College Staff Briefing Hartlepool College May/June 2015 of Further Education
Welcome Welcome to another issue of Staff Briefing, continuing to share and celebrate the superb work that goes on all around our College. We don’t need to tell you that the past couple of months have been tough and painful, and the result of the Election has raised as many questions as it answered, but the Briefing exists primarily to shout out about the things we do best - teaching, learning and serving our community. So, let the yelling begin! If you have a story, or anything planned, please contact Briefing directly by getting in touch with Gary Kester (Wordy-Picturey Assemblage Person) in Room 2.42 or gkester@hartlepoolfe.ac.uk or via Darren Hankey (Rubber Stamperer-in-Chief), dhankey@hartlepoolfe.ac.uk
HCFE Snapshot | Marathon Man! Lee Dodgson recently completed seven marathons in as many days for charity, with some superb support from HCFE. See page 4 for more!
Stats Amazing... HCFE does it by the numbers! You may have noticed that the College has taken a more emboldened approach to its promotion recently. Since the New Year we’ve adopted a much more proactive and prominent stance, with some truly excellent stories (many of which feature in the Briefing and in our renewed FE Life Magazine - see page 4) being pushed out into the public domain via traditional and social media to try and get those crucial sign-ups we need to weather the current storm. Our statistics are impressive, though - more so given our relatively small size compared to some of our competitors (who also have the means to outspend us on in most areas, such as marketing). For example, in Apprenticeships we’re the biggest provider in the area, the second biggest in the North East and the seventh best performing provider in all of England. Likewise, we’re in the top 17% of all English colleges for overall provision - though to make it neater and more memorable on banners, videos etc. we round it up to 20%. Now that’s confidence!
Cold cuts cause a lot of anger The recent 24% cut to the adult education budget in England has created what many experts consider an urgent crisis for education. Using the hashtag #lovefe, a campaign against this short-sighted move has brought together a wide range of partners across the country. At local level, Hartlepool College was one of sixteen colleges to unite in an unprecedented move to oppose the cuts, which you can read more about at this link: bit.ly/NEFEcuts In England alone reductions in funding have already led to the economically nonsensical loss of one million learners since 2010, with another 400,000 estimated in the next year.
HCFE Snapshot is a part of the Monthly Staff Briefing that captures day-to-day life around the College on camera. If you take an image you think we should feature, email it to the above with some details (but please make sure you have the permission of those in it), or if you want to arrange photography contact Gary Kester on extension 4020 or email gkester@hartlepoolfe.ac.uk. Please give as much notice as possible though, as schedules are often busy.
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The #lovefe campaign will be holding a lobby of parliament at Westminster on the afternoon of Tuesday 16th June 2015, handing in a petition currently running at more than 35,000 signatories - sadly, as Darren Hankey pointed out recently, something people seem to care less about than Jeremy Clarkson losing his job after abusing and assaulting a BBC Producer when he received over a million. And on that bombshell, if you haven’t already, please sign it now! http://fefunding.org.uk/sign-the-petition/ Jeremy Clarkson - #Don’tBeTheNext