Update - May 2017

THE L ATEST NEWS FROM AROUND YOUR COLLEGE

UPDATE MAY 2017

Students in their prize winning garden. For more information go to page 04

KEY DATES

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Principal update Corporation news Bedford & Kempston campus news Shuttleworth College news The Bedford Sixth Form news BCS news Cross-College Groups People news

Bedford College Open Day Thursday 11 May 2017 5.00pm-8.00pm Bedford College Follow us

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Shuttleworth College Open Day Thursday 25 May 2017 5.00pm-8.00pm Shuttleworth College Staff Conference Thursday 6 July 2017 Shuttleworth College

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THIS YEAR, NEXT YEAR

The whole college staff meetings will focus on progress with the Tresham merger.

It is important though that we are all focused on the key things that matter for us at Bedford. This final term is always about finishing the current year strongly and getting fully prepared for next year too. That means concentrating on getting students to the highest quality of achievement possible (distinctions and high grades); ensuring anyone wanting to study with us is enrolled; ensuring students progress to the next level and finalising timetables.

PRINCIPAL UPDATE You can follow Ian on Twitter @ipryce

Despite the distractions of the Area Review process, this has been a good year to date, educationally and financially, so it is important not to let up.

PAUSE AND PURDAH

There has been a flurry of announcements from government recently, followed by the call for a snap election. Following 21 April we are officially in a period of purdah with much of government business virtually closing down until the election is over.

Fortunately we were able to complete the signing of the funding agreements for the Wixams Academy and Wixams Tree Primary with just a few hours to spare on the 21st.

from existing and new organisations totalled four times the available funds.

Sensibly the government decided to simply roll forward existing funding until December, but that does mean we still need confirmation regarding the funding for work in the Tresham area.

WINNING WAYS

As usual our students have been doing us proud. Our Shuttleworth team won Silver at the Young Gardener of the Year Show for the exhibition at the Ideal Home Show and our Fashion students have reached the semi-final of the Professional Clothing Awards. Former students have been getting in on the act too. Former Performing Arts student Lewis Joss has just been named Northamptonshire’s Magician of the Year.

And staff have followed suit. The Association of Accounting Technicians have shortlisted the College for the Best Provider award (we won it last year) and shortlisted Ellen Diamant for Tutor of the Year.

One major announcement has been a pause in the process of allocating apprenticeship funding. The bids for funding

CORPORATION NEWS

The Corporation concluded the Spring term with a Special Board Meeting on 13 April 2017 to receive and consider the due diligence report on Tresham College. The proposal for the merger was included in the recommendations made as part of the Area Review Process. The proposal is currently out for public consultation.

Board members are working closely with the Executive to obtain the final assurances needed to support the merger of the two colleges from 1 August 2017.

Five members of the Bedford Board have been extremely active on the Merger Steering Group working with Governors from Tresham, the Principals of the colleges and a merger consultant to ensure governance and oversight of the merger process. Meetings have taken place at both Bedford and Kettering. A further additional Bedford Board meeting is planned for the 7 June 2017 when the Board will be asked to consider recommendations from the Executive in respect of the proposed merger.

In addition to merger discussions the Corporation have had a full calendar

UPDATE staff magazine

of committee meetings. It was agreed earlier in the academic year to provide briefings to the full Board in due course on Equality & Diversity, Safeguarding, Health & Safety and Risk. Despite an impromptu relocation of the March Board meeting to the Brundtland building, due to a lengthy evacuation of the Tower Block, the Board was delighted to receive the first briefing on Equality & Diversity from Anastassia Parsons and would like to thank her for a comprehensive presentation. I would like to extend thanks to the members of staff in Brundtland who found the Board a room, provided stationery and sourced IT support for the occasion!

If you have any questions about the Corporation or any of the opportunities it provides please feel free to contact the Clerk to the Corporation; Rachel Nicol rnicol@ bedford.ac.uk (Tel. 01234 291003) or one of your staff governors, Jane Dudeney and Charlie Whewell.

03 Wixams Academy artist impression

BEDFORD & KEMPSTON CAMPUS NEWS Construction students on Wixams site

CONSTRUCTION STUDENTS VISIT WIXAMS SITE Thank you to Willmott Dixon for providing Level 3 part-time Technical & Professional Construction Students the opportunity to visit the Wixams Academy (secondary school and sixth form) construction site.

The 26 students are mostly apprentices and trainees, however their roles vary widely and not all of them work on site. As the students are currently studying site setup and managing site resources this visit gave them the opportunity to ask questions of the Willmott Dixon Managers; the tour around the new buildings looking at the materials and detailing tied in nicely with their Building Technology Module, too.

SPEED DATING SPECIALS The original (and best!) progression event was hosted by Travel & Tourism on Wednesday 26 April. We met professionals from Monarch Aviation, Signature Flight Support and our new friends from FHT and Not Just Travel. The first year Level 3 students gained valuable insight into the industry through people currently doing the jobs, with a Q & A that isn’t available elsewhere.

Fundraising for the Oscars is in full swing.

So far we have seen staff and students in their pyjamas for a day and guessing the sweets in the jar. There is much more to come so pop over to Rogers Court and get involved!

FEATHERY FEAST On Saturday, Bedford College Hospitality and Catering staff and students assisted at the annual Feathery Feast held at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in aid of the NSPCC.

Hospitality and Catering students Georgia Coney and Theo Oates assisted Hayden Groves, who is the former Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year, executive chef for Lloyds of London and current executive chef at caterers BaxterStorey, who created his own sophisticated take on rhubarb and custard. They were accompanied and coordinated by Course Manager Anthony Richards and Senior Trainer Alexandra Hadland.

HEY CLAY AT EASTER A great time was had by all at the Hey Clay sessions in the Arts department over the Easter break, as part of BBC Creative Weekend.

Visitors thoroughly enjoyed the event and commented “What a lovely afternoon, can’t believe we tried out so many different activities!” and “The students were all very helpful and knowledgable too!”

Guests paid £95.00 per head to enjoy a drinks reception and canapés followed by a seven-course sit-down dinner with a selection of wines, each course created by a top chef gathered from across the country and assisted by student chefs.

May 2017

04 Silver award winning entry for ‘Young Gardeners of the Year’

Fisheries Management students visit Holland

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

SHUTTLEWORTH COLLEGE NEWS HORTICULTURE STUDENTS WIN THE SILVER AWARD

Horticulture students at the Ideal Home Show

The Fisheries students have had an extremely busy term. They had the fantastic opportunity to spend a week training in Holland on a specialist research and aquaculture facility at Groenwelle University. They came back invigorated and ready for their work experience placements prior to Easter. On their return they came straight into the relaunch of their fish farm with new Tilapia for farm production and new Mirror and Crucian carp in the outside tanks as part of an Environment Agency project. Fisheries is now in full swing. The past few terms have been packed with trips and visits from specialists in the industry.

Fisheries also welcomed some state of the art equipment to house a new marine project where students will start building a sustainable coral reef.

Shuttleworth students have won a silver award for the garden they designed and built for the ‘Young Gardeners of the Year’ competition at the Ideal Home Show in March.

The annual competition, now in its seventh year, is organised by TV gardener David Domoney in association with the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and celebrates young ‘green’ talent. It sees six of the UK’s leading horticultural colleges go head-to-head to create a showstopping, sustainable garden that will be visited by a quarter of a million visitors at the show. This year’s Show Gardens were judged by an expert panel, which includes horticultural industry leaders, home and garden magazine editors and acclaimed garden designers. These annual awards offer students a great opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate the best of British young talent in garden design and build. The garden had to be a focal point and inspire homeowners and passers-by on just what can be achieved in front of a home, creating a sense of tranquillity and sustainability for the home owner; it should act as an escape from the pressures of inner city life and bring a touch of nature to the heart of the metropolis.

David Domoney said: “To date we have given more than 500 garden landscaping and design students the opportunity to UPDATE staff magazine

build show gardens at a national event before they even leave the college gates. It’s always a great privilege to see great British talent come together to compete for the title of Young Gardeners of the Year”.

Each college had five days to build and plant their garden inside Kensington Olympia, ready for the Ideal Home Show opening day on 24 March 2017.

Shuttleworth students did a fantastic job, as you can see in the pictures above. In fact it was so good that one visitor to the Show asked if he could purchase the garden once the Show was finished. A price was agreed and everything was set to be moved to his home in the South of England. Sadly when he went home to measure up, he realised that it just would not fit in the space he had.

However, this was a real accolade for the students who designed and built the garden – we are very proud of them.

We are hoping that the garden can be reinstated in the Shuttleworth grounds for all our staff and students to enjoy.

AGRICULTURE AT SHUTTLEWORTH Great success this year again with calving and lambing. We have also had several industry specialists giving the Level 3 and HE learners fantastic opportunities to learn more about innovative thinking in the industry. The young cattle are also preparing for shows throughout summer which have been sponsored by the Red Poll Society and are in the exceptional position to have kept their Elite health status for another year.

Ten calves have been born so far after a lot of overnight and early morning work from Anne-Marie Hamilton. Four calves are heifers and six are bulls.

New born calf at Shuttleworth College

05 Students visit Croatia

how to transfer skills aquired in small dinghies to larger cruising yachts.

The students were in luck with perfect sailing weather – a full week of blue skies with light winds. More than 180 nautical miles were sailed in total from Zadar and around the Kornarti National Park, often referred to as ‘nautical paradise’, and visiting various islands.

CRUISING IN CROATIA

Over the Easter break nine students and two staff from the Outdoor Adventure department visited Croatia. They undertook a week aboard ‘Magic Dreams’, a Sun Odyssey 509 yacht, as an extra-curricular trip to learn about coastal navigation and

The students had the opportunity to practise manoeuvres such as anchoring, coming along side and Mediterranean moorings. Marine life such as octopus, starfish and dolphins were seen on more than one occasion on the trip making for some excellent photo opportunities.

There was high praise for the Shuttleworth College students from Jon Goodwin, one of Shuttleworth’s Outdoor Adventure Lecturers and Skipper of the trip, who enthused: “I want to say thanks to the students who cooked, cleaned, provided entertainment and crewed/skippered the yacht for the week. You were amazing and genuine ambassadors for the course and College.”

The trip was such a success there are plans to return next year with the next cohort of students.

THE BEDFORD SIXTH FORM NEWS Politics students welcome MP

POLITICS STUDENTS WELCOME CONSERVATIVE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MP)

On Friday 21 April 2017 30 first year Politics students welcomed Richard Fuller, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bedford and Kempston Constituency.

Richard Fuller was born in Bedford and lives in the heart of the constituency. He was raised and educated locally before leaving for Oxford University. Richard subsequently completed an MBA at Harvard Business School and lived in Asia, Australia and the USA before returning to the UK. First elected in May 2010 and re-elected in May 2015, he is a member of the Select Committee

on Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Select Committee on Regulatory Reform.

Committees and the key part he played in the Parliamentary Inquest into the collapse of British Home Stores (BHS).

The students had the opportunity to hear Richard talk about life as an MP and how he came to be involved in politics. As a local MP Richard runs a ‘surgery’ for members of the public to discuss concerns with him at his Constituency office in central Bedford.

Following Richard’s talk the students were able to ask questions some of which included topics such as Brexit, imposing our Western values on unstable countries and voting reform.

Many of the students stayed behind to talk to Richard and ask him about his campaign plans for the General Election announced for the 8 June 2017. It was an informative and entertaining talk which gave the students lots to think about and discuss.

Richard talked the students through the processes of Parliament, including the stages of making laws, roles within the Houses of Parliament such as the ‘Whips’ and Parliamentary language.

Richard discussed his role in the Select

May 2017

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BCS NEWS TAKE THE PLUNGE AT TRINITY ARTS AND LEISURE

Trinity Arts and Leisure are running several NPLQ (National Pool Lifeguarding Qualification) courses during College holidays.

This qualification is ideal for anyone over 16 years of age who has a keen interest in swimming or the leisure industry in general.

Covering topics such as First Aid, CPR and Water Survival Skills, the course is not only a great stepping stone towards swimming teaching and coaching but provides useful information on the leisure industry as a whole.

NPLQ is an internationally recognised qualification and allows holders to work at any swimming pool within the United Kingdom. Lifeguarding can prove to be an ideal part time job for young people who are studying, as working hours are flexible and it’s not too badly paid either!

Calling all budding lifeguards!

A week long NPLQ course at Trinity Arts and Leisure costs £275. Courses are being held on the following dates: • Monday 29 May – Friday 2 June • Monday 7 August – Friday 11 August •M onday 23 October – Friday 27 October For more information please call Trinity Arts and Leisure on 01234 291777 or email enquiries@trinityleisure.co.uk

CROSS-COLLEGE GROUPS The College has many cross-college groups meeting on a regular basis so there will now be an update from the groups after each meeting to pass on any relevant information.

Current groups Achievements Ceremony Chair: Grace Kennedy Accommodation Chair: Pat Jones Advanced Engineering Centre Chair: Pat Jones Apprenticeships Chair: Mike Johnston Customer Service Chair: Sarah Baxter Equality and Diversity Co-chairs: Ian Pryce and Elizabeth Nash Higher Education Chair: Georgina Ager Professional Development Chair: Fiona Jukes Open Days Chair: Dean Constant Safeguarding Chair: Em Lowe Safety Committee Chair: Elizabeth Nash Staff Development Days Chair: Fiona Jukes Staff Intranet Chair: Sarah Baxter UPDATE staff magazine

If you are a member of a group that is not listed or would like to join one of the groups and don’t know who to contact please let me know.

ACHIEVEMENTS CEREMONY

This group organises the Achievements Ceremony in November each year. The next meeting is being held on 23 March to discuss this year’s plans and the event itself is on 30 November 2017.

For more information please contact Grace Kennedy at gkennedy@bedford.ac.uk

ACCOMMODATION

The Accommodation group deals with the updating and changes to the buildings on all sites. Following a recent meeting the group have proposed plans for upgrades of various areas and will be able to share the details in the next issue.

ADVANCED ENGINEERING CENTRE

The purpose of the Steering Group is to ensure that all project plans for the new Advanced Engineering Centre run to plan, including finances and sponsorship where appropriate. The group is chaired by the Finance Director and has representatives from Estates, Engineering, the Executive, marketing and Governors. The group meets once a month to discuss progress and set actions for the following month to ensure the project meets its deadlines. The Steering Group recently over-saw the event at Hangar 1, Cardington Airfield which brought together business leaders from

the local area and beyond to showcase engineering at the College and the plans for the new building.

For further information please contact Karen Rabjohn at krabjohn@bedford.ac.uk

APPRENTICESHIPS

This group is working to provide closer links between apprentice employers and the College. The group is currently assisting employers with the new apprenticeship levy that came into force in April 2017. They are also working on ways to give apprentices the opportunity to be involved in the whole student experience, giving them a more active role within the College’s student government and other student groups.

For more information please contact Trudie Tebbutt at ttebbutt@bedford.ac.uk

CUSTOMER SERVICE

The Customer Service group was established to assess and improve service around the College. Following their administration of staff, employer, HE and apprentice surveys the group has been working hard to implement suggested improvements across the sites for the benefit of all.

The group will next meet on 22 May to determine the plans for the next academic year. For more information please contact Trudie Tebbutt at ttebbutt@bedford.ac.uk

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

The group is chaired by the Principal and includes members from across the College

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sites and functions. Meetings take place on a termly basis. The group advises the College Executive on the promotion of equality and diversity in the College, participates in the implementation of the Single Equality Scheme Action Plan and encourages positive action to address identified barriers and equality gaps. The group members act as champions for inclusion and diversity in their area of work.

Anastassia also manages the Virtual staff focus group which was set up to assist the Equality and Diversity Group to engage with a broad range of staff on relevant topics, provide feedback via brief surveys, and help raise awareness of issues affecting staff and students in order to inform further engagement and proposals for change.

The group does not meet in person and members are invited to complete a short online survey (anonymous) on a topic each term. The group membership is flexible and members can opt out of completing a specific survey.

For more information or if you

would like to join either group, please contact Anastassia Parsons anparsons@bedford.ac.uk

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

An open group to support non-teaching staff across all areas of the college. Some members of the group are currently working on the staff conference.

OPEN DAYS

The new format Open Days are working well and we are looking forward to the next Open Day on 11 May. Thank you to everyone for their continuing support.

For more information please contact Dean Constant at dconstant@bedford.ac.uk

SAFETY COMMITTEE

We have an established Safety Committee which for many years has supported the College in the development of high standards of health, safety and welfare.

This Committee’s membership reflects our diverse nature of learning and working environments. It is a legal body set up in line

with requirements of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 forming an integral part of our effective management approach helping identify and control foreseeable hazards and risks to all.

This group meets once a term, with the next meeting taking place on 7 June 2017.

For more information please contact Emma Charnley at echarnley@bedford.ac.uk

STAFF CONFERENCE WORKING GROUP

This group meets to come up with ideas for, and organise, the staff conference.

STAFF INTRANET

The group are currently working together to manage the implementation of our accessible and easy to use new intranet, with a launch date of 1 August. Members of the group are deciding the layouts and content of pages in conjunction with the relevant subject areas.

For more information or if you would like to join the group, please contact Trudie Tebbutt at ttebbutt@bedford.ac.uk

PEOPLE NEWS EDGAR MORTIMER 21 AUGUST 1955 – 17 APRIL 2017

We have been deeply saddened by the news of Edgar’s death. Edgar had been off sick since mid January 2017 but in early March was talking positively about returning to work and so his death was unexpected and a shock to his colleagues.

Edgar first worked for Bedford College from October 2009 to June 2013 as an Instructor in Construction Trades mainly based at Bedford Prison. He returned as a Senior Trainer in September 2016 this time to the Cauldwell Street campus specialising in Brickwork.

Edgar was very popular with our students and will long be remembered for his larger than life personality and characteristic sense of humour. He will be greatly missed and our thoughts are with his wife, Anne, and with his family.

CHARITY ABSEIL EVENT

Students and staff from the Outdoor Adventure department abseiled down the Tower Block on Thursday 4 May, challenging themselves ‘to the edge ‘ while raising money for two great charities.

There will be a further opportunity to take part later in May or early June when the Public Services students get their chance to have a go.

We asked for donations to either of our two charities: Surfers Against Sewage who campaign for cleaner water and beaches www.justgiving.com/ abseildownthetowerblock Phase Hitchin who work to support wellbeing in young people my.give.net/abseildownthetowerblock If anyone who was unavailable on the day would like to contribute, the donation pages are still open and we would welcome your support.

Students abseiling from the Tower block.

STARTERS AND LEAVERS

Since we last reported there have been a number of changes in staff We have said goodbye to: Stuart Chatterton Claire Praill Molly Ayre Michael Burgoine Hannah Toner We are saying hello to: Performing Arts Chris Lloyd Apprenticeships Debbie Houghton Estates and Facilities Mark Newman Michael Cawley May 2017