EXETER College students with disabilities had the chance to find out what help is available to them at an event hosted by the Students’ Union on Wednesday, April 30.
The Disability Awareness Day at the college’s main, Hele Road site featured charities and organisations across Devon promoting awareness of physical, mental and learning disabilities.
Ross Stanley, president of Exeter College’s Students’ Union, said: “This is great chance for students to find out what help there is available to them at college and beyond. They can also learn more about opportunities to volunteer and support other students.”
INSPECTORS have praised the good teaching, high success rates and expansion of courses and accommodation at Exeter College.
A new report from the Office for Standards in Education says the achievements of students taking A Levels and Level 3 vocational courses at the college have been “consistently above the national rate for the last three years.”
A team of Ofsted inspectors visited the college last month and their findings have just been published.
Officials highlight the good achievements and high standards at Exeter College, concluding: “…teachers are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and well prepared. As a result, learners are motivated, attentive, and participate well in lessons which enable them to make good progress and achieve well.”
Leadership of the College under Principal Richard Atkins during the £25m property redevelopment is praised and described as the “successful management” of a “complex property project” resulting in “high quality learning environments” for students.
Across the college curriculum, there is a “broad range of provision with good progression routes” for all types of students, inspectors noted, with a “good mix of academic and vocational programmes at Levels 2 and 3, including an increasingly popular International Baccalaureate programme”.
The report concludes: “Over the last few years the senior leadership team has successfully overseen an extensive property development project, enrolled more learners, expanded provision and improved success rates for learners.
“Systems to assure the quality of provision have improved and are now good, supported by readily available and reliable data.”
Officials went on to say: “The college’s capacity to improve is good… The ambitious strategic aim to become an outstanding institution is underpinned by good leadership and management.”
Programmes with improved success rates at Exeter College include:
Long courses at Levels 2 and 3 which have “significantly improved” over the last three years;
AS Levels: above or around the national rate for the past three years, with learners making “good progress when measured against their starting points”;
Key skills such as numeracy, ICT, language and literacy;
Train to Gain programme; and
Adult and community education.
Inspectors also highlighted:
advanced practitioners at the college who motivate staff to continue improving teaching and learning
effective use of information and learning technology in some lessons
good systems to assess learners’ key skills
high-quality teaching in the Faculty of Foundation Studies which caters for a wide range of students with learning difficulties
specialist facilities, especially in engineering, health and care, construction, motor vehicle engineering and art and design
“very good pastoral and welfare support for learners”, including guidance to ensure learners are on the right course, services for students in need of additional help, enrichment activities and the strong focus on Every Child Matter themes and equality and diversity
Overall, all five areas inspected by Ofsted are rated “good” at Exeter College. The categories are effectiveness of provision, capacity to improve, achievement and standards, quality of provision and leadership and management, which includes a grading for equality of opportunity.
Mr Atkins said: “I am delighted that we achieved such a strong and consistent set of Inspection outcomes across the college’s broad range of provision. This provides us with a strong platform to build upon during the next few years.
“I was particularly pleased that the Inspectors reported that our ambitious building programme enhanced rather than interrupted students’ learning. This report evidences the professional commitment of our staff, all of who provide students with an excellent service.”
Exeter College’s new Chair of Governors Philip Jenkinson said: “I am really pleased the hard work and dedication of the staff and management at Exeter College have been recognised in such a positive way. Having been a governor here for three years, I am always struck by the huge range of courses and training on offer to so many learners in Exeter and the heart of Devon. The Ofsted inspection is another indicator of how seriously Exeter Colleges takes the success and experiences of its students and how we are on the road to great things.”
Inspectors also noted the college had made good progress in addressing weaknesses identified in the last inspection in 2004, particularly in construction provision, accommodation and success rates for work-based learning and key skills.
The college’s senior leadership team have already addressed areas of improvement highlighted in the latest report, such as success rates for learners aged 19 and over, target-setting and developing the curriculum with schools, all measures which inspectors have approved.
OVER 40 Devon businesses will battle it out to win the city’s biggest quiz hosted by Exeter College and chartered accountants Simpkins Edwards this week.
The fifth, annual, Really Big Quiz will see 44 teams putting their knowledge to the test while raising cash for charity.
It will be held on Wednesday, April 30, from 7.30pm, at the city centre’s Corn Exchange.
Local businesses have each paid £60 to enter the competition with all proceeds going to the Lord Mayor’s charity, the Bramble Children’s Ward at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.
Chris Lorimer, Exeter College’s business and marketing director, said: “The Really Big Quiz has been hugely successful over the past few years. It supports a worthy cause and is a great night of fun.”
The Really Big Quiz has now raised in excess of £15,000 over four years for the Lord Mayor’s Charity.
Marie York, marketing manager for Simpkins Edwards, said: “The Really Big Quiz is a really fun way to raise money for the Lord Mayor’s charity. Our teams always enter into the spirit of the evening with some good natured competition and we’re looking forward to another great event.”
AN Exeter College student’s advert about the joys of having a cuppa could be shown on national TV. Creative Digital Video student Joe Holohan, 19, won the Tetley Moving Image Competition with his animation that conveyed the message: ‘ Tea is Brilliant’.
The Foundation Degree student’s impressive work was chosen out of 150 entries from students all around the country.
Now Joe’s film will now be used as an advertisement on the Tetley website and possibly on TV in the near future.
He wins a Sony High Definition HDRSR8E Video Camera worth over £1000, the latest Sony VGN-AR41E Laptop plus a College Prize of the latest Sony High Definition HDRSR8E Video Camera, worth over £1000. Judges deemed that Joe’s film had “demonstrated a technical ability and creative mind that brings the Tetley brand to life and captured the viewer’s attention throughout.”
Tomorrow, Friday, April 25, Brand Development Manager from Tetley, Peter Haigh, will visit Exeter College to present Joe with his prizes. The former St Peter’s School student, from Richmond Road, Exeter, first began animating as a Film & Video A level student.
OVER 100 students from around the country will compete in a national skills contest hosted by Exeter College this week.
It is the first time the college has hosted the Worldskills uk competition for the category of Uniformed Public Services Southern Region Final (Emergency Services and Armed Forces).
The exciting event on Thursday, April 24, will see teams of young people from 10 colleges battling out in the sports grounds of the University of Exeter.
Their skills in teamwork, communication, fitness and industry know-how will all be put to the test as they try to win Gold and get one step closer to competing in the World Finals later this year.
Employers taking part in the event are the Royal Marines who will set a reconnaissance task, the Army who will set a mini assault course, plus the RAF, Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Devon and Cornwall Police and Royal Navy. The contest has been organised by Exeter College’s public services students who are preparing for careers in the field.
Awards will be presented by the Lord Mayor of Exeter Councillor Hazel Slack. Last year Exeter College entered a team for the first time in the same contest held at Southampton. Despite competing against colleges experienced in the competition, the Exeter students won gold.
Simon Robinson-Barr, public services lecturer at Exeter College and event organiser, said: “Members of the Public Services and our students will be running contests for visiting teams from colleges all over the country to compete and try and win the Gold. As Exeter College students are hosting the event and helping to run it, it will be a great day to show off their skills and highlight the possible career options in the Public Services with all of them being in the public eye on the day.”
Worldskills uk is a Government-backed organisation which runs competitions in the education sector. There is a big drive at the moment for the UK to enter teams in events as the UK have won the bid to host the World Championships in 2011.
Youngsters who found themselves unemployed and claiming benefits on leaving school say their lives have been transformed by a scheme which gives them both an adrenalin rush and the skills to get a job.
Family and friends gathered at the National Trust property Killerton House, near Broadclyst for a ceremony celebrating those who have completed the Prince’s Trust course.The course is designed to give participants a second chance and the event was the culmination of three months of hard work for those who had been chosen to take part.
As well as attending outdoor adventure courses on Dartmoor and work experience, the young people enrolled on the course spent a week transforming an overgrown piece of land at Killerton as part of a community project.
They had to fundraise to get the money to pay for the equipment needed to do the work. The six young people also learned CV writing and interview skills and most have now decided to do college courses which will lead to work. Most were referred onto the course, the brainchild of the Prince of Wales and run by Exeter College, through the Connexions careers service. Nathan Henry, 17, said he was jobless, broke and bored after leaving St James School and jumped at the chance to get on the scheme. “I was just sat at home doing nothing with my life, wasting all my money and getting into trouble. I was just trouble all round,” said Nathan, who lives in Whipton. “I was so close to being up in court but now I feel I’ve sorted my life out and I’m starting a bricklaying apprenticeship at Exeter College in September.”
Jethro Thomas, 20, from Whipton, also found himself without a decent job after leaving St Luke’s High School. Through the Prince’s Trust, he has discovered his passion for the outdoors and is signed up to do a course in adventurous activities leadership at Bicton College. “I drifted from job to job and felt that I needed direction,” he said.
Dan Spicer, 17, also found himself at a loose end after leaving the then Priory High School. “I was going from day to day doing nothing and I didn’t have much confidence,” he said. “I was really quiet before I started doing this course but now I’ve started to open up and I feel myself changing.” Dan, of Cowley Bridge, is due to start a plumbing apprenticeship.
At the awards evening, all those on the course gave a presentation about what they had learned from the experience. Older people are also chosen to take part in the course with the younger ones, so they can develop personally and progress in their career. Team leader Dave Adams is now looking for potential candidates for the next course. “We take people from a diverse range of backgrounds who are seeking a different direction in their life,” he said. “All those on this team have come a long way, they would not have been able to stand up in front of a room of people and speak three months ago.”
EXETER College is among the top 10 colleges in the country for its outstanding Learning Resources Services.
Its five Learning Centres, web, media and print services have been described as a role model for other colleges to follow by the Council for Learning Resources in Colleges, or CoLRiC.
Following a recent assessment, the independent watchdog has granted the department a Grade 1 Gold award – the highest rating possible – for its outstanding support for teaching and learning.
Exeter College is now the only college in the South West and one of just 10 further education establishments in the country to have this prestigious award.
The CoLRiC Assessment Team, which is made up of senior learning resources specialists from other colleges, said the wide range of Exeter College’s Learning Resources Services “best exemplified the converged service of the 21st century.” Inspectors praised the department headed by Richard Brine, Head of Information and Learning Services, describing it as a “transformational service led by a transformational manager who provided clear vision and strategic leadership”. It was “an integrated service held in the highest esteem”, they concluded in their report, meeting the needs of all types of students and staff.
CoLRiC also highlighted the service’s:
“fluidity” and “strong network of communication links with its users”
“co-operative working” with other college staff leading to “joint developments and synchronised thinking”
user-friendly portal, providing a virtual space for students and staff to access online learning resources
“innovative, robust and rigorous” quality assurance processes
regular, drop-in sessions for students and staff to learn new skills
exemplary training for Learning Resources Services staff
professional management of learning resources
Richard Brine, Head of Information and Learning Services at Exeter College, said: “Exeter College is unusual in combining its five Learning Centres, ICT, Web, Media and Print services into a single department. This benefits learners and teachers who are supported by dedicated and professional staff who offer these services in a very joined-up way. Our CoLRiC assessors recognised the strength of our “converged” service judging it to be “excellent” and among the best on offer in UK colleges.”
Bobby Fortnam, Exeter College’s Learning Centres Manager, said: “We are delighted to have received this nationally recognised award from CoLRiC especially since we are one of only 10 colleges to have achieved a Grade 1 rating. “We have some superb facilities in the college but it is the Learning Resources Services staff, with their wealth of skills and commitment, who make the service outstanding.”
A PIONEERING new engineering apprenticeship which is the first of its kind in the country is being launched by Exeter College and Flybe.
The four-year pilot will equip up to 30 learners with an industry-relevant qualification in Aerospace Engineering and a Foundation Degree in Engineering and Maintenance.
It will give apprentices the first, valuable steps towards becoming licensed aircraft engineers with an earning potential of £30k+ at the age of 21 and market-leading qualifications.
Unlike most apprenticeships where students spend most of their time training in the workplace and one day a week at college, this new scheme will give them the chance to study full-time at college for two years before gaining on-the-job training in a real airline environment at Flybe’s head quarters in Exeter International Airport.
This will be the first programme of its kind in the country where apprentices stay in full-time education to study for a Foundation Degree after completing an industry-relevant qualification.
It could pave the way for other new apprenticeship schemes to have a stronger academic focus in addition to the normal, work-related training.
In the future, this new style of engineering training could also be replicated by other major airlines and transport providers, which are collectively facing a shortage of engineers.
Students interested in pursuing this demanding new programme should apply to Exeter College’s admissions office now.
Chris Lorimer, head of business and marketing at Exeter College, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people who want industry-leading qualifications and a career with a dynamic and respected employer.
Simon Witts, director of safety, quality and training at Flybe, said: ‘Flybe are delighted to be able to launch this new and innovative Apprenticeship Programme in partnership with Exeter College. “We have a long and proud history of Apprentice training in the company and the opportunity to update and modernise the programme is excellent for us, to enable us to offer exciting opportunities for talented young people, grow our maintenance facility here in Exeter and our line maintenance operations around the network. “This is a highly innovative programme enabling the right blend of theoretical knowledge and practical modern commercial aircraft training – something which we have found that other programmes lack as our recent recruitment experience has shown.”
The deadline for sending in applications for the engineering apprenticeship is May 2. For more information please ring Exeter College Telephone: 0845 1116000 or go to:www.exe-coll.ac.uk/Employers/Flybe.aspx.
SEVENTEEN recycling operatives are not letting their skills go to waste by completing a new course at Exeter College.
The Exeter City Council staff who work at the Materials Reclamation Facility (MRF) in Marsh Barton have recently achieved a National Vocational Qualification in Waste Management Operations Level 2.
Part of the Government’s Train to Gain programme aimed at upskilling employees, the programme was offered in partnership with WAMAS, a waste management training provider based in Northamptonshire.
The operatives were assessed by Exeter College training officers as they worked over a three-week period.
Answering questions on health and safety, in-house fire systems and recycling issues, the staff had to produce portfolios of their work to a high standard.
Two learners also completed a Skills for Life course and all Polish & Slovakian workers were given the opportunity to do English language courses.
Exeter College principal Richard Atkins said: “We are very pleased to have enabled 17 Exeter City Council staff achieve their NVQ2 in Recycling Operations through the Train to Gain scheme. “Our training officers worked closely with the council to ensure there was minimal disruption to the production line and at times that were convenient with the plant and shift patterns. “In addition, we organised English courses for Polish and Slovakian workers and Skills for Life programmes for two learners. “By working in partnership with WAMAS – the training provider specialising in Waste Management – we also responded to the needs of the business and sector.”
Chris Callister who manages the Materials Reclamation Facility said: “Doing their normal work and completing an NVQ requires a high level of concentration which is testament to the team’s commitment to the job of processing Exeter’s recycling. “We have a well-motivated team of people who, along with our colleagues in the Cleansing Department, are making a difference to the way the city is achieving its recycling goals.”
BODY image, abuse, homosexuality, bullying and the trauma of adolescence are all themes to be confronted in a hard-hitting stage performance by Exeter College students next month.
Over 100 young musicians, dancers and other college students are involved in putting on Michael Bennett’s gritty musical, A Chorus Line, at the Barnfield Theatre on April 2, 3 and 4.
It follows on from Exeter College’s extremely successful and sell-out production of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana last year.
Many will remember the 1985 film adaptation of A Chorus Line directed by Sir Richard Attenborough and starring Michael Douglas. It won huge box office and critical success including being nominated for three Oscars and two Golden Globes. But prior to the film’s success, the musical of the same name was the longest-running musical on Broadway before 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama as well as 12 Tony nominations. Based on the true life experiences of Broadway dancers in the 1970s, the show charts the highs and lows of the 19 main characters through humorous, touching and sometimes painful reminiscences of their lives. It features jazz, ballet and tap dancing and the memorable songs ‘One’, ‘At the Ballet’ and ‘What I did for Love’.
Exeter College students from a wide range of courses and levels will be involved in the production as musical theatre performers, musicians, set designers and builders, stage management and crew, costume and prop makers, lighting engineers, front-of house staff, administrators and marketers.
Judy Lye-Forster, director and choreographer of A Chorus Line and Deputy Head of media and performing arts at Exeter College, said: “A Chorus Line has recently enjoyed a revival at the Gerald Schoenfield Theatre, Broadway. This extremely exciting time in the musical’s history seemed like the perfect opportunity to rise to the challenge of staging it here as our college production. A Chorus Line has a particular place in my heart because it focuses on the often ‘unsung heroes’ of theatre – the dancers. Not the big names or the stars that everyone knows, but the ensemble – the group of men and women who work tirelessly day in and day out.
Our production is, in itself, a unique experience at Exeter College, not only for the cast and crew but for the production team also. Each year the company is drawn from across the college, from Level 2 students to Degree students. From the introductory session in the first week of the autumn term until the week of the show, the rehearsals cause a hive of activity every Wednesday afternoon giving the students the opportunity to participate as performers, musicians, administrators and backstage. For some, elements of the show may seem coarse or painfully personal, but it must be remembered that the physicality, sexuality and identity of each of these characters is something they are constantly being asked to focus on and deal with, and it is this that makes them the individuals that go on to make the whole.
“A Chorus Line epitomises the constant filtering of performers until only a few remain. This is the lot we draw when we choose to enter the world of performing arts. However, it is the constant longing and need we have for doing what we do that keeps us going, in short the passion, the adrenaline and the hope. This high energy and exciting show has moments that will have you on the edge of your seat with anticipation, concern and excitement. Come along for a roller-coaster ride of emotion and see the students of Exeter College act, sing and dance their hearts out for you.”
The three evening performances of A Chorus Line at the Barnfield in Exeter are at 7.30pm on 2, 3 and 4 April. There will also be a matinee performance at 2pm on Wednesday, 2 April. Tickets are £8 with £5 for concessions and are available from the Barnfield’s box office on 01392 270891.
