important work will then shape into an agreed shortlist of options which will be tested through formal consultation.

Page 4

The invitation came from Katherine Parker, Specialist Engagement Officer, Bedfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group at the NHS, who also stated: ‘We feel it is really important for children and young people to become members of the Stakeholder Forum – their views and opinions will prove invaluable’.

Students Connie Deadman, Kirsty Wicks and Sophie Meech attended the first meeting of the Forum, together with their tutor Nicola Mitchener, on Thursday 26 September in the Conference Room at Capability House, Wrest Park, Silsoe.

Nicola said: ‘The students thoroughly enjoyed the event and managed to get their views and opinions heard amongst those of professionals, which included the police, GPs and paediatricians.’

The survey can be found on our Green Bedford College website (www.greenbedfordcollege.com) or on the staff intranet – we would greatly appreciate your feedback.

Waste facility tour On Thursday 12 September a group of College staff members visited the Mixed Materials Recycling Facility in Luton, where all of Bedford College’s general waste is processed. This is one of two facilities in the UK where general waste can be sent without having to be segregated first by the consumer – all of the separation of recyclable and non-recyclable materials occurs at this facility.

Shuttleworth College news ‘Speed meetings’ help raise awareness As part of Dyslexia Awareness week (Monday 14 October to Saturday 19 October) dyslexic students and staff took part in ‘speed meetings’ during Tuesday lunchtime in the common room at Shuttleworth College. Students had the opportunity to chat about their learning difference and how it affects them. Feedback from the participants was very positive, as they are now aware of other students and staff within the College who are also dyslexic. The event was run by Additional Learning Support at Shuttleworth College.

The process of separating starts with waste arriving by lorry and being tipped in the depot. From here it is fed into a large trommel (spinning drum), where the waste is separated by size and grade. Next, an infrared automated sort machine identifies different types of plastics, and bursts of air separate them from the rest of the materials.

As the waste continues its journey (which is nearly one kilometre long) through the facility other technologies are employed to sort the material, some of which are much simpler than one might imagine. Magnets are used to separate out ferrous metals, vibrating conveyor belts to further sort material by weight and size, and humans to pick very specific items out of the line. Anything left over at the end of this process is fed back into the sorting process again to make sure nothing has been missed.

Sustainability news Tell us what you think of Brundtland Building.

Have you ever been in Brundtland Building? If so, we need to hear from you!

About a year ago the refurbishment of Brundtland Building was completed, so we are now undertaking a survey to find out what Brundtland Building is like to use now compared to before. Please help us by taking a few minutes to complete a short survey about your experience of Brundtland Building.

Update November 2013

Page 5

At the end of this process cardboard, plastics, glass, metal, paper, and several other materials are ready to be reused. This method allows about 41% of all of the waste to be recycled.

The rest is sent to an energy-from-waste (incinerator) facility for energy generation – nothing goes to landfill.

It should be noted though that incineration is still not the most sustainable option for our waste, as the materials that go into incinerators are lost to us forever. In the future we hope that all of our waste will be reused.

The facility itself was quite loud, hot, stuffy and a little smelly, but it was fascinating to see the process that our rubbish goes through in order to make sure nothing is wasted.

If you would be interested in taking any students on a tour of this facility, please contact Wallis in the Sustainability Team at wlordhart@bedford.ac.uk or ext.5900.

Quality news Sharing Best Practice in Teaching, Learning and Assessment Newsletter The October edition is now available on the Teaching & Learning area of the Staff Intranet, on the Sharing Best Practice page. Articles for future editions are welcome – please email sharing@bedford.ac.uk to make a contribution.

Disabledgo Online Equality & Diversity and Disability Equality training If you have not already, please remember to access and complete your Disabledgo Disability and Equality and Diversity online training packages. These packages are designed to help you to: • Meet legal duties

Sales & Marketing news

• Ensure you are aware of disability and equality related legislation and your obligations

Achievements Ceremony – volunteers wanted!

• Change negative attitudes across the College to disability and equality

The Bedford College Achievements Ceremony on Thursday 21 November is fast approaching. If you would like to be part of the event you can volunteer to help out by contacting mjohnson@bedford.ac.uk

Bedford Technical Academy – we need your help!

Do you help run or are you involved with any local clubs or organisations? As part of our consultation process to open a Technical Academy for 13-19 years in 2015 we would like to speak to club and organisations in and around Bedford that have access to parents of children aged 10 to 12, and students aged 13 to 15. If you are involved with, or help run, any clubs or organisations that meet this criteria and would be happy for us to contact them please contact Katie Featherstone on ext.5941 or email kfeatherstone@bedford.ac.uk

Visit us at The Skills Show Taking place from Thursday 14 November to Saturday 16 November 2013, The Skills Show is the UK’s largest skills and careers event. As sponsors of the event, Bedford Colege will be having two stands there this year to showcase Have a Go Activities in Animal Sciences and Electrical Installation. If you are planning to come along, don’t forget to visit us in Hall 1 and Hall 3A. We are also putting on coaches for our own students to attend the event on the Friday. If you would like to book places for your students please contact Christine Ellis on ext.5933 or email cellis@bedford.ac.uk You can find out more about The Skills Show by visiting www.theskillsshow.com

Update November 2013

• Improve your customer service.

The training is available to all College staff, and will be compulsory for new staff. For more information visit the Equality & Diversity section of the Staff Intranet, or contact Esther Logan on elogan@bedford.ac.uk

People news Starters and Leavers Since we last reported there have been a number of changes in staff...

We have said goodbye to: Jamie Gibson Raj Sohante Jack McDonagh Aaron Gadsden Guimin Ma Gareth Leaman

Vanessa Jeyes Charlotte Wood Gareth New Sue Mountain Anne Unger Katie Luxton

We are saying hello to: Information Learning Technologies Liz Wheeler Creative Arts David Lugg Enterprise & Technology Chandra Parmar

Page 6