NewVIc opens doors to support Newham students in succeeding at Oxford interviews
This year, NewVIc has been announced as the Newham hub for all Year 13 students applying to the University of Oxford, Wadham College. Wadham College are working closely with NewVIc to support students and other Newham students with their admissions process. Like NewVIc, Wadham College values the importance of diversity and believes that drawing its’ student body from a wider cultural and social base drives standards up, not down. Wadham College works closely with NewVIc to help bright students make competitive applications, regardless of their backgrounds and encourages students to apply. Scientist Catherine, from Oxford University, came to NewVIc earlier this month to run an insightful interview support session for students. Oxford University has developed a programme of ‘link colleges’ to simplify communication and workshops between UK schools and the University. This is part of their ongoing commitment to engage with schools across the country. The support sessions being delivered at NewVIc will break down why they interview applicants, what students can expect at their interviews, and how best they can prepare for them. The support programme delivered shared some Oxbridge interview tips with a former applicant who studied at Cambridge. This support programme will not only allow Oxford University to get to know schools and colleges in specific regions better, but also gives schools and colleges a more personal and direct way of staying in touch with the University. “I am applying to Oxford University to study History and Politics. I have my interview coming up soon, I’m so nervous and stressed. Having said that I must’ve done well in my task and written contents as part of the applications. I’m really looking forward to this process, the support we’re getting from Wadham and seeing if I get accepted after interview!” Ameera Ismail Honours and A Level Year 2 Student “The session today has been really good. The students have responded to all of the questions. They all have independent thoughts and clearly have passion to their subject areas. We wish them all best of luck with their application and upcoming interviews. We hope to support them all in the process and wish them all the best of luck.” Catherine Seed Access Assistant – Wadham College For more information about this support programme or the college please contact: Shah Rahman srahman@newvic.ac.uk 020 7540 0651
Local School Pupil Welcomes Residents To Their New Homes
Following a greetings card design competition with David Wilson Homes, an imaginative pupil from Church End Lower School in Marston Moretaine is spreading joy to new residents at the homebuilder’s Marston Fields development. As part of a ‘Welcome Home’ campaign, David Wilson Homes reached out to the school nearby its Torry Orchard site for the help of the pupils in designing greeting cards to be handed out to new homebuyers. Joey Rice, in Year 4, was the winner of the competition and alongside claiming a £25 book token will see his printed cards distributed to all residents at Marston Fields. Brian Storey, Head Teacher at Church End Lower School, said: “It was great to be part of David Wilson Homes’ Welcome Home design competition and we’re very proud of the entries submitted by the children. “We hope to be doing some welcoming of our own once the children of the families moving into Marston Fields join us here at Church End Lower School.” The scheme aims to provide a warm welcome to those making a fresh start during Christmas and the New Year, whilst also highlighting key information about the local area. The theme of the county-wide competition for schools is all things home related and the children are encouraged to be as creative as possible and to add in pictures and details about the suburb they live in. Jason Hearn, Sales Director at David Wilson Homes South Midlands, said: “It’s important to us to make new residents feel welcome as they join our new communities, and we’re thankful to Joey and the pupils of Church End Lower School for helping us to do just that. “This time of year is a great opportunity for greetings cards to be distributed and receiving a personal message from a local school pupil will really put a smile on the faces of our homebuyers. “We received a variety of inventive entries as part of the Welcome Home campaign and it was a difficult task choosing a winner, however we hope this project has inspired the imaginations of the children involved.” Marston Fields currently has a selection of four and five bedroom available with prices starting from £449,995. For further information about the development, please contact the David Wilson Homes sales team on 033 3355 8486 or visit https://www.dwh.co.uk/new-homes/bedfordshire/H734001-David-Wilson-Marston-Fields/.
How Clifton College found data backup solutions
Clifton College independent public boarding school in Bristol has improved its data retention, backup and disaster recovery thanks to Arcserve IT solutions. Clifton College is one of the UK’s top independent schools with nearly 2,000 students aiming to deliver a modern IT strategy. To achieve this they needed an effective backup and recovery solution that accommodated their growing amount of data but also protected their students and staff. The IT team struggled with low data retention, high backup failure rate and false ‘successful’ backups without notification – leaving their backup and recovery process time-consuming and inefficient. It would take the IT team half a day to fix problems which ultimately affected the performance across the school’s network. With the help of Cristie Cloud BaaS with Arcserve’s (Arcserve) UDP solution, Clifton College has seen a number of improvements, including: Recovery Point Objectives from 24 hours to 15 minutes 30 days data retention on-site and over one year off-site with multiple restore points Scalable data storage for the estimated 5 to 6 TB of data growth every six months Richard Edwards, head of IT systems at Clifton College, said: “If we lost a pupil’s coursework that could have an impact on the rest of their lives – so it’s critical that we have a backup solution that’s dependable, reliable and we know works well.” For more information, see the Arcserve website.
Is an ageing workforce good for schools?
As the pension age is set to rise to 67 by 2028, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says the population of the UK is getting both larger and older. As well as finding that the nation’s population reached its highest ever total at 65.6 million in 2016, the ONS also acknowledged that 18 per cent of those living across the UK were 65+. What’s more, 2.4 per cent were 85+. But will an ageing workforce prove beneficial or a hindrance to the nation’s education sector? How are schools and other workplaces across the UK approaching the ageing workforce? A lot of organisations across the UK seem to be unprepared to take on an ageing workforce, if the findings of a survey of 500 UK employers which was published by the Centre for Ageing Better is anything to go by. In fact, 24 per cent of those involved in the study admitted that they weren’t ready to welcome a growing number of older workers and only 20 per cent were currently discussing an ageing workforce strategically in the workplace. 20 per cent of the employers who were questioned noted that managing age diversity in the workplace proved a challenge. Meanwhile, 12 per cent of older employees felt uncomfortable carrying out tasks under younger managers and 10 per cent said the same when the roles were reversed. However, just 33 per cent of the employers involved in the survey stated that they were looking to manage age diversity by giving training, guidance or support to managers in their business. The Centre for Ageing Better’s lead on age-friendly employment Patrick Thomson commented: “The UK workforce is changing — and employers need to catch up. Improving policy and practice, tackling age bias and creating an age-friendly workplace culture is vital to ensuring that people can work for as long as they want to.” Prime Minister Theresa May shared similar views. During her speech on science and modern industrial strategy, the PM stated that employers across the UK have to play their part in meeting the nation’s “grand challenges” when it comes to supporting older employees, pointing out that these members of staff have the right to “enjoy the emotional and physical benefits of having a job if they want one”. One person supporting the views of the PM was the Centre for Ageing Better’s chief executive Anna Dixon. She underlined: “As we live longer, we also need to work for longer. All employers need to adopt age-inclusive practices. Too many older workers are leaving the labour market prematurely at great cost to them personally, as well as the state.” Challenges of an ageing workforce that must be overcome There will, unfortunately, be issues when you have an ageing workforce in a school or other type of business. Depending on the job, for example, some employees will be required to work differently or in another type of capacity as they get older — employers should, and sometimes may be legally obliged — to support these changes by providing older staff members with alternative arrangements or opportunities to develop and learn new skills. Views on retirement have changed quite significantly across the UK too. While in the past it wasn’t uncommon just to finish your 9-5 job and retire immediately, now a lot of older members of staff are looking to scale back their hours and reduce their number of responsibilities in the workplace gradually as they approach — and sometimes go past — their retirement age. Employers should be aiming to support employees if this is the path they want their career routes to take. “Employers who help their staff to make plans for their future career and retirement at an early stage, including consideration of flexible retirement options, have most success in retaining older workers and enabling them to work effectively,” NHS Employers also pointed out. The following findings of a survey by trade union members of the NHS should help those in charge of running education establishments to pinpoint some other key issues regarding having an ageing workforce: More than 80 per cent of members were concerned that their physical and/or emotional health will be impacted if they had to work longer — could you offer staff members the opportunity to work shorter hours, or the chance to work from home, as they age? Furthermore, could you look to install stairlifts depending on the setup of your workplace, which could be beneficial both to employees with disabilities and for supporting an older workforce so they can still perform their job duties? More than 75 per cent of members were concerned they would be unable to continue working in their current roles at the pace required, as well as worried that their performance levels would suffer an evident drop as a result of them getting older — could you offer staff members less strenuous jobs within a company as they age? Much less than half of the members were of the belief that their employer valued older members of staff — are you offering incentives to all your workforce, and not just newcomers? Under 34 per cent of members were of the belief that their employer offered flexible work in a fair manner — is it time to review your company’s shift patterns and how the workload is being distributed? Viewing an ageing workforce positively Having an ageing workforce at your education establishment provides so many benefits. For instance, people who have been at a company or even just within an industry for a long period of time will, obviously, bring so much valuable experience and knowledge of a firm’s products and services. This expertise can be shared among older members of staff to individuals who are just taking their first tentative steps into the world of work. There’ll be so many different views given by a team filled with individuals of various ages too. This diversity should deliver a company with plenty of fresh perspectives, a whole host of ideas, and problem-solving tactics
Excel Machine Tools
Excel Machine Tools was formed during the 1970’s – a name now known far and wide for the supply of quality products and complete after sales service which at that time were confined to a range of Lathes and accessories. Our limited company status was then gained in 1981. The inaugural success of the company along with multiplying customer demand has forced us to become larger and, as a result, increase our product range to include Milling machines, Drilling machines, Surface Grinders, Cylindrical Grinders, Bench Grinders, Bandsaws (Automatic and Semi-Automatic), Hacksaws, Fabrication equipment, including Guillotines, Press Brakes, Workshop Presses plus many more machines and accessories. The everyday working environment frequently presents teams and individuals with challenges and problems that require efficient and innovative solutions. Our objective is to provide the best quality machinery and accessories at the best possible price. Our comprehensive range of products, competent quality goods and technical support to customers has earned Excel its reputation as a reliable supplier and that is a status that we strive to continue. Excel Machine Tools supplies for teaching training to colleges and large factories. The extensive range of Excel Machine Tools products fit exceptionally well to every teaching situation. The range of basic, low cost, manual machines provide excellent initial training. Cost effective CNC systems deliver you advanced instruction for students preparing to enter the workplace (Training is available on site on request). We supply to engineering industries worldwide, turnkey products, schools, Colleges, universities and training centers. Based in Coventry, our headquarters are split into two. A working demonstration area and workshop staffed by skilled engineers and technicians and a warehouse facility filled with our latest range of both metalworking and woodworking machinery along with accessories ready to be chosen to best suit your needs. We pride ourselves in looking after all of our customers in the best way we can so let us not forget the 12 months parts and labour warranty that is provided with each machine purchase for our UK customers and our parts only warranty for our valued overseas customers also. We as a company and team, are very proud to have achieved our ISO9000 accreditation in 1995, which led to ISO9001 accreditation since 2004 and strive to maintain in order to remain efficient and reliable for all our customers. Should you wish to visit us, please feel free to contact us on 02476365255 or by emailing sales@excelmachinetools.co.uk www.excelmachinetools.co.uk
NewVIc Sports Academy teams excel to The AoC National Finals
NewVIc win AoC Sport London Regional Championships in cricket, football and table tennis in the first term. NewVIc’s sports teams have had an impressive start to this academic year, with the Cricket Academy beating east London rivals Newham College and George Monoux to win the AoC Indoor Cricket Regional Championships, held at University of East London, and are now on their way to Nottingham to compete at National Finals for the second year running! The AoC regional tournaments are open to students in AoC Sport member colleges and are held in the autumn term. The top teams and individuals in 13 sports qualify for the AoC Sport National Championships, where they compete for both their college and their region. The winning Ability Counts Football Team is a testament to the significant support provided by The Inclusive Sport programme over the past six years. The opposition teams withdrew the day before and one on the day of the game, proving our team was too intimidating for the other colleges. On the same day NewVIc students Mohammed Raqueeb and Mubarak Farah competed in the AoC Sport London regional Table Tennis Championships and topped the London tables! Mubarak won 4 out 5 games and Raqueeb went undefeated in all 5 of his games. Both students will also be playing at the National Finals in Nottingham in April 2019. Cricket Team Captain Jawwad Hussain, said “I’m proper excited about playing and representing London in April at the Nottingham finals. Playing against other regional teams like the Midlands, North and West is going to be challenging. I played at the National Finals last year, we came 2nd in the entire country in cricket, we lost 1st place just by 1 run. I was nervous, the entire team was nervous but excited at the same time as we were away at Nottingham for 3 days. We are training hard, putting in the extra hours and just being on it to play that extra bit better than last year. This time we will win it!” Jawwad Hussain Cricket Team Captain and Business Level 3 Year 2 Student NewVIc is already a very successful college with one of the highest sports participation rates in the country with 55% of our students taking part in some kind of sport or physical activity on 1 or more occasions. All of the achievements have required a lot of commitment and hard work from the NewVIc Sports Academy team and their dedicated students. In September 2017, Sport England has awarded NewVIc £92,850 funding, in order for the college to provide an additional focus on tackling levels of inactivity amongst our student population outside of mainstream sport in open sessions across the college site away from the Sports Hall e.g. circus skills, roller disco, skate club, free running, health club, slack lining, skipping and archery. Beth Harris, Sports Academy Manager, said “we are beyond thrilled to once again have so many students selected to represent London at the AoC Sport National Championships in April. This is the sixth year running our Ability Counts Footballers have won the Regional Tournament, going on to represent the Capital and we’ll once again be vying for a position near the top of the table. With our Cricket Academy there are some wounds to heal, as having lost the National Championships last year by just 1 run we can’t wait to get back to Nottingham, put some demons to rest and show exactly why we are well renowned for our history of excellence!” For more information about the Sports Academy please contact: Beth Harris elizabeth.harris@newvic.ac.uk 020 7540 0944 For more information about the college please contact: Shah Rahman srahman@newvic.ac.uk 020 7540 0651
College makes double appointment
Gateshead College has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of two assistant principals. Deni Chambers will lead a number of curriculum areas including digital tech, while Suzanne Slater will be the strategic lead for the delivery of apprenticeship programmes. In their new roles they will build on the college’s long track record of providing the highest quality training which gives students the skills, confidence and business acumen needed for a successful career. Deni brings experience in change management and senior leadership in the creative and digital sectors, having previously headed up the School of Creative & Digital Industries at Newcastle College. She also sits on the advisory board of the regional tech steering group, Dynamo North East, and is a governor at the Excelsior Academy in Newcastle. Meanwhile, Suzanne joins Gateshead College having worked within the education and training industry for over a decade as a regional manager for NECC Training and more recently at Northern Skills Group, the commercial training arm of Middlesbrough College. She has also worked in management roles for telecoms giant BT and recruitment firm Reed, and brings a wealth of experience in employer engagement, account management and partnership development. Suzanne said: “It’s great to be working at an organisation that puts employability at the centre of everything it does – an ethos I really buy into. At Gateshead College, students get the chance to gain valuable skills and relevant work experience throughout their course which will really benefit them and their employer when it comes to getting a job. “I’m also looking forward to working with employers to support their workforce development programmes and making sure we continue to build and develop an offer and service which meets their needs.” Deni said: “Digital tech is the fastest growing sector in our region and Gateshead itself is right at the forefront of emerging technology and innovation. “We are perfectly placed to support the region’s ambitions, addressing skills gaps and developing a curriculum that provides a steady stream of skilled and talented individuals into the sector. Gateshead College is forward-thinking and responsive and I am excited to work for an organisation that puts employers at the heart of its curriculum design.” Judith Doyle CBE, principal and chief executive of Gateshead College, said: “I’m delighted to welcome these two brilliant professionals to our senior management team. We were seeking individuals who can inspire, lead, encourage and influence and Deni and Suzanne most certainly possess these vital qualities. “I’m confident that, with them on board, we can continue to deliver programmes that ensure our students are the most highly prized in the jobs market.” To find out more about Gateshead College and the courses on offer, visit www.gateshead.ac.uk/employer
Irish VR Team Receive Ed-Tech Awards Nominations
Irish virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) software firm, Immersive VR Education (IVRE), has been shortlisted for the BETT Awards 2019 in the following categories: The Bett Awards are a celebration of the inspiring creativity and innovation that can be found throughout technology for education. The awards form an integral part of Bett each year, the world’s leading showcase of education technology solutions. The winners are seen to have excelled in ICT provision and support for nurseries, schools, colleges and special schools alike, with a clear focus on what works in the classroom. The winners will be announced on the evening of 23rd January 2019, at the Awards ceremony and dinner in London. This ties in with the Bett Show expo event, where IVRE will showcase their latest offering to the virtual reality education market by exhibiting its ENGAGE Platform. The Bett event takes place from the 23-26 January 2019 at ExCeL London and is the first industry show of the year in the education technology landscape, bringing together 800+ leading companies, 103 exciting new edtech start-ups and over 34,000 attendees from the global education community. They come together to celebrate, find inspiration and discuss the future of education, as well as the role technology and innovation plays in enabling all educators and learners to thrive. IVRE were shortlisted for the Awards on the back of their work to date in bringing Virtual Reality to the world of education. The software experts have been working diligently since their inception on a range of VR initiatives that allow students to experience education through the realm of augmented reality. The ENGAGE Platform ENGAGE is an online virtual social learning and presentation platform for creating, sharing and delivering proprietary and third-party VR content for educational and corporate training purposes. Through ENGAGE, students can build virtual worlds and scenes that create simulated life experiences, which culminate in five-minute immersive training experiences for real-world clients. In addition to school environments, the creators envisage that ENGAGE driven training videos and modules will aid business, law enforcement and emergency medical services in everything from suicide prevention to simulations for communicating with patients of dementia. The power of the platform is that students not only build the virtual scenario, but they star as role players in the experience. IVRE CEO and Co-founder, David Whelan, spoke of their dedication to transforming the delivery methods of education and corporate training by utilising VR technologies, to deliver fully immersive virtual learning experiences, “It is a powerful virtual reality collaboration and creation tool. It allows educators to host meetings, classes, private tutorials, training sessions and presentations with people from all over the world participating in a safe, virtual, multi-user environment. It is designed as a complementary tool to enhance classroom teaching, or as a standalone tool providing distance learners with access and opportunities to connect at a collegial level with their fellow students. Our ENGAGE platform aims to fully immerse the user into their learning experience, in order to increase learning retention and engagement. It will allow people to receive the best education, from the best educators from around the world, all from the comfort of their own home using virtual reality.” The Power of Ed Tech Mr. Whelan spoke of the exciting future ahead for ed tech, “Recent studies have shown the use of VR in education has a positive impact on knowledge retention and actually improves the learning experience overall. We are only at the cusp of the ed tech revolution and the possibilities and permutations of how technology can shape the education of future generations is endless. A 2016 report from Goldman Sachs predicts $300 million in revenue for VR/AR educational software in 2020, and that figure is expected to grow to $700 million by 2025. The developments in automation and innovative technologies within the educational sphere are progressing at a rate of knots and a commonality we find in these advancements is that ed tech has the potential to immerse the student further into the learning experience than ever before – building on and complimenting more traditional methods rather than replacing what has gone before. ENGAGE is the perfect example of this – it has the potential to transform distance learning – taking the conceptual to the practical with the touch of a button.” Other highlights of the IVRE work to date include: The Titanic VR Experience Mr. Whelan spoke of the award-winning production, “Titanic VR is a factually animated VR experience that tells the tragic story of the sinking of RMS Titanic as witnessed by survivors. As well as creating a realistic VR experience that tells the story of the tragedy in a compelling way, the game will also serve as a valuable resource for discovering more about the stricken ship, through a realistic exploration experience, using detailed maps and 3D models of the historic wreck site. We have used motion capture, face-scanning technology and professional voice actors to immerse users in the story and to enable them to relate to the people involved. In developing this, we wanted to create an accurate portrayal of events, so it is not only educational, but also emotional and very engaging.” The Apollo 11 VR Experience Apollo 11 HD also allows VR users to land on the Moon’s surface, explore the Apollo 11 landing site and deploy the original experiment, and explore every detail of the lunar module and command module at their own pace. It allows users engage in a breath-taking educational virtual trip of the mission taken by astronauts Neill Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon. Mr. Whelan, went on to comment, “Apollo 11 is the story of one of the greatest journeys ever taken my humankind. Our Virtual Reality creation allows people to experience this historic event through the eye of those who lived through it in July 1969. It is my belief that there is a child alive today somewhere on this planet that will on day set foot upon Mars. I hope that they get to try VR in school as
Cambridge Regional College lecturer one of the first in the country to achieve Advanced Teacher Status
Christine Helme, Teaching and Learning Development Manager at Cambridge Regional College, is one of only a small number of teachers in the UK to have achieved Advanced Teacher Status (ATS) this year. Advanced Teacher Status is a widely respected accolade of advanced professionalism and mastery in further education and training. It is an advanced professional status that is conferred by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) through the Society for Education and Training (SET). Designed to offer a progression step from QTLS and recognise teachers and trainers with significant experience, the award can only be achieved by demonstrating mastery in teaching, an exemplary level of subject knowledge and effectiveness in working collaboratively to improve teaching standards. The ETF has worked closely with the Chartered College of Teaching to ensure holders are also granted Chartered Teacher Status. Assessments for those enrolled includes producing an in-depth portfolio that consists of critical incidents, case studies, research projects, reflective journals, meetings with mentees, observations of teaching practices and more. Less than fifty teachers from across the country achieved accreditation on Christine’s course this year. Christine says, “I am delighted to have achieved Advanced Teacher Status as this was an extremely challenging but rewarding endeavour. This experience encourages you to build collaborative relationships with colleagues and learners, as well as develop your skills in mentoring colleagues in a way that brings about positive change. Maintaining and updating your subject knowledge and educational research is essential for personal development and I am very thankful to have had this opportunity.” Cambridge Regional College Assistant Principal, Quality Improvement, Corrin Hoyes says, “We would like to congratulate Christine on this wonderful achievement. At CRC, we firmly believe in development for everyone, teachers and students, and encourage this across the college, providing regular training and CPD sessions for staff to keep their skills and knowledge at the cutting edge. Christine is a fantastic role model for both her colleagues and students; everyone at CRC is now set to benefit from her experience gained during this process”. Christine’s Advanced Teacher Status achievement is just one of many success stories relating to CRC lecturers in recent times. Catering lecturer Katie Churchard reached the second heat of Channel 4 cooking show, Bake Off: The Professionals earlier this year and QTLS lecturer Graham Taylor appeared on Channel S in his role as a judge of the ARTA Awards. CRC also played a significant part in the ‘Further Pathways to FE’ scheme, designed to encourage graduates to consider exploring a career in teaching in partnership with the Education and Training Foundation and local universities. For more information on CRC please visit www.camre.ac.uk