Students presented with Top Society Awards

The Chartered Society of Designers visited Dunstable College on October 11 to present graphics students with their certificates and other benefits for their wins in the Student Awards 2006. This exclusive society boasts as its members the leading practitioners in their field in design, fashion and fine art. It was incorporated by Royal Charter and has as its Patron HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

Three students from their second year of the Foundation Degree in Graphic Design and Advertising have won awards; two (Gemma Loosley and Gary Loveleock) receiving Commendations and one (Paul Blow) receiving an Acknowledgement.

Representatives from the Society visited the College to hand out certificates, do a presentation about the Society and their own work and present the students with free Membership of the Society for the duration of their studies. The winning students will also benefit from being able to attend the Society’s workshops and free seminars, plus receive their designer magazine. The primary benefit to students, however, will be that they will now be able to establish links with top design professionals, which will serve as a major career boost for them.

Course Team Leader Malcolm Jobling comments, “This Chartered Society win broadens and enhances the good links that we already have with industry. This is fantastic for the students and proves that once again we are attaining the highest standards in graphics, which are being recognised by the country’s leading practitioners.”

A Challenging Start to the New Year

The Public Service Team from Dunstable College held a Challenge Day for all students from Levels 1, 2 and 3 on Monday 9 October. Students participated in a day-long competition featuring pool, table tennis, squash, swimming relays, a bleap test and football tournament. The three teams had to nominate a captain and include both boys and girls. The team was given a full list of activities and had to ensure that each team member participated in at least one event and a maximum of three. It was essential that team members shared the benefits of their knowledge and experience with each other if they wanted to win, as several team members had never participated in some of the events before. Points were scored for each event with the overall winners receiving certificates and a trophy.

The purpose of the day was for the students to bond, develop their leadership and team-building skills and to boost morale.

The eventual winners were the Level 3 National Diplomas, their captain Ross Howse collected the winning trophy to massive applause from the group.

Tutor Haydon Littlewood comments, “A very well fought out battle among all three groups resulted in the final scores being only 5 points difference between 1st and 3rd places. The day proved that team spirit and determination is very much alive and well amongst the Public Service students!”

The photo shows the swimming relay.

Royal Navy Presentation Team

Martin Rawles reports:

The Royal Navy came to Dunstable College to carry out their annual presentation to the Public Service Students on Monday 2 October.

A very thorough and in-depth lecture, which included the usual searching questions from the eager students, started the afternoon off. Next the group was split into two halves and one half was taken to the Leisure Centre to take part in the ever popular Unarmed Combat Demonstrations with some students soon becoming “volunteers”. The other half was given a demonstration in field cookery; students were taught how to cook in the field and soon ration packs were turning into hot steaming meals of beans and bacon followed by hot chocolate.

At the end of the day many students who had not considered the Royal Navy as a career became a little more interested and some were even adamant that this was the career for them.

Everybody agreed that the afternoon was a very enjoyable first visit from a Public Service and looked forward to the next one.

The photo shows a brave student trying out the field food

Athletics presentation

Natalie Kimble, age 18, writes
"I’m a student from Dunstable College’s Learning Warehouse Leighton Linslade also studying the Travel and Tourism National Diploma. I have been a member of Leighton Buzzard athletics club for over 9 years and have competed in many competitions, achieving many Personal Bests.
I went to the presentation evening on 24 November 2006. I won the Senior Athlete of the Year and Service to the Club Awards"

World Champion student!

Kara Kimble, age 17, writes
"I am a student studying Travel and Tourism at Dunstable College’s The Learning Warehouse Leighton Linslade. On November 7 2006 I flew to Malta with the Great British Kickboxing team to take part in the World championships.
I was in Malta for one week where I trained in the hotels gym with some team mates. Then on Sunday 12 I fought for the title. I entered into 3 categories; point scoring, light continuous and full contact. I am pleased to say that I took first place in all 3 categories, and I am especially pleased I came first in full contact as that was the one my instructor really wanted me to have."

Animal Magic

Student Kara Kimble from The Learning Warehouse in Leighton Buzzard reports on a Travel and Tourism trip to Woburn Safari Park, which united students from there and the main Dunstable Campus, studying the BTEC First Diploma and National Diploma in Travel and Tourism Years 1 and 2.

On Thursday 21 September 2006 we participated in a vocational workshop on customer service at Woburn Safari Park. We listened to a presentation on why customer service is so important for the Park, how they communicate with internal and external customers and how they deal with complaints. We were then given different scenarios to do with customer service and we had to act them out. Our tutor Maggie Parsons observed our role play and assessed us.

We also enjoyed a safari adventure. In our coach we followed the road safari where we were able to get close to all the animals. As part of our assessment for unit 13 Holiday Representatives we carried out a role play of a coach commentary where we all spoke on the microphone. Some groups spoke about different animals whilst other groups talked about health and safety and the park. Jo Turney, our tutor for this unit, observed our role plays as part of our assessment.

It was an excellent experience and a lovely day out! All the different groups got on well and we are looking forward to our next day trip.

After the trip, the staff at Woburn Safari Park praised the group for their excellent behaviour and participation, saying they were one of the best groups they had ever had there.

FA County Youth Cup

For the first time in 51 years the Bedfordshire Football Association has won The FA County Youth Cup and four of our students were part of the successful squad.
Niall Lynch, Danny Howson, Gary Catling and Phil Feakes were part of the squad to win the Cup which was established by the FA in 1944/45 to provide representative football for the best young footballers throughout the country who had not signed up with a professional club. The competition saw the boys travel all over the country with trips as far apart as Cornwall and Kent before culmuinating in a 3-2 Final victory over Durham at Darlington FC. This year the County also won the East Anglian U18 Championship and won all 12 of their representative matches played this season.
All of the boys study on the Football Development Programme run at the College in conjunction with Barton Rovers Football Club, where the boys play their club football. They also achieved further success this year becoming the first team to retain the Allied Counties Youth League Cup and were also part of the successful College team which this year won the South East Students Challenge Plate with a victory over West Herts College, Watford in the final.
Kevin Thoburn, who co-ordinates the Football scheme on behalf of Barton Rovers is also the County Youth Representative manager for the Bedfordshire FA and described the boys’ achievements on the field of play as "remarkable" and one which the College should be "truly proud of".

First Class success for local student

Dunstable College’s team from the BA (Hons) in Graphic Design for Print and New Media is celebrating its students’ top results for the second year running.

Student Silvie French, originally from the Czech Republic and now married and living in Dunstable, has achieved a First Class Honours Degree. Five further students have achieved Upper Seconds and the remaining three Lower Seconds.

Course Team Leader Celeste Henney comments, “For the two years that I’ve been running this course, I’ve been delighted with the outstandingly high level of student achievements. We have yet another First Class Honours this year and our students have competed at international and national levels at top London design shows, matching their counterparts in terms of professionalism, talent and creativity.

“I’ve just received further great news from one of last year’s graduates, who also achieved a First Class Honours Degree, to say that she is starting work in September as a creative with BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty), one of the world’s top advertising and design agencies. This has always been her dream company to work for and she thoroughly deserves this success.

“Other graduates have just started up their own design company called Moo based in Milton Keynes. Given the quality of their work, including international competition success, I have no doubt that they will thrive in the highly competitive environment of the new city.”

The Show’s a Winner!

The Art, Design and Media Department put on another stunning End Of Year Show, covering displays of work from students in their first year here straight from school to those completing their BA (Hons) degree.

The Private View on Thursday June 23 saw hundreds of visitors pass through the doors enjoying the displays, including Mrs Cynthia Gresham, the Town Mayor of Dunstable, who also happens to be a floristry student here. A real buzz was created by the attendance of Faye Tozer, who chatted to students and showed a genuine interest in their work. The proceedings culminated with the presentation of several awards:

Photography Competition Winners –

Philippa Oliver ~ from Wing, age 11-15 category

Katie Kendra ~ from Dunstable, pupil at Manshead Upper School, age 16-18 category (Katie will be commencing a National Diploma in Photography course here in September)

Francis Whittaker ~ from Luton, age 19+ category

Higher Education –

Best in Show ~ Silvie French, BA (Hons) Graphic Design for Print and New Media

Runner-up ~ Gemma Loosley, Foundation Degree (FdA) Graphic Design and Advertising

Third Prize for Most Promising First Year ~ Thomas Bliss, Foundation Degree (FdA) Creative and Editorial Photography

Further Education –

Best in Show ~ Karl Lambert, National Diploma in Art and Design

Runner-up ~ Emma Barry, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

Third Prize ~ Matthew Grimmer, First Diploma in Art and Design

Media

Chris Butcher, National Diploma in Media.

see the photo gallery . . .

National Wins for Students

This term has seen several students win national awards. Congratulations to them on their magnificent achievements!

Senior Young Carer of the Year Awards 2006 – Becky Ladds

Becky Ladds has won the Senior Young Carer of the Year 2006 award. Becky cares for her two brothers and a sister. She has won a £1,000 prize, half of which she has given to her charity, the Bedford based Spurgeons, which supports carers with events such as trips out of the home. Becky has just completed her Travel and Tourism course and is considering returning here in September to take a Public Services course.

British Design and Art Direction Global Student Awards

Gary Lovelock from the Foundation Degree in Graphic Design and Advertising has come 3rd out of 2,600 entrants from all over the world in the British Design and Art Direction Global Student Awards. One third of the awards went to students from overseas. The overall winner came from Tiblisi in Georgia. This is a huge achievement for Gary and bodes well for his career prospects.

Chartered Society Of Designers Student Awards

Paul Blow, Gemma Loosley, and Gary Lovelock from the Foundation Degree in Graphic Design and Advertising have all won Chartered Society of Designers Student Awards. Members from the Society will be coming in to College in October to talk about the society. This is a long established professional body and the students have won a year’s membership to the society, plus free tickets to seminars and workshops.

Keeping it in the Family

It’s not unheard of to have siblings in the same department at the same time; but to have a mother and daughter on the same course simultaneously, with a younger daughter following not far behind is really unusual. This is the situation with the Woods family from Leighton Buzzard, all of whom are thriving in the Hair and Beauty department.

Mum Jayne, 35, and daughter Carlie, 18, have both just completed their Advanced Diploma in Beauty Level 3 and NVQ Hairdressing Level 1 together. In September they will embark on the Holistics Diploma Level 3 and NVQ Hairdressing Level 2.

Jayne started off on a basic make-up course three years ago, to get a taste of what it was like. She explains, “I was very nervous at first, it was daunting because I’d been at home as a wife and mother of three. I’d always wanted to do this from an early age, but my family took priority. The kids became old enough for me to do something for myself and pick up where I’d left off when I was younger.”

Carlie comments on having her mum in the same class as her, “It’s been really good. Our fellow students have been so supportive and didn’t realise that we were related at first, they thought we were just friends. We do case studies, visit the library and work on the computer together. We practice body massage, facials and hair on each other.”

Danielle, 14, who is a pupil at Vandyke Upper School, studies hair and beauty at the Learning Warehouse Leighton Linslade as part of her GCSE programme. In September she will progress to Level 2 there and plans to leave school after her GCSEs to study a similar programme to Jayne’s and Carlie’s at Kingsland.

As for the family’s future plans, they wish to stick together then too. Jayne explains, “We all really wanted to do this. Carlie and I want to gain experience of working in a salon first and then, because the three of us will all be qualified, we’d like to run our own family business. The tutors here have supported us 100% and encouraged us so much; we wouldn’t be here without them and would recommend this course to other people.”

The family connection doesn’t end there. Jayne comments, “My husband Christopher is very supportive. He drives us to College day and night and two days per week has to do four trips. He also lets us practice facials, massage, hair cuts and even waxing on him!” Carlie adds, “Dad even let me perm his eyelashes, because I needed to do it one more time to complete my course!”

Son Christopher, 13, who would like to enter the construction industry, clearly does not want to be left out of the family business and has offered to build the family salon in the future!

Public celebrates new Centre opening

The Kingsland Skills and Enterprise Centre threw open its doors to welcome the public to its official opening with a host of free activities on Saturday 20 May.

The recently completed Centre is located in Parkside Drive, Houghton Regis and is home to the College’s Hair, Beauty, Holistics, Motor Vehicle and Construction departments, plus Chiltern Business Training, which caters for the business community.

Visitors enjoyed a variety of activities including: nail painting, massage, theatrical make-up, face painting, plumbing, joinery and electrical demonstrations, art, pottery and craft classes, learning how to book a holiday or make a card. These activities reflect the courses and training options that are on offer at the Centre for teenagers and adults, run by Dunstable College and Adult and Community Learning.