college voice
Winter Term 2020 Your staff magazine
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don’t know about you, but it feels as if we’re staggering to the finish line at the end of this term!
The period since August has been a bit of a marathon, with added hurdles to jump as well, mainly because of Covid-19. But I have to say, you’ve managed to keep going remarkably well in the circumstances. Each week, the coronavirus pandemic has created a whole range of completely new challenges for us to tackle and created a whole new layer of additional work. But you’ve coped, and feedback from most of our students has been very appreciative of all the efforts we’ve made. Most of them have shown how much they like coming to college and how keen they are to continue with their education and training. It’s reminded me just how important and valuable this college is for the social and economic wellbeing of Bristol.
The fact that we have hit almost all our student number targets and managed to maintain a generally good teaching service means we have made a really strong start to the academic and financial year. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but we can look forward to 2021 with new confidence in our ability to improve. I hope you enjoy the various updates in this edition of the College Voice. Take time to browse through and get a flavour of all the positive things we’re working on. Above all, please enjoy the Christmas break. You’ve earned it! Yours sincerely,
Andy Forbes
contents Your staff
magazine
Winter Term 2020
Principal’s welcome
page 1
Wellbeing
page 3
Staff Q&A
page 5
Restructure IT resources Health & safety
Equality matters – update by Andy Forbes
page 7
Catch up co-ordinators – ‘Achieving your goals with coaching’
page 9
Wellbeing
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t has, without doubt, been an exhausting term. The normal start of year pressures along with the complications bought about by the COVID19 situation with which we are, by now, all too familiar has asked much of all members of the college staff. Ensuring that we continue to look after ourselves and ensuring that your welfare remains at the top of our list of priorities remains as important as ever.
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Some of you have been adapting to the added isolation that extended periods working from home can bring; others of you have had to manage with added physical restrictions and limitations placed on face-to-face provision. For us all, there has been a great deal of uncertainty at both work and in our lives in general. We know, for example, that more of you are making use of the Employee Assistance Programme as a means of gaining some much needed support to help with the personal challenges you may be having. This is a great provision and is available to all staff through the link (https://www.employeeassistance.org.uk/) using the access code cbc. Our partner in delivering this service has enhanced the level of mental health support that is available to call upon in recognition that the coronavirus has had a disproportionate effect in this area. This service also provides practical tips and measures for managers in helping staff in need of additional support. The HR team remain available to advise and support as required and I would encourage you to continue to make use of the help and expertise on offer from the team.
In addition, to the support to help address problems as they may arise, the effect of creating a supportive and collaborative working environment within our existing teams is of equal importance in ensuring that we continue to look out for one and other. Our Office 365 platform and other digital communications afford a great number of tools to help facilitate this, some suggestions you may consider inside your teams, or more, broadly could include: •
A WhatsApp Group for team members to stay connected
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A dedicated Team in MS Teams – this could be for your team at work, or could be a group with a shared interest, or maybe could include those you’d normally have lunch with were we all working in college
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A Yammer community to share information, build discussion and celebrate successes.
To help with the transition that the college is making to a greater reliance on digital technology to deliver learning the college has been actively recruiting for a Digital Development Manager. This role will sit within the Quality department to lead in the development of online learning across the college and develop bespoke training on the use of applications for staff and students. The aim is to develop a college-wide digital curriculum that makes full use of the tools that we have at our disposal. An important part of this process will be understanding better where we can support and improve digital learning and training for both staff and students. As a result we will be engaging in the staff and student JISC digital experience insights surveys to help us to understand how students and staff are using the technology we offer, what is making a difference to your learning and working experiences and where improvements can be made. Surveys will be sent out over coming weeks and we would appreciate your support in answering questions.
Staff After the Staff Briefing session in November there were loads of questions submitted – too many to answer on the day. So, here’s some extra answers as promised. Restructure Q. Richard repeatedly commented on the fantastic achievement of over-recruiting by 10%, compared to 4% over-recruitment nationally. How much would SLT attribute this great achievement to the brilliant leadership from Director of Marketing, Communications & Customer Services - now being restructured? A. Without downplaying the contribution of any individual, like everything this has been a real team effort, and a process which takes place over a number of teams and a number of months - all of this requires contribution from the DMCCS and a huge number of other colleagues. Q. How does SLT see the leadership of open days, recruitment and so on working under the new proposed restructure and was an Assistant Director of Student Services and Marketing considered in the same way an AD of MIS was? A. Both Marketing and Student Services have a key role to play in leading open days and recruitment, and a sharper focus on accountability and responsibility for such aspects was one of the reasons behind moving away from a broader role such as AD of Student Services and Marketing.
Q&
A
IT resources Q. Is there an update on laptop availability for students? Particularly those identified as having high needs. A. We continue to work with curriculum teams to identify learners that require additional IT support and allocate our laptop resources to meet the demands of blended learning. This does require balancing the needs for our incollege requirements, supporting staff working from home and meeting the requirements for remote learning, from our available IT resources. A further 78 laptops have recently arrived at the College to make a total available resource of 928. Currently 358 laptops have been allocated to students to support remote learning and this has fulfilled all validated requests for laptops to our high needs and 16 to 18 cohorts. We are currently working to meet the demand for support of our adult learners and this has currently prioritised a further 36 learners. We hold just over 300 laptops for use across all centres through the laptop trolley booking system. Supporting staff working from home has an allocation of just over 200 laptops. Q. This is not a question but a comment about laptops and broadband - I think that in the ESOL department there is a widespread feeling of need and the impression that ESOL has lacked support in the provision of devices. A. Please note comments against question 2 for the allocation of laptop resources. Laptops remain a balanced resource and High Needs and 16 to 18 (including ESOL) has been a priority in the first half term. Working with the Assistant Director and Heads of Department, we have a priority list for adults and expect to meet those requirements before the end of term. We recognise that not all learners have internet access from home and where this is the case, the College is coordinating the laptop allocation with a dongle to support wireless access to services.
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Health & safety Q. Covid is an airborne disease - I am very concerned about ventilation. Should there be more emphasis in our Health and Safety policy on ensuring adequate ventilation in classrooms? We need to keep doors / windows open ... are aircon filters regularly checked? A. The subject of ventilation was highlighted at the staff briefing. Airborne is a poor term as it suggests the virus is always present in the air and that is not correct. Like all viruses, Coronavirus (COVID 19), can be exhaled or projected from an individual’s breath or by cough/sneeze as an aerosol. In Government and COVID guidance it is termed Aerosol transmission. There are recent international studies that suggest that finer aerosol can build up in a room over time if it is not correctly ventilated. Short periods of ventilation are recommended if buildings are not continuously ventilated. However, with the exception of Ashley Down, all our centres are mechanically (continuously) ventilated, bringing fresh air into the building and extracting through a separate system to avoid recirculated air. We actually have relatively few air conditioning systems and these mainly for IT server rooms. The mechanical ventilation systems are regularly serviced including filter changes. These systems were all tested before reopening in September, to ensure sufficient air changes were being achieved and that we exceeded the levels set in Building Regulation and CIBSE guidance. Ashley Down is an older building and has very few rooms with mechanical ventilation, these being where there are no external openable windows. At this centre all rooms have at least one openable window for ventilation, or a permanent fresh air supply if openable windows were not available. Our Health, Safety and Wellbeing policy remains up-to-date and was updated for COVID, through Corporation approval, before we reopened in September. Just one clarification that may be of assistance for our users at Parkway and AEC. The cassettes mounted in the classroom ceilings at this centre are not air conditioning units but are part of the heating and ventilation for the building. This building allows some user control, with 2 degrees up or down temperature control. However, the units should be left on at all times to support ventilation. If units are switched off they will automatically reset each morning, but will be off for that day.
Q. At College Green, how many times an hour is the air refreshed? A. Building Regulations (BR) are the standard to which all buildings are designed and constructed, and BR sets out minimum standards including ventilation. Additionally, the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) set out more detailed charts and design functionality, where larger more complex buildings are being developed and measured. Unfortunately, the answer to the question depends on the room size and use to establish the level of fresh air required. College Green has 17 Air Handling units (AHU) on its roof and all serve specific areas of the building. In general, the air changes, are measured in metres cubed per second (M3/S) and is between 2 and 10 changes for rooms at College Green. Therefore, in order to prove the suitability and correct volumes of air change, we engaged a suitably qualified CIBSE engineer in the summer to review, set and report on the system. All areas were found compliant and most considerably in excess of the minimum standard. It is just worth restating that during the winter, there will be a balance between comfort levels (the heated environment) and ventilation (often perceived as draught). Q. Will UWE students be isolating for two weeks when they return to halls after the Christmas break or will they be able to attend face-to-face from the start of January? (I teach on the HP Foundation course). A. This is unknown at the moment. I have planned with the Programme Lead that delivery will be online from 9th December and you will have been copied into the communications we sent out to the HP students a couple of weeks ago. We took this action in accordance with updates received from the faculty team at UWE. We need to await further updates on where Bristol will be in the Tier system, so the position at the moment is, a return to face-to-face from the start of January, pending further updates. We will make sure you are kept informed with all other colleagues on the HP team. Any further questions, please email Alexandra Sermon.
Equality Matters – an update by Andy Forbes
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020 has been quite a year, not just because of the pandemic, but because of the way the Black Lives Matter movement took off following the appalling death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Equality issues are once again high up on the political agenda.
On 7th June, Bristol played its own unforgettable part in all this when the images of the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue electrified the world. As the Guardian newspaper said, it was: “The day Bristol dumped its hated slave trader in the docks and a nation began to search its soul… colonialism and national memory became a part of the Black Lives Matter conversation.” So, what has the college been doing during this year and what are the priorities for pushing forward with our Equality & Diversity strategy? We took the decision, as part of the Academic Management restructure, to get rid of the College’s part-time Equality and Diversity Coordinator post. We’ve moved from a centralised approach to a more integrated model where responsibility is shared by all managers and is woven into the fabric of the whole organisation. This means that responsibility for Equality and Diversity strategy relating to the curriculum lies with our new Director of Curriculum, Paul James, supported by the Head of Quality, Rob Stewart. Meanwhile, responsibility for Equality & Diversity strategy relating to staffing and employment issues lies with the Director of Human Resources & Organisational Development, Jim Richardson. 7
Overall responsibility for Equality & Diversity sits with me as Principal. We certainly have a strong foundation on which to build. As the Ofsted inspection report noted in November 2019: “Students feel the College is welcoming and is a place where people who have different beliefs, cultures and learning experiences can work together in a tolerant and respectful environment….The College meets the needs of those who are most disadvantaged very well…” Over the years the College has successfully widened participation in most areas of the curriculum and is highly inclusive. A third of our students are of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background, and we have over 500 High Needs students – higher than almost any other General FE College in the country. A rising number of students are on Free School Meals – 550 last year. We also have a big cohort of students who are Care Leavers. In short, we have an amazingly diverse mix of students. For 2021 we have identified four priorities for action: 1. Apprenticeship provision is less inclusive than other areas of the College, with BAME apprentices making up only 12% of the total and female apprentices only 26% of the total. We need to identify the barriers and find ways to widen access to apprenticeships. 2. Equality Gaps. The great majority of students are achieving equally well regardless of their background, but we have found some unexplained gaps in achievement, for example for High Needs students, Care Leavers, young Caribbean males and adult Caribbean females. 3. Under-representation. The proportion of staff of Black and Minority Ethnic background and of those who are disabled doesn’t come anywhere near to reflecting the profile of the community we serve. We need to find ways of attracting a more diverse range of staff. 4. A Black Lives Matter steering group has been established, chaired by me, to consider any additional actions that may be needed to complement or extend our Equality & Diversity strategy and address contemporary issues of race and racism for the benefit of all. So, as you can see, plenty of work done, but plenty more to do. If you’re interested in getting involved, or have any comments or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We all need to step up our game in tackling prejudice and discrimination and ensuring the College continues to be welcoming to all sections of Bristol’s community.
Catch Up Coordinators
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Achieving YOUR Goals with Coaching
aniel Holley and Govinda Rajpal are the new Catch Up Coordinator team, brought in to support learners who scored a Grade 4 or less in GCSEs last year, impacted by the lockdown.
Previous experience includes coaching learners on self-esteem, self-confidence, positivity, making friends, developing healthier relationships, learning valuable life skills and achieving targets. Group session topics have been open to the learners to suggest, and once the Christmas Break is over, Dan and Govinda will be running workshops on Money Management, Resilience, Self-Care, Relationships (of all kinds), Purpose Pathways and more. They have already had introductory sessions with groups around the sites, and are looking forward to getting stuck in with creating impact for learners across the College.
Understandably, our routines were turned upside down, so Govinda and Dan plan Group Sessions known as “The Other Subject�, and 1-1 coaching conversations with learners which cover whatever the learners identify as goals they have or topics they wish to discuss.
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