Capital City College Group - Community Good News | Issue Three

Welcome to Capital City College Group Transforming Lives of Londoners Through Education

COMMUNITY

Issue 03 • June 2020

N E W S P A P E R

The adapting to the Coronavirus edition CCCG remain committed to delivering the best possible teaching, learning and training to all our students in all our communities, as well as working with employers to ensure that they can call on a skilled workforce that is ready for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

If you want to find out more or work more closely with us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your usual contact, myself or visit our website https://www.capitalccg.ac.uk.

Alternatively, we keep our college

Hello and welcome to this newsletter, which brings you news and inspiring stories from the Capital City College Group (CCCG) and our three further education colleges: City and Islington; Westminster Kingsway; and the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL), as well as from our apprenticeships and employer training division – Capital City College Training.

Our theme for this edition is ‘business as unusual’. We are living through unprecedented times. At the time of writing, the country has been in lockdown for weeks and, although restrictions are slowly being lifted, it’s

impossible to say when things will return to normality. CCCG were planning for online teaching delivery before the lockdown began and, as the main article in this edition illustrates, we have been delivering lessons virtually to our students ever since. We are also hard at work planning for a probable return to college and the next page of this newsletter has more information about this.

The Group is London’s largest provider of further education. Last year we enrolled approximately 24,000 students of all ages and over 98% of graduates successfully moved on from our colleges – the majority into further study, higher education, a job, or an apprenticeship.

websites https://www.candi.ac.uk https://www.conel.ac.uk and https:// www.westking.ac.uk and the website of our training arm https://www. capitalcct.ac.uk/ up-to-date with news and activities from around the colleges. There, you can also find details of open days and all the college’s courses including our free online courses https://www.conel.ac.uk/for-learners/ professional-courses.html.

With my very best wishes.

Roy O’Shaughnessy CEO, Capital City College Group.

Business as unusual: how we’re adapting to this new world

On 23 March 2020 the Government announced a UK-wide lockdown, life as we knew it changed enormously and Capital City College Group found itself in unchartered territory. However, with a sense of collective purpose, staff and students across the Group have stepped up to the challenge, gone above and beyond, and proved that excelling is in our DNA.

Planning for a safe and welcoming enrolment – for our students and staff For new students, their first day at college is usually both exciting and nerve-wracking. What will their teachers be like? Will they make friends easily? Will they enjoy their new course or courses?

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this September will be very different for all our students and the staff who will greet and teach them. Many students will have had little or no schooling since March and had their summer A level or GCSE exams cancelled, some will be looking to resit exams in the autumn series or will have had their future plans thrown into disarray. Added to these uncertainties, many people have concerns about the virus and whether returning to school or college is safe for them and their loved ones.

So our planning is in two parts: firstly how we can ensure that all students can enrol with us as safely as possible, and secondly, how we can support our new students both individually and through their schools; helping to ease them through the transition to college life.

Enrolment

We want our enrolment to be as

safe as it can be for all our students and our staff. So, we’re planning to do as much as we can online, including online inductions before enrolment to enable students to get to know each other, as well as online enrolment where this is possible. And once courses start in early September, students will learn through a mix of face-toface teaching in college, and online delivery at home – a ‘blended learning’ model. We aim to continue with this blended approach to teaching and learning until we can fully reopen our buildings and go back to normal. It’s the only way to keep people safe while giving students the education that they deserve.

And of course, any student who is shielding, or living with a person who is shielding, will be fully supported to learn purely from home if their individual circumstances necessitate this.

Reaching out to schools and students

Although working remotely, we are still operating a full information, advice and guidance (IAG), and progression service to schools. We

can help schools with their transition plans for their students by providing online Q&A and information sessions tailored to schools or subject areas, which can be bespoke to the requirements of the school. We also regularly post useful and interesting information about college life, revision tips, etc, on the college’s social media accounts (all our colleges are on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) and on the college’s websites – which is also home to all the information that people need about our courses.

We have been running information and Q&A sessions as a substitute for our open events, and are in process of developing online transition events for current applicants – please keep an eye out on our websites’ open days pages or contact Thomas Blundell at thomas. blundell@capitalccg.ac.uk to be kept informed of future events.

We want to make sure that students and their parents can get the specific information they need to make an informed decision about the right college and course(s) for them. We would normally be at local schools on GCSE results day, offering information and advice to students

Preparing for the lockdown As London’s largest Further Education provider, we had been planning for such a move. As the virus took hold in Europe and the UK, we kept a close eye on its spread. Early in March, we enabled more of our non-teaching support staff to work from home – a necessary step, to test the resilience of our systems and to help people iron out any teething problems associated with working away from their usual office.

As March went on, we could see the public mood was shifting. Our students, staff and parents were getting increasingly concerned, as they told us in lessons, in staff meetings and discussions with the unions, and on our social media channels. So, when Public Health England updated their social distancing guidance in mid-March, we were ready. We took the decision on Wednesday 18 March to speed up our transition to remote

working, aiming for the majority of teaching beginning to be delivered by the next day, Thursday 19th March.

With impressive flexibility and a proactive approach, the staff teams in our three colleges worked tirelessly to ensure a speedy transition to online teaching. A plan was set in place, underpinned by our world class IT Director, to ensure that training was provided and software was available to enable staff and

who are getting their results. That may not be possible this year (many of the schools we’ve spoken have not yet made a decision on this) but we will be able to provide online Q&As on GCSE results day, as well as planning for a physical presence in schools if this is appropriate and safe.

If you would like more information about this, please contact Thomas Blundell at thomas.blundell@ capitalccg.ac.uk

students to teach and learn remotely, as effectively as possible. We have been using digital communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom, to deliver teaching since then.

Support for those who need it Many of our learners didn’t have a computer of their own, so we identified those who would need a computer to be able to continue learning – sending equipment to some and providing financial support to others so they could buy their own. More than 400 payments for laptops have been issued to students and 250 to staff, with more being rolled out.

Students have responded positively to this new way of learning and some are even thriving in this environment. WestKing ESOL Lecturer, Stephanie Yoon said: “I have a Construction student who

doesn’t attend well and struggles to engage in class. He has completed all of the work set and has sent really positive messages in response to my feedback. This might be a turning point for many learners. They are having to dig deep and be more independent in their learning. I am so pleased with the mature response I am getting.”

A level student Jessica Tunks at City and Islington College recently won the Writing Wrongs Project, a pilot project in partnership with Sussex University which supports students to produce writing for the celebrated Orwell Youth Prize.

Jessica said: “I feel really supported by the college in this current situation. We are still being given the resources we need to stay on top of our work but there are realistic expectations and an understanding that it’s not as easy to work at home.

I’ve really welcomed the flexibility that staff have shown when setting assignments, as it shows that they understand the situation we’re in. I’m also really grateful of the fact that teachers are still able to offer us all the support and guidance we need to complete our studies.”

Maintaining our programme of advice, guidance and events Across the Group we offer a packed schedule of events throughout the year and as many of these were due to take place over the spring and early summer, the colleges found new and innovative ways to deliver them.

For example, a big Apprenticeship Fair was due to take place on campus at City and Islington, which would have been attended by 150 students and 20 employers.

It will now become an interactive newsletter delivered directly to students’ inboxes.

The year-long Career Ready employability programme provides vital mentoring, knowledge and support, to disadvantaged 16-18 year old students. As part of the programme, Westminster Kingsway College planned a masterclass for March with the global design and consultancy firm Arcadis, but that had to be cancelled because of the lockdown. Undeterred, the Student Services team set up a virtual masterclass with Arcadis’s Management Consultant, Laura Reynolds instead.

Laura said: “I had a fantastic time hosting the virtual Masterclass. As a management consultant for Arcadis, I hoped to give the students a flavour of what it’s like to work in a fastpaced, client-facing environment for a leading engineering consultancy.

I wanted to challenge stereotypes that might exist in students’ minds about what “type of person” a management consultant is. The students were incredibly engaged and responsive, posing challenging

questions and displaying to me that they really connected with the essence of what management consulting is and that they had a sincere passion to grow their own careers.”

by between 70 and 100 of the college’s students and other culinary professionals.

Laura Reynolds

Chef alumna Selin Kiazim

Carlo Liu, Employability and Progression Lead at WestKing said: “Now more than ever, young people – but especially those who are disadvantaged – need support to boost their employability and to showcase their talents.

It was a great live session. The Arcadis team were involved in the planning to ensure our learners had an interesting and insightful Masterclass.” Driven by its success, the college is organising more Masterclasses, in other curriculum areas - ensuring that as many students as possible can benefit.

Not to be outdone, staff in Westminster Kingsway’s renowned School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts in Victoria have run a series of chef Masterclasses. These Masterclasses have enabled current students, and other people working in the culinary and hospitality industries, to see and hear directly from highly-regarded professional chefs – all of whom are ex-students of the college themselves. The Masterclasses have been very popular with each one attended

Like all our colleges, City and Islington has an extensive Information, Advice and Guidance service for students, as well as a programme of events, which are now online.

For example, students at the Sixth Form College in the Angel can access: online courses; virtual university tours; course-relevant competitions (such as in media and games design); a university talks programme; CV and personal statement advice; and much more.

The college has also collaborated with television production company Curve Media, which is led by Emmy and Bafta award winning producers, and given students an opportunity to take part in the Curve Foundation’s ‘Get Ahead in TV’ course. The course provides a unique opportunity to learn from industry leaders and experts to help students stand out in the world of television. As part of the course they were asked to write up a ‘Treatment’ which could be pitched to television channels and will be an invaluable piece of work to take to future employees.

One of the participants is Dominic Brown, an A level Film, Media and Music Technology student. He said: “I am very thankful for the Curve Foundation, it was an excellent programme and I enjoyed the pitch meetings, as they provided me with the skills to develop an idea and the process to making a programme. Although the lockdown has sadly reduced my productivity on the project, I can easily finish my final treatment as the company has provided me with good examples, tools and guidance on how to structure it.” The winners’ presentation took place in a virtual ceremony on 19 May. Even the students who are stuck

in their home countries such as Spain and Columbia are still participating in classes. Student Union meetings are taking place online and voting is going ahead. Newsletters, such as Get Ahead News at City and Islington College, that keeps students updated on the college’s fantastic and varied enrichment programme, are being issued.

Gaining real-world work experience Industry placements are a key component of many courses across the Group, giving students vital work experience that will help them gain employment or progress to university after their course ends. Hundreds of students were on placements at the time of the lockdown announcement.

Many students have been able to continue with their placements and where possible, arrangements will be made when restrictions are lifted for those that can’t.

Two BTEC Level 3 Business students at WestKing who are on an industry placement with Westminster City Council are continuing to work remotely. They have been given special access to work on a major project on the analysis of EU funds that have been historically awarded to Westminster-based organisations.

This is a critical piece of work which will shape the Council’s case for a replacement to EU funding in Westminster.

Students on placements at Ringley Group, Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Small Green Shoots are also continuing to work for their employers from home. BTEC Level 3 Business student Adaora Maduakolam is working at Small Green Shoots and said: “Working from home is great. The support I am getting from my placement helps keep the process smooth. I am able to work at my own place and still get work done on time. Speaking with my team once a week really helps keep me positive and gives me an opportunity to keep busy and focussed.’’

Staying mentally healthy

And staying physically healthy

The mental health and well-being of our staff and students is of paramount importance and the lockdown is affecting the health and peace of mind of many people. Staff and students across the Group have gone above and beyond to support each other.

As part of its Enrichment programme, CONEL is hosting online workshops with information and guidance on how to deal with mental health issues and there’s been a big increase in pastoral care being provided to students too. The staff at WestKing are using Microsoft Teams to provide face to face counselling and are even sending birthday messages and a virtual slice of cake to their students.

Our staff are keenly aware of the need to safeguard students’ mental health. For example, City and Islington Public Services lecturer Nigel Lewis made an individual pledge to help support his students with a series of ‘life lessons’ videos and activities, to help “find something to take their minds off the current situation.” He explains: “During a tutorial I asked the students how many could cook, and it appeared that many couldn’t,” he said. “So I set about making a video on how to cook an omelette and a simple loaf of bread with no kneading. The response was fantastic!

“It became apparent that the lockdown was affecting some of the

students’ mental health. A day has not passed when students haven’t contacted me for support or a chat… to talk about how they feel and to get the support they need, or to be signposted to specialist help.

“Some of my students have lost family members to Covid-19 and being able to talk about their feelings on our support link, which I set up to be available from 8am to midnight, has been important to them. For some, we are their first port of call for support, because we are trusted as their mentors.”

A vulnerable Spanish student at City and Islington who struggles with English was finding the lockdown extremely difficult and wasn’t coping with her living situation and feelings of isolation. The college’s Student Welfare Advisor, Nathalie Noach, reached out to her and provided much needed assistance by researching Spanish-speaking services that offer support with benefits and housing issues, as well as services in the borough that assist with food and emotional support.

The student, who was also struggling with meals due to her local foodbank closing, was given an online foodbank voucher and a place where she could obtain a hot meal. Her complicated situation was eased by college staff within two hours and the student was given security and companionship in these difficult times.

The School of Sport and Public Services at CONEL are focussing not only on mental health but also physical health and are striving to keep their students and wider public in shape by setting up the ‘Home Olympics’. There are challenges to test everything from coordination to endurance, which are posted across social media platforms as #HomeOlympics.

The initiative has taken off beyond all expectations and has gained an astonishing global reach, with participation and videos being received from all over the world including Thailand, Australia, France, Italy and Malta. Many schools in the UK have also asked to share the content.

Creator and Head of School Jonathan Silman said: “The aim of the ‘Home Olympics’ was originally to engage CONEL staff and students as well as a community football academy that I help run. I was then asked by a number of schools to share the content and saw the views pass 50,000 after day 4 across social media. There’s so many great ideas and initiatives out there to support families and individuals during isolation so I’m glad to have contributed a little to that.”

There is so much going on in our colleges that there isn’t room for it all in one article. Even though meeting each other in person is impossible, staff across the Group have shown an indomitable spirit, and are teaching and collaborating using the online tools at their disposal. A huge amount is being achieved by all in our ‘new normal’, against all the odds.

Progression to university A major concern for many learners during this period is progressing and securing their university places. Our colleges are ensuring that students are supported and are assisting them in every way possible. At City and Islington, Oxbridge applicants have been able to access guidance interviews via Zoom with partner college, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and are preparing their applications.

CONEL and WestKing are also providing students with a wealth of information and resources from webinars to university virtual tours.

How we’re keeping in touch with potential new students As well as all the teaching, virtual events, activities and support we’re providing for our locked-down students, we are open and accessible to prospective new students who want to enrol at our colleges in September.

Even though all our buildings are closed and our teachers are working at home, we are still very much open for business. For example, we’re taking our successful and popular Open Days online – giving people a taste of what studying with us would be like once the country returns to something like normality.

We’re also available for people to call, email, chat, SMS or message us on social media. Our award-winning Contact Centre team handles all our incoming contacts and in an average month would expect to receive around 8,000 inbound queries, increasing significantly during the main enrolment months between July and September. Usually based at our Regents Park Centre, the Contact Centre team are all working from home at the moment because of the lockdown, but, thanks to the team’s online customer contact system, are providing their usual

high level of service and responsiveness to prospective students.

Lenka Annan, our Contact Centre Manager explains: “Whatever someone wants to know, however they choose to contact us and whoever in the team receives their inquiry, we have all the information that we need at our fingertips, whether it’s about our huge range of courses, or details of the next Open Day. The team also collaborates with the college curriculum and learner support teams to deliver a service which is accessible to all.”

It’s one of the main reasons that the Group holds the Matrix accreditation, a quality mark for the delivery of Information, Advice and Guidance services. As Lenka concludes: “For many students, choosing the right college course is one of the most important decisions of their life and having a team of Learner Advisors who are easy to reach, quick to respond and empathise with their needs is crucial. We’re proud that we can provide a highly responsive and supportive service to those who contact us.”

Although our buildings are closed, we’re still open for business!

WE ARE WELCOMING AND PROCESSING NEW APPLICATIONS, SO IF YOU WANT TO STUDY WITH US IN SEPTEMBER 2020, PLEASE DO BROWSE OUR WEBSITES AND APPLY ONLINE TODAY:

www.candi.ac.uk www.conel.ac.uk www.westking.ac.uk www.capitalcct.ac.uk

Exciting news from City & Islington College’s Angel Campus!

Students coming to the City & Islington’s Sixth Form College and Centre for Applied Sciences at the Angel Campus in September 2020, will be able to take advantage of three exciting new initiatives, to boost their employability and enhance their learning.

Increasingly, employers and universities are looking for rounded young people, with practical as well as theoretical knowledge. So our new pathways – available in a range of areas from medical,

YOU HAVE IT IN YOU

general science, engineering and sport, to world studies, the creative industries, performing arts, and law combined with a wide range of enrichment activities and opportunities, to help students gain new skills and experience that’s relevant to their course. This unrivalled package of learning and support will help students move onwards and upwards into a great university, an apprenticeship or the career that they want.

Secondly, the Angel Campus

will also offer a new ‘Scholars’ programme’, for those highachieving GCSE students who want to go to Oxbridge or Russell Group universities. Our experience and excellent relationships with top universities means that we have an excellent understanding of what universities want and what students need to get there. The Scholars’ programme will help students gain a wider knowledge base of their chosen subject beyond their course, and will challenge them to work outside their curriculum.

It will stretch them academically and help them develop their skills, curiosity and boost their ambition.

Students on this programme will visit universities that they may have assumed were beyond their reach, and will also have the option to choose a 4th A level subject.

And thirdly is the college’s new blended programme of vocational and A Level study. This will be of particular benefit to those who wish to study subjects such as Engineering, Medicine or other health-related subjects, but are following a vocational pathway. As an example, a student wanting to forge a career in engineering could study two-thirds of their time on a BTEC Diploma in Engineering course

and one-third studying A level maths or electronics. Alternatively, someone interested in a healthcare career could study BTEC in Health Sciences plus A level Biology. Other pathways are available in Medical Studies and in Sport Science.

We will assess students’ suitability for all these initiatives when they apply to the college, so please apply for a place at the college in the usual way, via our website https://www.candi.ac.uk/ courses/how-to-apply/

THIS IS MY SPRINGBOARD

London’s First Free College

FREE YOUR POTENTIAL

FREE courses online and available to all The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London’s (CONEL) popular free short courses programme which are open to the public, are now available online, so anyone anywhere can enrol on a course.The already diverse range of topics have been updated in light of the current climate and aims to fill the needs that the community face during this time. It includes everything from How to Manage Household Finances to Creative Activities that can be done with children at home.

You can find more information at: https://www.conel.ac.uk/adult-students/free-short-courses/

CAPITAL CITY COLLEGE GROUP LOCATIONS ENFIELD

K BARNET

Tottenham

WALTHAM FOREST

J

HARINGEY

E

CAMDEN

B

EALING

Soho

A

I F

G H A

ISLINGTON

TOWER HAMLETS

C

CITY OF LONDON

CITY OF WESTMINSTER HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM

HACKNEY

Holloway

APPLY NOW FOR A Levels Access to Higher Education Art and Design Applied Science Business Administration Childcare Engineering ESOL Foundation Learning Health and Social Care Higher Education Music WestminsterKingsway @Westking

Victoria

KENSINGTON & CHELSEA

SOUTHWARK

D

WestminsterKingsway WestminsterKingsway

www.westking.ac.uk WESTMINSTER KINGSWAY COLLEGE

CITY AND ISLINGTON COLLEGE

A Kings Cross Centre

E Centre for Health, Social

Kings Cross St Pancras, Thameslink

B Regents Park Centre Euston Square, Great Portland Street, Warren Street, Regent’s Park

C Soho Centre Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square

D Victoria Centre Victoria

and Childcare

THE COLLEGE OF HARINGEY, ENFIELD AND NORTH EAST LONDON J Tottenham Centre

Holloway Road

F Centre for Business, Arts and Technology

Seven Sisters, Tottenham Hale

K Enfield Centre Southbury, Brimsdown

Holloway Road

Job Vacancies

Capital City College Group is the largest College group in London and the SE, employing 100s of staff from the local communities we serve. View our current vacancies at www.capitalccg.ac.uk/work-with-us

G Centre for Applied Science Angel

APPLY NOW FOR ESOL

H Sixth Form College Angel

I Centre for Lifelong Learning

at Regent’s Park Centre and Soho Centre

Finsbury Park

Apply Now! We are still enrolling for a number of courses across CCCG – visit the links for enrolment details:

www.candi.ac.uk/enrol

www.conel.ac.uk/enrol

For up to date course information for all colleges call 020 7700 9200 capitalccg.ac.uk @capitalcitycg https://www.capitalccg.ac.uk https://www.twitter.com/capitalcitycg

www.westking.ac.uk/enrol