CONNECT N E WS
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U P DAT E S
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D I A RY DAT E S OCTOB E R 201 8
BUCHANAN CENTRE OFFICIAL OPENING 16 OCTOBER 2018
BCS BEDFORD COLLEGE SERVICES
EDITOR’S NOTE Hello everyone!
Welcome to the October 2018 edition of CONNECT magazine! I hope you all had an enjoyable half term break. This month we opened the Buchanan Centre, Fisheries students visited Malta and open day season officially started with the first one at The Bedford Sixth Form. Don’t forget to keep sending your news my way!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY November 2018
22 NOVEMBER 2018 National College for Motorsport Open Day Silverstone
1 NOVEMBER 2018 Bedford College Open Day
29 NOVEMBER 2018 Northamptonshire Achievements Ceremony
3 NOVEMBER 2018 Shuttleworth College Open Day 8 NOVEMBER 2018 The Bedford Sixth Form Open Day
December 2018
13 NOVEMBER 2018 Tresham College Open Day Corby Campus
6 DECEMBER 2018 Bedfordshire Achievements Ceremony
14 NOVEMBER 2018 Tresham College Open Day Kettering Campus 15 NOVEMBER 2018 Tresham College Open Day Wellingborough Campuses
CONTENTS
DAISY CRANFIELD
Corporate Communications Executive
PAGE 3
PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE
PAGE 4
PADLET SPOTLIGHT
PAGE 5
LET THE EXCITEMENT OF ENGINEERING LIVE ON
PAGE 6
NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP
PAGE 8
YOUR PICTURES
PAGE 9
PEOPLE NEWS
PAGE 10
SPOTLIGHT ON… GROUP STUDY SUPPORT
T: 01234 291026 E: dcranfield@bedford.ac.uk
Corporation News The Corporation held a Board Development Day on 8 October 2018 in the Nave at The Bedford Sixth Form. Corporation members reflected on their involvement in the SAR moderation process during September and also on their own performance during the previous year. The Corporation was delighted to welcome new student governors Tom Brown and Eva Harper who provided valuable input. Tom will join the Resources Committee with staff governor Helen Day and Eva will join the Quality, Standards and Achievement Committee with staff governor Shaun Wilson.
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Performance data for 2017-2018 was presented by Vice Principal Em Lowe and Director of Quality Improvement, Learning, Teaching and Assessment Petra Williams. The positive results for the Bedford College Group were applauded and the Corporation congratulate all staff and students for their hard work and success.
members also hope to attend the achievement ceremonies in November and December. Governors always welcome opportunities to meet students and staff at College events and any invitations forwarded to the Clerk will be circulated.
A number of governors, retired governors and non-executive directors of our subsidiary companies attended the opening of the Buchanan Centre in October. They were particularly impressed by the student speeches and the testimonies made to the dedicated staff. The committee meeting cycle commenced with QSA before half term with further meetings planned for all committees and the Board before Christmas. Corporation
RACHEL NICOL
Clerk to the Corporation T: 01234 291003 E: rnicol@bedford.ac.uk
Our first year year as The Bedford College Group, our best year in a decade.
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Did you know you can follow Ian on Twitter? @ipryce
PRINCIPAL’S UPDATE Final Score
Our final student return for 2017-18 confirms the exceptional year we had. Our first year as The Bedford College Group, our best year in a decade. Student achievement on core provision ended as follows: College National Achievement Average Group overall
88.6%
84.4%
Bedford College
89.6%
84.4%
Tresham College
86.8%
84.4%
Shuttleworth College
91.6%
84.4%
The Bedford Sixth Form 84.6%
84.4%
Group 16-18
86.9%
81.4%
Group 19+
90.2%
87.2%
Students at Shuttleworth College take part in Love our College week
These results place us in the upper quartile and only 0.4% off the upper decile position. Thank you for all the hard work that went into this performance.
Funding petition
You will have seen that there was a national #LoveOurColleges Week just before half term. A national petition for fairer funding was also launched. It is important we get >100,000 people petitioning as it leads to a parliamentary debate. We are at about 55,000 signatures after a week. Please help your sector by getting as many students to sign it, and please sign the petition yourself. It is easy to do. The details are: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229744 Tresham College students who love our Colleges
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INDUSTRY ARTICLE PADLET SPOTLIGHT Occam’s razor is the principle that, the simplest solution tends to be the correct one (the law of parsimony). I would argue there is an element of this idea to be found in teaching as well; in that the simplest resources, tools and strategies are usually the most versatile and most successful in driving engagement and learning; enter Padlet. Padlet.com is one of the simplest online tools in my repertoire and as such it is easily the most versatile. To put it simply, Padlet is an on-line notice board on which you can post just about anything; links to websites, YouTube videos, documents, pictures and images and simple text and comments. This sounds incredibly simple, but that is exactly the beauty of it. Padlet also works on all devices, including PCs, Macs and mobile devices. On a basic Padlet, you can simply double click anywhere on the page and a small window will open prompting you to add a title and description, then the icons on the bottom of the window allow you to add content. Once you have created a page, it is then really simple to share. Clicking on the ‘share’ button on the top of the page opens this window which allows you to make your padlet private and even password protect it. You also have some other great features which allow you to invite people via email and even turn on moderation to ensure that no posts appear on the page until you have approved them. You can even add a link to the page to your Moodle page or generate a QR code so learners can get to it with a simple scan. These options give you a great deal of control which makes the tool more flexible. There are also a number of different page or ‘wall’ styles that you can choose from, including shelf (which allows you to create category columns) or canvas (which is more of a mind map style allowing you to draw connections between ideas). These options allow you to use the tool in a range of ways in the classroom.
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Here are just a few of the ideas I have used or seen for how Padlet can be used: 1. Curated content or research – create a padlet that students can view but not edit and fill it with reliable content for them to explore. This allows students to do research in a contained environment so they are looking at quality sources. This is great for low level learners or learners who are just learning to do research. 2. Collaborative task – use ‘shelf’ mode and create a series of groups or topics and assign a group of learners to each section to post content about that topic. In the end you will have a powerful resource for the entire group.
a quick summary of what they have learned in the session along with something they still need to work on. This could also be the answers to three questions on the board. Then with comments turned on the teacher can go in and add feedback. This list, I am, sure will grow as the more people I introduce to this tool the more innovation I see. Sometimes the best resources are the simplest ones. To give you a bit of quick practice with a padlet, here is a link to one I have created called the ‘Best of the Web’ (https://padlet.com/brobdigniagin/ bestoftheweb ). Please feel free to go and post a link to any of your favourite webtools that you might like to share or see me do a spotlight on.
3. Portfolio – I have seen several teachers, myself included, get learners to create a Padlet as a portfolio of evidence. Then they can just send you a link to the Padlet. 4. Peer support and assessment – Get learners to post their work or content to a padlet and turn on comments so that they can evaluate or critique one another’s work. This is even better if learners have their own padlet accounts so you can track comments as their names will be attached. 5. Flipped learning or cover work – One of the best uses of padlet is to create a contained lesson for your group. Because it is so easy to put links and files on, you can simply create a Padlet where you just put up a PowerPoint, a worksheet, a link to a video, a quiz or anything else. This is great for covering a lesson or to support learning outside the classroom. 6. Presentations – some of my own groups have used Padlet for their own presentations. This is great for differentiation as many learners have gone far beyond doing a simple PowerPoint and linked to wider research or multimedia in order to enhance their presentations with additional resources. 7. Exit ticket – I have seen a few teachers use Padlet as an easy plenary by asking learners to post
MARK TINNEY Teacher Education Course Leader/ILT Development Coach
Tresham College
INDUSTRY ARTICLE LET THE EXCITEMENT OF ENGINEERING LIVE ON The Buchanan Centre is officially open! It’s been fascinating seeing it slowly emerge over the last year and a half. I remember looking out of the Marketing office window when they were marking out the footings and thinking, ‘how is a whole new building going to fit on that small patch of grass?’ Luckily we have civil engineers to work that out, so I didn’t need to concern myself! We then had the fabulous launch event at Cardington Hangars and now, six weeks in, the new centre is already home to more students than any national college. With all this excitement, as well as Tomorrow’s Engineers Week happening soon, I’d been looking through the national engineering headlines online to see what was new in the sector. It wasn’t a particular article that caught my eye, but a comment on one of the articles. It was from someone who was on the panel for a technology conference recently where three quarters of the attendees were software engineers and people were commenting on the apparent shortage of general engineers; those who can physically build the machines or wire up
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sensors, for example. His view was that there was too much emphasis from the top on technology being just digital - and so other areas of engineering, in his opinion, were being overlooked. In Australia, there is an increasing demand for all types of skilled engineer, but particularly civil engineers, with the number of skilled professionals expected to grow from 54,400 in 2017 to 65,600 by 2022 . That’s quite a jump. So are young people becoming too focused on digital tech and are we failing to nurture their inherent passion for steam engines and moving bridges; aspects of life that fascinate young children and that we should be encouraging their love for, and subsequently their interest in engineering? The launch event for the Buchanan building at Cardington was the epitome of this notion. Holding it alongside Airlander, the huge hybrid airship, was real tech in motion; it showed how much we can achieve when we embrace technology - and it was a real privilege for all of us who attended to get so close to her. As a
slight aside, have you seen the recent plans for the interior of the airship? Google it; they’re quite spectacular! The Buchanan Centre puts engineering and technology hand in hand. It has all the technological advances while staying true to its namesake, and first woman member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan, who worked on projects to improve life for so many, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia and the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle. Let’s keep everyone, young and old, excited by bridges going up and down and trains roaring past us. As Ian quoted in his welcome message in the opening night brochure; ‘Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world’ (Isaac Asimov).
SARAH HYDE Feature Writer
@SH_Content
1. https://www.theengineer.co.uk/ promoted-content-five-skillsengineering-employers-are-lookingfor-and-how-to-get-them/ #1
CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN AT MUNCH & MOCHA ON 31ST OCTOBER We will have lots of delicious food on offer for you including;
• Large hot dogs in baguettes only £1.99
• Fiery chilli and nachos £2.50 or £3.00 with salad
• Beef stew with black charcoal bread & vegetables £3.99
• Jelly with eyeballs and spiders £1.10
• Stuffed peppers with rice & red pepper sauce £3.99
• Various spooky cakes from £1.50
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NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP BUCHANAN CENTRE OFFICIAL OPENING The official opening of the Advanced Engineering and Construction Centre at Bedford College took place on Tuesday October 16. Named the Buchanan Centre after the first woman member of the Institution of Civil Engineers Dorothy Donaldson Buchanan (1895 - 1957), the centre was declared open by Professor Helen Atkinson of Cranfield University. Before cutting the ribbon Professor Helen Atkinson said: “People with technical skills really do matter to the economy, to help fulfil the requirements of industry. It is a privilege to open this new building.” The Buchanan name reflects the choices of Bedford College in celebrating the best figures in modern technologies and education. The Brundtland Building, a showcase of eco-technologies, is named after Gro Harlem Brundtland a Director General of the World
Health Organisation who pioneered sustainable development. The Stansfeld Building is after Margaret who established Bedford College of Physical Development and is considered a national pioneer of widening women’s opportunities. The Buchanan project has cost £5.2 Million from generous donations from public and private organisations, as well as the college’s own funds. This includes £2.5m from SEMLEP’s Local Growth Fund.
to directly address the skills gap in the Engineering and Construction industries by increasing its ability to design a Higher Education curriculum which delivers more Advanced Engineering and Construction courses at Level 4+ and adapt current models of delivery to suit employer and student needs. Level 3 students will benefit from a progression guarantee to a Higher level programme.
Office for Students (Formerly HEFCE) gave a grant of £170K from the Catalyst Fund to develop a range of market-driven Higher Education (HE) engineering courses. This will expand the current Higher Education courses which include: Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Sustainable Construction and Building Services and Construction. The grant will enable the College
Attendees of the event, outside the Buchanan Centre.
LIVE MUSIC AT MUNCH & MOCHA!
Professor Helen Atkinson cuts the ribbon.
There will be live music every Friday in Munch & Mocha. Come down and support the students.
W/C
GIG THEME
STUDENT
29 October
1
Movember/ Men’s Health
Jordan Pratt (Friday 2nd November)
5 November
2
Induction Art Show Opening Event Monday 12th November – ALL MUSIC STUDENTS TO PERFORM
NO FRIDAY GIG
12 November
3
Movember/ Men’s Health
Skye Woods (Friday 16th November)
19 November
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Movember/ Men’s Health
Filip Hawrys (Friday 23rd November)
26 November
5
Movember/ Men’s Health
Alvin Mureithi (Friday 30th November)
3 December
6
Christmas
Megan Billimore (Friday 7th December)
10 December 6
June 2018
CHRISTMAS BREAK
NEWS FROM THE BEDFORD COLLEGE GROUP FISHERIES TRIP TO MALTA From the 7-11 October the second year Fisheries students visited Malta with course lecturers Lewie Cooper and Anne-Marie Hamilton. They had an action-packed 5 days visiting the Island. Lewie tells us more about it: “The first day the students had some down time using the hotel roof-top pool! The students had a great time at the Yellow Fin Tuna Farm as part of their Aquaculture unit. Here they had the opportunity to dive in to the
A student enjoying the trip.
tuna pens and swim with the 700lbs tuna, feeding them herring. On day two students visited the Aquarium in St Paul’s Bay to have a lesson on ‘zonation’ all about different habitats and environments and which species live in them. On the last day the whole group visited the Comina caves for some snorkelling with flying fish and even spotted some dolphins! The trip ended with some tuna fishing – a great time had by all.”
The Yellow fin Tuna pens.
WELCOME DAY FEEDBACK Following the Welcome Days at Bedford College and Tresham College campuses, we sent all attendees a survey to find out how they thought the day went. We had an amazing 31% response rate and the findings revealed how important these days are in improving our offer to enrolment conversion rates. 91% of respondents agreed that the event was a good use of their time and 81% said that they were more likely to enrol due to attending the event (17% reported no change). A full report, including The Bedford Sixth Form Welcome Day feedback, staff feedback and non-attendees feedback will be available late November. If you would like a copy of this, please contact Katie Featherstone, Market Research Manager. kfeatherstone@bedford.ac.uk
CREATIVE ENTERPRISE AT THE BEDFORD SIXTH FORM Thank you to staff at The Bedford Sixth Form James, Toni, Ricky, Niall, Penny and Will for making Creative Enterprise a success. Six teams competed in the final, having spent two days developing their mock businesses through a series of challenges and processes. The winning team were called Collaborative Creators. They proposed a fashion app which allows you to create an avatar of yourself to virtually dress before you buy items of clothing. One of the highlights was watching the TV ads produced by the teams which were highly entertaining if not always highly polished!
The Bedford Sixth Form students presenting their app.
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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.
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Equine Lect urer Sian Bov ell won first place in dres sage on her beautiful horse Shiraz.
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Lucy Johnson and the LIVE team get to work promoting Mental Health Awareness.
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Jo deliv ering Baxter, open her ope Director o n ing o f the ing spee f STEM, ch at Buch th anan Cent e re.
Estates Team Leader Paul Butcher on the front line of Studen t ID card checks!
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.
NEW LGBT+ STAFF FORUM
A new staff forum LGBT+ Forum is being launched on 22 November, in Bedford Cauldwell Street. The LGBT forum is an inclusive group which is available to all members of staff with an interest in LGBT issues, regardless of their own sexual orientation or gender identity. If people can’t attend but are interested in contributing to the forum, please contact Anastassia Parsons anparsons@bedford.ac.uk to register your interest and for more details.
Associate Lecturer - Science
Location: Kettering Salary: £20.50 to £21.50 Per hour Application closing date: 05/11/2018 Customer Service Assistant Location: Kettering Salary: £17,141 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 08/11/2018 Customer Service Executive - PT Location: Corby Salary: To £26,000 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 04/11/2018 Lecturer - Bricklaying Location: Bedford Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 05/11/2018 Lecturer - Computing Location: Bedford Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 04/11/2018 Lecturer - Science (with Chemistry specialism) Location: Kettering Salary: £20,500 to £39,042 per annum Application closing date: 03/11/2018 Marketing Business Partner (2 positions, 0.55 FTE) Location: Bedford and Kettering Salary: £25,000 - £27,000 per annum pro rata Application closing date: 04/11/2018 Market Research Assistant Location: Bedford Salary: £22,000.00 per annum pro rata Application closing date: 04/11/2018 Technician - Digital Art and Design Location: Bedford Salary: £15,800 - £20,460 per annum Application closing date: 04/11/2018 Training Coordinator - Engineering Location: Corby Salary: £28,000 to £34,000 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 07/11/2018 Work Placement Coordinator - STEM Location: Corby Salary: £20,000 per annum, pro rata Application closing date: 01/11/2018
DIVERSITY CALENDAR NOVEMBER 2018 Developing awareness of diversity and inclusion in a complex multicultural 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 ideas, videos and inspiration go to Diversity Calendar November 2018 on Connect. 11th Armistice Day marks the end of World War I It is devoted to remembering the people who have died in the two World Wars.
to wider society; and to increase understanding between people of religious and nonreligious beliefs. 12th – 16th Anti-bullying week: theme “Choose respect” Everyone has a role to play in preventing and tackling bullying, including identity-based bullying, for instance, feeling comfortable talking about all kinds of difference, using inclusive language and not reinforcing ‘norms’ that don’t represent staff and students, and challenging all forms of offensive or discriminatory language.
11th – 18th Inter-faith week An opportunity to increase awareness of the different faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and
RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS The Inter Faith Network website has a more detailed list of festivals with short descriptions. 1st ALL SAINTS’ DAY Christian 2nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE CROWNING OF HAILE SELASSIE I Rastafarian 7th to 11th DIVALI Hindu 21st THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD’S BIRTHDAY Muslim (Sunni) 23rd BIRTHDAY OF GURU NANAK (1469 CE) Sikh 26th THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD’S BIRTHDAY Muslim (Shi’a) 30th ST ANDREW’S DAY Christian
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SPOTLIGHT ON... GSS team
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WHAT DOES MY DEPARTMENT DO? The Group Study Support (GSS) Learning Facilitators are part of the Additional Support Team and timetabled to work with students at any level with an identified learning difficulty and/or disability to facilitate their learning within small groups, in a welcoming, inclusive and studentfocused environment. The Study Centres are environments where students feel confident to learn, develop their study skills and receive motivational feedback at each stage. We facilitate students to be creative in setting their session objectives, developing their own ideas and identify strategies to access their learning, thus encouraging independence and promoting confidence in their ability to achieve.
WHERE ARE YOU BASED? There are dedicated GSS Study Centres located at Bedford College, Shuttleworth and Tresham College.
WHAT ROLE DO THE LEARNING FACILITATORS HAVE? Learning facilitators focus on development of students’ study skills when completing assignments and
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coursework. In addition, we work on brushing-up English and maths skills. We create an appropriate Individual Learning Plan for each student and differentiate our support in accordance with their learning need. Learning facilitators work alongside the teaching staff to enhance the students’ learning experience to achieve their course, and to enable future progression into education and/ or employment.
WHAT CHALLENGES WILL YOU BE FACING THIS YEAR?
motivational strategy for existing and prospective students e.g. displaying students’ comments on a Motivational Feedback Board.
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK IN THE DEPARTMENT? We are proud to be a friendly, extremely supportive and motivationally-inspired department; working together with the AS specialists and vocational areas to improve our provision.
Our ambition this year is to create an imaginative and interactive programme for each learner. This means that we need to consider not only the individual needs of the learners, but also the cross-section of personalities in a small group setting in order to enable them to develop their full potential.
WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS DID THE TEAM ACCOMPLISH LAST YEAR? We gained invaluable feedback via a GSS Student Survey which demonstrated that the provision facilitated students to improve their grades and achieve on their chosen courses. The data is also utilised as a
To find out more about us visit our page on the Staff Intranet