IEG Newsletter: February 2023

Inspire Education Group

NEWSLETTER

February 2023

Peterborough and Stamford, Thriving Together

SHADOW ENERGY MINISTER AND LOCAL LABOUR CANDIDATE VISIT PETERBOROUGH COLLEGE

Peterborough College was delighted to host Shadow Energy Minister Dr. Alan Whitehead, Labour Candidate for Peterborough, Andrew Pakes and Councillor Ikra Yasin; a momentous opportunity to showcase our ongoing commitment to local economic growth and leadership and innovation around green initiatives.

OPEN EVENT ATTENDANCE AND FEEDBACK

11 January saw Inspire Education Group’s first Open Event of 2023, and the first Meet the Tutor event of the academic year, at Stamford College.

Despite the second term often being a quieter period for Open Evening attendance, hundreds of students and their families made a visit to the campus, highlighting the popularity of Stamford College and its courses. Attendance figures are as follows (these are individual students, as we do not count total visitors):

• Nearly 70 prospective students (43% conversion) were able to discuss their options and voice their concerns in a friendly, welcoming environment, at the Meet the Tutor event.

The visit, hosted by Rachel Nicholls, Louise Perry, Sarah Young, Angela O’Reilly, Tony Gates, Alison Fox and Nigel Jones, provided the opportunity to present our ambitious plans for the £12 million project, Centre for Green Technology, set to deliver an innovative curriculum to the workforce of tomorrow around careers in sustainable construction and electric vehicle manufacturing in and around Peterborough.

Read the full article about this visit here

IEG also received media attention, with this article in the Peterborough Telegraph, ‘£12 million plan for green technology centre is showcased by Peterborough College during high profile visit’, read the article here

• We received 435 registrations for the Open Evening, with 281 arriving on the night – a 64.59% conversion rate.

• Overnight, Admissions received an impressive 75 applications!

Stamford College, in conjunction with the Stamford Diversity Group and Stamford Town Council, hosted a festive Christmas party for over 100 members of the local Ukrainian community, where guests enjoyed family fun, food, games, poetry and music.

Stamford College had hosted a similar meal, a Ukrainian Welcome Dinner, in the summer months, where Scott Coe, Stamford Poet Laureate, read a poem that he had written titled, ‘Would I Be Brave Enough?’ (see below). Subsequently, Nataliia Yakovleva, the Stamford Ukrainian filmmaker, asked Scott for permission to send his poignant words to Ukraine, for the famous composer, Ruslan Kvinta, former producer of Ukraine’s Eurovision selection, to set to music.

British-Ukrainian local music teacher, Mike Tymoczko, who heads up the local Ukrainian choir voluntarily, received the composition, extracted the backing track and recorded it as a version with local singer and Stamford College student, Ghost White. With Ruslan’s permission, the song was premiered live to all 100 Ukrainians attending the festive family party at the College. Ghost was delighted to be asked to perform live, “I felt amazed to see such a large group of people interact as if they were one big family – the atmosphere was absolutely incredible! Seeing everybody having such a good time, despite recent events, inspired me to want to do my very best to perform and bring the poem to life”.

Read the full article here.

STAMFORD COLLEGE HOSTS CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY

STAMFORD COLLEGE CREATIVE ARTS STUDENTS EXHIBIT WORK AT STAMFORD ARTS CENTRE

The Stamford College Creative Arts Department Winter Exhibition ran from the 4th to the 19th of January 2023 at Stamford Arts Centre, showcasing our talented students’ work with multidisciplinary installations of film, still image, art, fashion and graphic design.

Rachael Cooper, Head of Faculty for Business, IT, Media, Travel and Arts, commended the students for their hard work, “It’s a real pleasure to see how far our learners have come since they joined us, and the level of creativity and technical skills on display is really breath-taking and everyone should be very proud of themselves”.

We caught up with some of the talented students that showcased their creations in the gallery, to discuss the inspiration behind their work and their future plans.

Level 3 Extended Diploma Fashion and Textiles student, Ella Stimson, explained that her hand-crafted dress was “massively inspired by decay, both physical and mental”. She continued, “I wanted to honour a family member that passed away from Dementia.

My work represents how Dementia not only affected my family member, but also me and the wider family. The disease of grief spreads through loved ones, care workers and the people around the Dementia patient”.

Ella is planning on going to university to study Fashion Design, “Most of my top picks are in London, including Ravensbourne University London and Central Saint Martins. I want university to broaden my horizons even more, be it from the additional skills I’d learn on my course, to immersing myself in the different cultures of a big city. I think it will be a big shift for me, but I’m so excited about it”.

Learn more about the exhibition here.

Read more student case studies here

STAMFORD COLLEGE GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENTS DESIGN WEBSITE FOR SECOND HELPINGS CHARITY

Level 3 Extended Diploma in Graphic Design students at Stamford College presented their ideas for a creative rebrand of ‘Second Helpings’ of Stamford, a charity that aims to redistribute surplus food from supermarkets to reduce landfill waste.

Second-year students worked to produce fresh, up-to-date website designs, creating bespoke illustrations, workwear and accompanying merchandise. Each student created their own proposals and presented these to the clients.

Wendy Cowell, a representative from Second Helpings, announced the winner as Rodrigo Rozentals, due to his style of digital illustrations and use of a fresh, clean colour palette. Second Helpings were so impressed by all entries, that the final design will also incorporate Luana Carvalho’s refined animated logo, Adam Nagy’s poster design and strapline, Edward Vasiliadi’s menu design and strapline, Cameron Pike’s illustrative ‘where to find’ map and how the charity operates page, and Jasper Simpson’s incorporated cutlery.

Read the full article here.

AFTER 30 YEARS IN THE ENGINEERING INDUSTRY, PETERBOROUGH COLLEGE’S NEIL COLLIER HAS FOUND A PASSION FOR TEACHING

After 30 years in the engineering industry, working across various specialties such as welding, fabrication, and mechanical fitting, Neil Collier fancied a career change, and has found his passion for teaching. Neil saw the opportunity to join the engineering teaching team at Peterborough College, and decided to apply; “the job popped up, and I thought, well, I’ve got no teaching experience, but I’ll put my CV in, and see how it goes”.

Neil has now been a lecturer for several months, and has loved every minute of it, “I started in September, spent a day in the classroom with the kids, and thought right, I’m teaching. This is what I want to do”. Neil continued, “It’s a really good feeling –you’re encouraging these kids to go and

do something worthwhile. It’s good to give them all a push to be better than they think they can be – for most of them it’s confidence”.

To learn more about Neil’s experience, click here

PETERBOROUGH COLLEGE HOSTS LOCAL EMPLOYERS FOR T LEVELS BREAKFAST EVENT

Peterborough College hosted a T Levels Networking Breakfast for local businesses. The event highlighted the benefits of employer involvement, in-depth details about this new government-led education initiative, insight into the opportunities available, and how T Levels can support business objectives and meet corporate social responsibility agendas. Many thanks to the presenters, The Association of Colleges, Sparsholt College Group, Wilberforce College, and of course, our own Assistant Principal for Curriculum Study Programmes and T Levels, Gary McPartland.

UNIVERSITY CENTRE PETERBOROUGH HOSTS 8TH ANNUAL HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE CONFERENCE

University Centre Peterborough hosted its 8th annual Humanities and Social Science Conference. This academic conference brought together industry professionals, lecturers, and local college students, allowing them the chance to listen to the University’s Level 6 students’ dissertation presentations.

The event, organised by University Centre Peterborough’s very own Claire Bowes, Paul Wilks, Rebecca Treston and Claire Swales, covered many different subjects and specialisms.

‘INSIDE THE BOX’ WINS AT STUDENT PUBLICATION ASSOCIATION REGIONAL AWARDS 2023

Inside The Box, run by Editor (and Level 5 Journalism student) Molly Woodthorpe, won the Best Newcomer Publication award for the Midlands region, after seeing off stiff competition from various student publications in the area.

Since taking ownership of the blog in the summer, Molly and her team have been working hard to cement the blog as a hub of creativity for readers to consume whenever, and wherever they like.

With over 30 different presentations taking place across the morning and afternoon, the audience had the opportunity to listen to a talk about the perceptions of online nudity, before finding out how bread was baked in Romano Britain.

Read the full article here

Featuring a wide array of content, including interviews, videos and photography, anyone from Stamford or Peterborough Colleges and University Centre Peterborough are welcome to submit their work to be posted on the blog.

Molly said, “It’s an absolute honour that they chose us, and it is thanks to our brilliant editorial team and contributors that we have been awarded the Best Newcomer Award, because they create brilliant content and have amazing ideas. We already have a range of media on Inside the Box and there is still more to come, so there is something for everyone creative”.

INSPIRE EDUCATION GROUP PARTICIPATES IN PRACTICE ENQUIRY CIRCLE (PEC) AGAINST SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND RAPE CULTURE

Sexual harassment and sexual violence prevent people from feeling safe and from feeling they can participate fully and from enjoying, thriving and succeeding in life. These issues are also often hidden, dismissed and invisible. We all have a responsibility to take a proactive approach to tackling sexual harassment and violence, by building awareness of the prevalence of sexual violence, changing culture and attitudes, and creating supportive and equitable environments for all. It is likely that the more we bring this subject out into the open, the more it will be reported.

With this in mind, Inspire Education Group is participating in Women’s Leadership Network’s Practice Enquiry Circle (PEC), working to tackle sexual violence and eradicate rape culture.

Inspire Education Group’s Laila Bentley, Assistant Principal Student Experience and Support, and Sarah Young, Vice Principal Student and Staff Experience, will join Affiliate Group member of the Women’s Leadership Network, Kathryn James. It is an opportunity for IEG to take a collective view of the problem, to take an evidence-based approach to finding solutions, and to check out ideas and strategies across the FE sector.

Inspiring the next generation