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nov2010
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nov2010 3 THE Store Launch
10 Graduation 2010
4 FE First National Marketing Awards
11 ESOL Dunstable Tour
5 Community Training Portal Awards
12 Healthcare Feature
6 Daisy Creations Launch
13 E-Books Update
7 Children in Need 2010
14 Motor Vehicle Trip
8 Engineering filling the Skills Gap
15 Bistro Christmas Menu + Street Food Event
9 Sugarcraft Success
16 Hair + Beauty Students Pamper the Community
3 THE Store Launch Friday 26th November saw the official VIP launch of THE Store, Central Bedfordshire Colleges new Higher Education Centre based in the heart of Dunstable at the Grove complex. THE Store was officially launched by MP Andrew Selous, and the event was attended by local dignitaries, Colleges Governors, school representatives and local businesses. This new Centre will focus on the provision of Higher Education programmes up to degree level and will be a hub for the Art and Design courses, as well as high end computing programmes including Apple Mac Final Cut Pro and mainstream PC training. The high spec facility is situated next to the main Dunstable Campus on Kingsway, and near to all of the leisure facilities. The centre also hosts gallery space to showcase student work. This exciting new venture for Central Bedfordshire College demonstrates its commitment to delivering courses of all levels within the community. It also provides an ideal opportunity for progression for Further Education students, enabling them to gain a Foundation Degree or BA (Hons) Degree from their local College. This will provide major benefits such as cost savings and it will also help to ensure that students are equipped with the necessary skills and experience for the local community once they complete their qualifications. Chris Vesey commented, “The College is opening this Centre to mark our commitment to the local community and economy. We want to ensure that the best facilities and career development opportunities are available right here in a prime accessible location in the centre of Dunstable. It will look great and I’d like to invite everyone to pop in and have a look. The opening exhibition, which will feature student work will provide an exciting opportunity for people to view and possibly purchase an original piece of artwork created in the College and should be of interest to everyone�.
Central Beds College wins two Silvers at the Marketing Excellence Awards Central Bedfordshire College has won two Silver awards at the National FE First Marketing Excellence Awards, held at the Hilton Hotel in Warwick on Monday 29th November. The awards were for the ‘14-19 Campaign’ and ‘Best Use of Integrated Media’. These were awarded for the Heroes campaign. The Heroes campaign has run for two years and has proven to be a great asset at increasing student enrolment for the College. The original concept for the campaign was devised in-house by the College Marketing team. The second year of the campaign, launched as “Heroes, The Next Generation”, contained new students with a stronger focus on their courses and the skills they are gaining. It also proved to be an excellent method for reiterating the College name change from Dunstable College to Central Bedfordshire College. Martin Bou Mansour of Mankind Photography; Sam Cranwell, Provide Design; and West End make-up artist Jade Patterson all worked hard with the Marketing Team to ensure “The Next Generation” exceeded the first year of the campaign. All of the suppliers were previous students who have gone on to establish their own successful businesses within the region, highlighting the College’s strong progression opportunities and the success of its’ students, adding a new dimension to the campaign. The Best Use of Integrated Media category recognises the effective integration of the various activities undertaken by the Marketing department. This involves how the different elements of the campaign are scheduled and inter-linked to provide maximum effect for the activities undertaken. Advertising has focused around the use of outdoor advertising, through CBS Outdoor; radio advertising, through Heart Radio; press advertising, through the Johnson Press Group; and lamppost advertising, through Bay Media. The website is also a strong element of the campaign and works at reinforcing all messages communicated through the different means. Central Bedfordshire College’s Marketing Team comments, “With this campaign we are aiming to redefine how public sector organisations can reposition themselves in the consumer’s mind. The concept behind the Heroes campaign is to reach out to our main target market of young people aged 16+ in a language that is familiar, challenging, fun and ambitious, with a message that is relevant to their aspirations”. Liz Leeson, Marketing & Communications Manager commented, “We are very proud to win these two awards. Having won Silver last year in the 14-19 Campaign category, we are pleased to add these two awards for this year. The Heroes campaign has been a tremendous success and we have enjoyed working on it with the students and suppliers. The campaign has not only increased student enrolment, it has also caught people’s imagination and to be recognised nationally is a great achievement”.
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5 Community Training Portal Awards 2010 Shelagh Tripney was delighted to be invited to attend an awards ceremony at the Chiltern Hotel, Luton, hosted by Community Training Portal (CTP) an award winning Learndirect Centre with branches in Luton, Blackburn and Liverpool. The ceremony has become an annual event when the company have the opportunity to reward their students and staff for achievement and hard work. This year they were supported by Councillor Thomas Shaw, who presented the awards. Shelagh has been involved with CTP for 2 years since guiding their staff through Assessor Awards. These assessors have gone on to help numerous candidates achieve NVQs in Customer Service, ITQ and Road Passenger Vehicle Driver Achievement (taxi driving). The occasion was particularly delightful because their award for Best Tutor went to Shamila Kausar, who is currently undergoing PTLLS training. Needless to say Shelasg would loved to claim credit for Shamila’s talent and abilities, but unfortunately she has only been her student for 3 weeks!!!
6 Daisy Creations Launch Thursday 18th November saw the launch of Daisy Creations at Central Bedfordshire College. Daisy Creations is a floristry business, set up under the Young Enterprise scheme and run by Pathways students at the College. The students were delighted to welcome to the event Paul Thompson, Area Manager of Young Enterprise East of England Region, The Town Mayor of Houghton Regis, Councillor Robin Hines, The Deputy Mayor of Dunstable Councillor Claire Meakins-Jell, Deputy Town Mayor of Leighton-Linslade, Councillor David Bowater. They were also pleased to receive the support of their parents; the College Principal, Chris Vesey; The Chairman of the Governors, James Crabbe; and Governor Jim Ankelsaria and his wife. The scheme is an excellent vehicle for students to learn about running a business, including maintaining financial records, working as part of a team, learning about good customer care and communication skills.
7 Central Bedfordshire College host hair raising events for Children in Need 2010 Central Bedfordshire College students and staff held a variety of events across two campuses in aid of Children in Need last week, raising over £800. On Thursday 18th November the Dunstable Campus played host to free face painting, hand henna painting and raffles, as well as tea and cake stalls. On Friday the Houghton Regis Campus saw hair and beauty students and staff in fancy dress for the day and providing treatments such as massages, manicures, facials and wash & blow drying for £5 each. Money was also raised with face painting, nail art, cake sales, bid box and a raffle and tombola with prizes donated from local companies including a signed MK Dons shirt. But the event that everyone was waiting for was the Male Leg Wax. Football students and members of staff were sponsored to get their legs and armpits waxed for the charity event, helping raise the total of the day to over £520. Deborah Thompson, who organised the events at the Houghton Regis Campus, commented; ‘We are very proud of our efforts for Children in Need this year, as we managed to raise our highest total for the charity to date. The hair and beauty students worked hard to give as many treatments as possible for this worthy cause, and proved themselves to be fantastic ambassadors for the College.’
8 Engineering courses to meet the skills gap Central Bedfordshire College has launched some new Engineering qualifications in conjunction with local companies to ensure students are receiving industry ready skills and qualifications. The latest qualifications to launch are the first of many that take inspiration from external organisations. The Level 2 Diploma in Engineering has been developed with local Houghton Regis based company High-Tech Engineering. Students will benefit from developing their skills and abilities through company visits, presentations and work experience. This provides students with support from the College and the business. Some areas of the Engineering industry have struggled in recent years due to an aging industry workforce and skills shortages. Added to this are the recent spending cuts and unstable job market, it now more important than ever to ensure that the skills gaps are met by a new workforce to ensure buoyancy in the future. Barry Nappin, Line-Lead for the qualification commented, “By working with High-Tech Engineering to devise the structure of the course we can ensure the qualification is industry relevant and up-to-date. The rewards for the learners are very exciting, with the company already stating that employment for some of the learners a real probability. MD Steve Tickner of High-Tech Engineering believes the companies involvement with the Diploma is of major benefit to the economy, as well as being fundamental to their yearly intake of new engineers; “There is a major skills shortage throughout Aerospace and Manufacturing in general. We have addressed this with our collaboration with Central Bedfordshire College. It offers us the opportunity to identify suitable candidates for a steady stream of killed engineers essential in our plan for sustainable growth�.
9 Central Bedfordshire College students excel at national Sugarcraft show Central Bedfordshire College students were awarded awards at the NEC Cake International Exhibition in Birmingham. Three current students and one ex student, all studying Sugarcraft in Level 2 or 3, were awarded Bronze in their respective categories. Lauren Thomas, who is studying Sugarcraft Level 2, and was entering her first Sugarcraft competition was awarded Bronze for the “Sugacraft Under 18” category. Hayley Pfeifer, who is studying Sugarcraft Level 3, was awarded Bronze for the “Sugarcraft Sculpted Novelty Cake” for her Shrek cake. Bronze was also awarded to Carolyn Rowe, who is studying Sugarcraft Level 2, for the “Sugarcraft Miniature Flower” category, which involved a display no bigger than 3 inches. The exhibition was attended by over fourteen thousand visitors, and proved to be a great opportunity for Central Bedfordshire College students to showcase their skills. Sugarcraft Tutor, Denise Conner, commented, “The level of work produced by our students was exceptional, they have done themselves and the College proud. The exhibition was an excellent opportunity to promote Central Bedfordshire College Sugarcraft courses, and attracted interest from a large area because we are one of only here Colleges within the UK running Sugarcraft Level 3 courses”.
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Graduation 2010 The University of Bedfordshire hosted a Graduation Ceremony at Christ the Cornerstone Church in Milton Keynes on Monday 25th October 2010. This was a public opportunity to celebrate the success of many HE students at the College studying for the Certificate in Education and Professional Graduate Certificate in Post Compulsory Education and Foundation Degree in Educational Practice. Well done to Pat Cooper’s students!
Julie Weekes, Pat Bender, Pat Cooper, Catherine Kirby & Samantha Adams
11 ESOL Tour of Dunstable The ESOL students went on a Tour of Dunstable on the last Friday before the half-term break (22/10). They walked through the town stopping at several places of interest. They had a guided tour of ’Our Town on the Crossroads’ exhibition at the Priory House, were introduced to the local bookshop by the Boook Castle staff and talked to the local artist at the art gallery. The last stop was at the College’s coffee shop where the students enjoyed a cup of tea with delicious scones freshly prepared by Pathway students. At the end the students took part in The Big Dunstable Quiz and after a series of challenging questions on the contemporary affairs and history of Dunstable there were two winning teams. Needless to say, everybody enjoyed the 4th ESOL Students’ Tour of Dunstable and now looking forward to the fifth edition next year.
12 Bedford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Are you interested in healthcare? Want to know more about what’s happening at your local hospital? Then why not become a member of the prospective Bedford Hospital NHS Foundation Trust! As a member you will receive regular updates about what’s happening at Bedford Hospital and invitations to members meetings and governors’ forums. By signing up as a member you are also supporting Bedford Hospital’s foundation trust application. Members will help us to improve our services, by helping us to better understand the needs of the population we serve. Members will also be able to vote in elections for the elected Council of Governors who will work with the Board of Directors to decide how hospital services are delivered and managed. By becoming a member you can have a real say in how we deliver and develop our services. Membership is free of charge and members are free to decide how much time and effort they put in – from just receiving news and information, to coming to meetings or standing as a governor. Anyone aged over 16 and living in Bedford Borough or North and Mid (Central) Bedfordshire can join as a member of Bedford Hospital. Support your hospital sign up today at www.bedfordhospital.nhs.uk/foundation-trust It’s your hospital, have your say.
13 E-Books Update The latest figures for the e-books are: E-books in the library The books with the highest number of users this month is once again BTEC L3 National Business, viewed 270 times so far. 2nd most popular book is Introduction to Childcare and Education (2nd Edition) with 1234 pages viewed. Other popular titles this month include: Adventure Guide to Anguilla, Antigua, St. Barts and St. Kitts Asperger Syndrome in Young Children Equality in Early Childhood Feminist Sociology If you need a login to access these resources please contact the library.
14 Motor Vehicle Stondon Trip The 14 - 16 Motor Vehicle students went on a trip to Stondon Transport Museum near Henlow on Monday 15th November. It was a very enjoyable day spent at this local and still little known motor museum, where the students looked at many old classic cars, motorcycles and trucks.
15 Bistro Update The fortnightly Street Food event held in the College’s main reception at the Dunstable Campus is coming around again. With a different world theme at each event, please come and taste what the Hospitality and Catering students have to offer. The next event is on December 13th. We will be offering Mince Pies, Sausage and Cranberry Plait and other seasonal Fayre. The Bistro is also open for Christmas Dinner. There are still spaces on Monday 13th and Wednesday 15th December. Cream of Pumpkin Soup served with Garlic Croutons Apricot Stuffed Turkey served with Cranberry and Bread Sauces Roasted Winter Vegetables Glazed Carrots or Baked Vegetarian Lasagne / Vegetarian Christmas Pudding with Citrus Butter and Chantilly Cream Warm Spiced Fruit Punch: £1.20 Iced Cocktail: £1.20 Coffee: 80p Tea: 60p
16 Hair + Beauty Students Pampering the Community On Thursday 25th November, Hair & Beauty students based at the Houghton Regis Campus had some visitors from the Rose Court Care Home. The 10 residents, who have varying learning and physical disabilities, were getting their hair and make-up done for their prom, for which they had raised over £200 to hold through car boot sales. Anna, who runs activities for the residents, said ‘The residents raised the money for their prom by themselves, and are very proud of what they achieved. Coming to the College has been a lovely experience, and I’m sure they can’t wait to dance the night away with their new looks!’ Many thanks to the Level 1 and 2 Hair & Beauty students who took the time to pamper the residents!