Northfields pupils visit the College

Pupils from Northfields Technology College have visited Dunstable College to undertake a session in building and maintaining PCs. The visitors worked in small groups with assistance from some of the College’s Level 3 PC Maintenance students. Northfields Teacher Darren Travi comments, “The opportunity of visiting Dunstable College’s IT department has given pupils the chance to engage in practical work in the areas of PC maintenance and networking, to complement studies being undertaken as part of the GCSE course at school. This continues the partnership formed between the IT departments of Dunstable College and Northfields Technology College started two years ago.”

College tutor Derek Condon adds, “The Level 3 PC Maintenance students have had an opportunity to help in these sessions to make up part of their final assessment for their courses. We see this as a way forward and an example of how two institutions can work together for the joint benefit of all their students.”

Christmas Fayre!

Pathways staff and students held their annual Christmas Fayre on Wednesday 6 December in the Main College Hall. The stalls featured a wide variety of Christmas gifts including: Raffle, Tombola, Books, Gifts, Refreshments and cakes, Games, Hand and arm massage, Nails…file and polish, Floristry, Pet gifts and Woodwork. The Fayre was well-attended and visitors were impressed with the quality of the products available.

Top local Sports Coaches join Teaching Team!

Dunstable College’s Sports Department is delighted to welcome two top local coaches to the teaching team based at the Kingsland Skills and Enterprise Centre.
Dru Spinks, who plays basketball for the MK Lions and Anthony Verster, who works in rugby as the Dunstablians Youth Development Officer and Coach, are both coaching students from the National Diploma and National Certificate (Football Development Programme) in Sport on the Practical Sports Study Unit.
Course Team Leader Glenis Driscoll explains the rationale behind the appointments, “Once the students have acquired the skills from this unit, they will use them when they go out to local middle schools as part of their work experience programme. For many of our students, their ultimate goal is to work in schools as PE teachers.
“We are so thrilled to have Dru and Anthony on board, their contributions are an inspiration to the students.”
Dru adds, “Basketball’s my profession and by working with Dunstable College, it lets me give something back to the community.”
Anthony comments, “It’s all about trying to get as much development in sport in the Dunstable area as possible and this is a good opportunity to move into the College and try and scout for future talent.”
It’s not just the students who are benefiting from the new arrangements. Dru Spinks has been enjoying his coaching role so much, that he has enrolled on a teacher training course at the College and may take up the profession full-time at a later date.

University Information Day

The University of Cambridge was just one of many universities from the Eastern Region and the London area that were strongly represented at Dunstable College’s first University Information Day, which was held on Thursday 23 November in the main hall on the College’s Kingway site.

‘The purpose of the day was to help our learners make informed choices by bringing representatives of a number of universities together in one place. In addition, I wanted to particularly encourage our students, who do not come from families that traditionally go into higher education, to think about higher education, perhaps for the first time’, noted Maureen Asher, the College’s Careers Advisor, who along with Ruth Slack, the College’s Marketing Manager, was the main organiser of the information day.

The event lasted all day and was mostly targeted at College students who are currently studying for level 3 qualifications, such as A levels, BTEC National Diplomas and Access courses for older learners. A series of 30 minute talks on such topics as ‘Student Finance’, ‘Money Management’ and ‘Entry to Social Work’ were also scheduled and well attended throughout the day.

‘I went around at lunchtime and spoke to all the institutions represented and they were all extremely positive, both about the event itself, but particularly about the maturity and general attitude shown by the Dunstable College students as they made their way around the different stands’, observed Jerry Goodwin, the College’s Deputy Principal.‘Furthermore, you could tell the event was a great success from the request I received from Lal Joshi of the University of Bedfordshire, who asked us to repeat the event again next year, but on a slightly larger scale to include parties of students from the local schools’.

Waterfall Shoot

Early on a Sunday morning in November, a party of staff and students went on a trip to photograph, Pistyll Rhaeadr Waterfall in North Wales. One of the Seven Wonders of Wales, the fall tumbles 73 metres into the Tanat Valley below. The group enjoyed the experience so much that a return trip is planned for February 2007. The photograph above was taken by Tom Bliss, Foundation Degree in Creative and Editorial Photography.

Meeting the Marines

Ten lucky boys from the Public Services course were selected to attend a ‘Meet The Marines’ day in Milton Keynes.

They started the day with a briefing session, before boarding a minibus out into the woods. They were given an introduction to field cookery, shelter making and a game of paintball, in which the marines were the target for everyone!

After lunch, they were transported back to the lake, kicking off the afternoon with some scrambling through underground tunnels in the dark. A trip around the lake on power boats really managed to get the adrenalin pumping. To finish off the afternoon, they climbed a 50ft tower and then jumped off!

Tutor Haydon Littlewood, who accompanied the boys, comments, “The day was a great success and I feel there will be some Dunstable College marines in the future.”

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.