6News January

Ja n ua ry 2016 E d it io n

Welcome to the January edition of 6News, the exclusive staff magazine.

New Starters We would like to wish all of our new starters a very warm welcome to Blackpool Sixth.

We hope that you are enjoying your first term with us and we would welcome any feedback that you may have.

John Stevens - Performing Arts, Music and Media Dee McGuirk - English and MFL Andy Yelland - English and MFL Katie King - Visual Arts Benita Wiseman - Lead Invigilator - Exams Sarah Arnett - Lead Invigilator - Exams Carol Hargreaves - Invigilator - Exams Julia Lovell - Invigilator - Exams

Staff Awards As well as saying a sad goodbye to a number of staff just before the Christmas break, we also saw the introduction of a new format for the Staff Awards. Each department nominated a member of their team for the following awards: Calm in a Crisis, Unsung Hero and the Person who Brightens your Day.

The nominees for ‘Calm in a Crisis’ were: Nicola Kelly Carey Guite Steve Scatterson Claire Livesey Veronique Daniel Neil Webster Gill Hellewell

Matt Speight Simon Thornhill Dave White Tim Bateson Michael Handley Olivia Corbett Catherine Vance

Alistair Burr Claire Huggon Dave Williams Vicky Ashall Zarqa Batool

The Winner: Dave White

Dave White was crowned the ‘Calm in a Crisis’ champion! With colleagues commenting that Dave “never appears to get flustered or stressed about any situation, remaining an island of stability and reason in the midst of technical challenges. Dave always works to resolve any challenge and find solutions to meet the requests they are presented with.” Congratulations Dave!

The nominees for ‘Unsung Hero’ were: Debbie Robinson Jeannette Smith Fiona Ricchiuti Dani Griezens Linda Barclay Lindsay Gates Louise Hathaway

Emma McMillan Joanne Brown Rick Crowther Alison Miller Joe Wylie Julie Ann Trainor Laura McGuirk

The Winner: Linda Barclay

Alex Burgess Danny Dobranski Vicki Sharp Sue Campbell Elaine Little

Linda Barclay was crowned as the college’s ‘Unsung Hero’. Her colleagues commented that Linda is recognised as the “go to person” to get things done.

She is “supportive of all colleagues and students across college and she works tirelessly around the clock to ensure the department delivers its provision.” Linda lives and breathes Blackpool Sixth and is a fantastic ambassador for the college within the community. Well done Linda!

Insert title The nominees for ‘the Person who Brightens your Day’ were: Nichola Coleman Mel Henry Clair Gorse Sam Bailey Sue Ann Shaw Alix Butterfield Julie Halliwell Pete Wright

Rob Fisher Hannah Goodrick Katie McCarron Jeannette Marsden Jamie Beech Zarqa Batool Charlie Moore Ruth Houldsworth Pauline Taylor Charlotte Herd Charlotte Banner

The Winner: Zarqa Batool

Zarqa Batool won the award for ‘the Person who Brightens your Day’. Her colleagues said that Zarqa is always smiling! “She is such a caring person who always asks how you and your family are and how the students are and she is always there to help, support and provide a friendly face. Her sense of humour always brightens up the office and the food she brings in is amazing! She really does look after us!” Congratulations Zarqa!

Special thanks were also given to Adele Langford and Carey Guite for the quick and efficient help that they gave to a student who had fallen ill.

The staff awards ceremony also saw the exciting addition of ‘Sit Down Bingo’.

Rachel Wolstenholme and Chrissie Turkington successfully battled all competition and went on to win £50 to spend at Amazon. Congratulations to both of them.

Did you know?

The two zodiac signs for February are Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) and Pisces (February 19 - March 20) February is derived from the Latin word februum which means purification.

Special Birthdays

LONG SERVICE AWA R D S

The following members of staff recently celebrated a special birthday: Steve O’Brien Rachel Bashforth Sue Ann Shaw Sheri Mason Margaret Kuflowska We hope you all enjoyed your special day.

Each year we celebrate the contribution to college from staff who have worked with us for twenty years. This year three members of staff achieved a long service award.

Steve Legge Steve joined us in September 1995 as a basketball coach and since then has been responsible for the growth and success of basketball in college and has been involved in the development of basketball camps across the UK. In 2009 Steve was appointed as the Sport and Recreational Development Officer a role he continues in today, albeit under a different title.

Leading the enrichment programme Steve is an integral part of the sporting success of the college which is such an important part of its reputation locally. Steve has led a number of fund raising initiatives such as a 24 hour basketball marathon to raise money for the Japanese Earthquake appeal. In recent years Steve undertook NLP Practitioner training and has shared his expertise with colleagues – many of whom have benefitted from his group training sessions or one-to-one meetings. Apparently unflappable Steve is a much appreciated figure in the STPS department and across college.

Did you know?

The birthstone for February is Amethyst.

Stuart Ormson Stuart joined college as a fresh faced chemistry teacher in September 1995. He applied as he was coming to the end of his research project, snappily entitled “The Excited State Properties of 3-hydroxyflavones”. Starting with us on a one year temporary contract he was soon made permanent, and was thanked by the then Principal “for the way in which he established himself in college”. Stuart was an early champion of ILT in college and in 2002 took over the role of Personal Tutor Programme Co-ordinator. Now though Stuart is the Head of Student Support. Amongst his many achievements Stuart has been responsible for raising the HE application rates in college from figures of less than 65% in 2004 to the current levels of over 80% and this year has taken on the challenge of embedding the new pastoral system. Unfailingly friendly and relaxed Stuart is a pleasure to work with and a real asset to Blackpool Sixth.

Jaya Ravi Jaya is one of a long list of employees who started at Blackpool Sixth on a fixed term appointment and have stayed for many years.

She was originally employed as a computer programmer in January 1996 but was soon employed as a tutor and was supported by college to achieve her PGCE, to add to an already impressive list of qualifications including an MSc in Physics. Jaya started her teaching career at the St James School in New Delhi and then, after moving to England, became a lecturer in computer science at De Montfort University in Leicester before joining Blackpool Sixth. A warm and friendly member of staff she often provides her colleagues with delicious homemade food.

Jaya’s main focus outside college is her family and she is enjoying her new role as a grandma.

Her ready smile and reliable nature have ensured that she is a popular and well respected member of the BSIT department and an asset to the college as a whole.

Investors in People Award Just before Christmas we had our Investors in People (IiP) reassessment, where a cross-section of college staff were seen

by Mick Lynch, our assessor. Mick had confidential discussions with the staff he selected to explore with them how things worked at the college. He then assessed the college against the IiP assessment criteria based on the feedback that he had received.

We were delighted to be advised on the last day of term that we had been re-assessed as an IiP Gold organisation and not only that, we had increased the number of standards we have met. It was lovely that Mick then joined us for our end of term celebrations in the theatre and for Christmas lunch, joining in by wearing his specially purchased Christmas t-shirt! In his report there were lots of really positive quotes from staff and Mick made the following observations himself.

He said he ‘encountered extremely optimistic and focussed members of staff who worked at the college’ and that ‘as a result of people feeling happy in their work and well supported from managers, there was a palpable feeling that people thought that they could make a difference through their various roles within the college.’ He also felt that ‘there was a strong sense of ownership in terms of the success of the college.’ However, there are always improvements that we can make and we will continue to strive to do so. If you have any ideas or thoughts on this or other issues relating to college please share them with your Staff Forum or Staff Consultative Association representative or your manager.

We would also like to say a really big “thank you” to the staff who were selected to meet with Mick for giving your time to be a part of this process.

Nepal Christmas Quiz At the end of December the Nepal Team 2016 organised and hosted a very successful Christmas quiz. The team worked hard to organise this event by writing all the questions, organising decorations, putting together some wonderful raffle prizes ​and running the event on the night. The evening was a great success and over £700 was raised. The students have an ambitious target of £2500 to raise to support a school they will be teaching at in Nepal and this successful evening has certainly allowed them to make a good start on their fund raising.

Killer Google hacks to get your students’ research on fleek Think back to your childhood friends. If they were anything like mine they were not plentiful, but at least one had better toys than you, one got their 10 metre swimming badge sewn on upside down on their cozzie, and one got spectacularly tangled up in the swings and you had to go and get their mum. BUT the one you really remember is the kid who was amazingly gullible and would get into all kinds of scrapes simply because you told them to. Google is that kid: it will do whatever you tell it, and if the instructions are less than pin-sharp, you’ll get all kinds of undesirable results. For instance, my brother provided considerable entertainment when he was small: it was suggested his Action Men launch an amphibious assault on Anchorsholme beach, just as the tide was coming in, and I am afraid the platoon was somewhat reduced in numbers thereafter.

So, how to manage the dim bulb that is Google?

Search Google these four ways, and it will never have to explain again to Mr Blake across the road exactly why I it hit him on the back of the head with a tennis ball.* Add this to your search: site:ac.uk This directs Google’s unfocused gaze to university and college sites only, guaranteeing valid, reliable lecture notes, research, and suggested further reading.

Find your favourite site, and then Google it like this related:bbc.co.uk This finds sites similar to ones you use, but which may not turn up in a normal Google search, siply because it doesn’t necessarily contain the right search terms.

Narrow the search to a time and place Once you’ve got a list of results, narrow your search by time and place. This omits outdated research, and sites from the US, which may give erroneous information, especially if students are looking for health-related information. This image contains information about lemon meringue pie. I know. Don’t judge me.

So there you have it: neat hacks to prevent rubbish results. And embarrassing conversations with the neighbours. *This definitely NEVER happened.

Article by Helen Crowther Did you know?

On February 6, 1952, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. The Welsh call February “y mis bach” which means “little month”

Career Ready Graduation On Thursday 4th February we celebrated the graduation of the 2015 Career Ready students. This was an opportunity to commend their successes and included 4 special awards obtained by the following students; Sarah Gee who gained the award for Outstanding Effort, Murat Cobandag for Outstanding Contribution, Sammi Lai for Employers’ Recognition and Lauren Tooth for Student of the Year. The event was well received by local employers and parents alike and all had a lovely evening. Thank you to all those involved.

Compliments - Career Ready scheme Recently Sam Brown in BSIT received this lovely email from a former student, really illustrating the positive impact of the Career Ready scheme on our students.

“I just wanted to say a quick thank you for everything, especially for the Careers Academy UK Scheme (now Career Ready I believe) that you ran and also wondered if you still run the scheme?

In the last year, I have only come to realise how important this has been for me moving forward into a career I want to do and was invaluable when it came to applications, interviews and assessment centres last year. It allowed me to get my foot in the door at companies such as Microsoft, RollsRoyce and Mitsubishi and I’m now on a year placement in the chemical, specialty polymers and resins business with the latter, with a graduate job offer already.

A little update on what I’ve been up to ... I’m still at Durham University studying Business and Management and really loving every minute of it, despite initially not really wanting to go. In my current commercial business placement, I have had two different job roles in the Commercial and Business Support departments. Within the Commercial team I was responsible for market reconnaissance for their specialty polymers and resins business, which involved compiling company portfolios and market reports for prospective future growth locations, along with many other things.

My second role involved a project management role for the implementation of a new global intranet site, which I’m now currently working on. Any spare time is now taken up from running sports teams or going to networking events (another thing I wouldn’t have done without Careers Academy) and that’s pretty much it.

If I'm ever around in the North West I will try to pop in and if the Career Ready programme is still running and there is anything I can do which would help just let me know! #LivingTheEconomicDream Craig Young”

The legend of St. Valentine The history of Valentine’s Day–and the story of its patron saint–is shrouded in mystery. So who was Saint Valentine, and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realising the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “Valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl–possibly his jailer's daughter–who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine,” an expression that is still in use today.

At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the middle ages, and the oldest known Valentine, still in existence today, was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century and by the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology, providing an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expressions of feelings were discouraged.

So although we cannot be sure about his history, St Valentine has bequeathed us a romantic tradition that is still going strong today.

Congratulations Congratulations and best wishes to our two Visual Arts expectant mums. We look forward to sharing baby pictures with you in the near future.

Did you know?

Once every six years, February is the only month that has four, full seven-day weeks.

We Love Rewards!

As an employee of Blackpool Sixth you have access to hundreds of discounts so you can save money on everyday purchases such as food, shopping or bigger one off purchases like a laptop or your annual holiday.

You can get huge discounts at over 100 different high street stores, restaurants and leisure & travel companies, which include Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Topshop, B&Q, Argos and M&S. You will also have access to exclusive deals and savings on mobile phones, sim cards, iPhones and iPads along with other household purchases.

The offers are exclusive to “We Love Rewards” and are designed to save you money. All you need to do to access these offers and discounts is go to your discount website www.weloverewards.com and register by selecting ‘new user register here’. Then, using your Blackpool Sixth email address and the password ‘weloveblackpool’ you can register.

Rock Fm Mission Christmas The Social Sciences team have been supporting the Rock FM 'Mission Christmas - Cash for Kids' campaign to ensure that the disadvantaged children in our local community received a gift this Christmas. We registered the college as a 'drop off' point for Christmas gifts so that members of the community could drop off gifts at the college to help support the campaign. In addition to this each class within the Social Sciences department committed to buying at least one gift for a child this Christmas. However the team worked particularly hard and managed to persuade our other students and staff to bring in gifts too. On the last day of the campaign Alex Burgess promoted the cause further by dressing up as an elf for the day. As a result he managed to raise over £100 from just one of his classes. In total the department managed to collect over 300 gifts, which was a well above their target!

Article by Abby Jones, Head of Social Sciences.

Did you know?

When the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, took to the throne in 713 BC, he had plans to make the calendar more accurate by synchronizing it with the actual lunar year, which is roughly 354 days long. Thus, two new months, January and February, were added to the calendar.

The “Trustees” Many of you will have heard mention of the “trustees” and may well be wondering who they are and what connection they have with college.

The trustees are actually the “Trustees of the Blackpool Grammar School War Memorial Foundation”. The foundation itself was set up with money bequeathed to it in memory of those former pupils of the Blackpool Grammar School who lost their lives in the world wars and it recognises the sacrifice of all former students of the Blackpool Grammar School, and any of its successor schools, who have lost their lives fighting for their country.

Blackpool Sixth is a successor organisation of Blackpool Grammar School. When the grammar school closed it became Collegiate and we were originally the sixth form centre for Collegiate, only later becoming the sixth form for the area as a whole and gaining our independence. Aspire Academy is the newest successor school and if you visit the new building you will see some reminders of its past. There are memorial stones at the front of the school and a magnificent stained glass memorial window which was part of the original Blackpool Grammar School building near the town centre and which is now the centre piece of the dining area.

Left to right: (standing) John Tasselli, Keith Bleazard, Jack Quarmby, Sylvia Prentice, Glen Jackson: (seated) Dorothy Tatton, Wendy Stevenson.

The photograph shows the trustees after their most recent meeting at Aspire Academy in front of the memorial window. The trustees can really be seen, though, as friends and supporters of the college. They are currently seven in number and meet two or three times a year. They use the funds at their disposal to support both the college and Aspire and we have recently benefitted enormously from their generosity. Every year they support the memorial lecture and sponsor ten student prizes.

In addition in 2015 they donated £3,500 towards CRY and were so impressed by the cause that they have very kindly donated a further £3,500 in 2016. Many departments have benefitted from donations from the foundation over the years and for all their support we would like to say a very big “thank you”.

Financial News As was explained in the last edition of 6news, from 1st April 2016 the government are removing the national insurance rebate which is currently given to people who are in defined benefit pension schemes. Both the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are defined benefit schemes and for that reason all members of staff who are also members of either of the pension schemes will be affected. The current rebate amount is 1.4% so if you are in one of the pension schemes your national insurance contributions will rise in April.

On the positive side there is an increase in the personal allowance to £11,000 from £10,600, which effectively means for people earning £11,000 or more there will be an additional £400 of your salary which will not be subject to any income tax.

For higher paid employees the basic rate limit will be increased to £32,000 so the threshold at which higher rate tax will be paid will increase from £42,385 to £43,000.

The government are also introducing the National Living Wage which will mean staff over 25 years of age must be paid a minimum of £7.20 per hour. Though we have very few staff who may be affected by this change we will ensure that all our salaried staff are paid at or above this level.

Forthcoming events This year Blackpool Sixth are proud to present ‘Footloose’ as their 2016 musical, showing over three nights on Tuesday 1st, Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd March 2016.

Footloose is about a city teenager moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned and his rebellious spirit shakes up the populace. This fastpaced drama is filled with such now-famous hit songs as the title track “Footloose” and “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”.

This is a really good opportunity to come and see some of the great talent we have here at Blackpool Sixth.

Please come and support our staff and students at this year’s Spring event. Contact our friendly Event Co-ordinators, Nicola Kelly or Emma Lund for information and tickets on events@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk.

blackpoolsixth.ac.uk

enquiries@blackpoolsixth.ac.uk

Blackpool Sixth, Blackpool Old Road, Blackpool, FY3 7LR.

01253 394911