STAFF NEWSLETTERFEBRUARY 2013

Events, What they do,

60 seconds with, and more...

A word from the Principal

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NewsThe new Women’s

Enterprise Hub, our first Gameathon and more...

W elcome back to those of you who had a break. I hope everyone had an enjoyable half term and you have renewed enthusiasm.

It seems like no time at all since we started the year as a merged college and we are already halfway through the academic year!

Our focus going forward will continue to be students. We all have a role to play to do the utmost we can for every individual student, ensuring they have everything they need to be able to achieve, and to enjoy their time with us.

Our aim is to be a Grade 1 college and I am very clear what needs to be done and how much work is needed to get to this but it is definitely achievable. The inspection preparations are now well underway and although it will take time to be fully prepared and to bring our student performance up to the level we need to achieve, we have to be aware that we could be inspected at any time. As many of you will have heard, there have been a number of local colleges that have been inspected, including Stourbridge and Walsall colleges – (the latter achieved a Grade 1 which shows that this is achievable under the new inspection framework) and Dudley College

to the South & City College Birmingham Staff Newsletter

is being inspected currently. As I have said we are working to achieve a Grade 1 and to be outstanding for our students and we must all work together to achieve this for our students and for ourselves. I am in the process of setting up staff focus/advisory groups so that staff have plenty of input into this.

By now you will know of the all staff away days which I talked about at the beginning of the year and you should now know the dates when you’ll be going. The main aim of these days is to integrate everyone and to provide an opportunity for all staff to get to know each other. It will ensure that we are one college, merged and working together, as well as to re-energise, motivate and focus us all towards our goals. It also allows the senior management team and I to get know many of you better and for you to get to know us if you don’t already.

Obviously, because of our size and number of staff we cannot take all staff away at once and we have had to split everyone in to four away days.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Mike

A word from

MikeHopkins

Welcome

2 FYi FEBRUARY 2013

ContentsCollege News

FE News

60 seconds with...

How to...

IT

Jobs & training

Hello & Goodbye

What do they do?

Upcoming events

Staff member of the month

Health & Safety

Competitions

Hair & beauty

Thinking Greener

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Got something to go in the staff newsletter? Email it to newsletter@sccb.ac.uk

FYi FEBRUARY 20134

College news

News

Above: Chuka Umunna, Sir Albert Bore and Mike Hopkins

College opens Women’s Enterprise HubAn exciting new venture has been opened in Birmingham to help women get into business.

The Women’s Enterprise Hub, a partnership between Birmingham City Council and South and City College, has a focus on Asian fashion and provides support and training for women who want to enter, or who are already in business. The Hub was opened in February by Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, Chuka Umunna MP, and Mike Hopkins alongside many other guests.

Phase one of the Women’s Enterprise Hub is based at the Fusion Centre in Digbeth, and provides courses in fashion and clothing alongside business skills aiming to build a high-end women’s textile industry in Birmingham. There is also access to a range of partner services including workshops, advice and guidance, and support to pre-start up, start ups and existing businesses looking to develop and grow.

Women will be able to work their way from basic courses in fashion and clothing with English language support, up to higher qualifications

Part of the new Hub

in Asian couture – gaining the skills needed to design and create high-end Asian fashion pieces. Business and marketing skills will form a part of the courses enabling the students to take their fashion skills and turn them into an enterprise.

Mike Hopkins, Principal of South and City College said: “There is an untapped potential for local Birmingham women to provide high-end Asian clothing for sale, as at the moment most of this comes from abroad. We have therefore worked to create courses that will not only give local women excellent skills in this area, but also the ability to turn

these skills into successful business ventures and create a new specialist local industry.”

Sir Albert Bore, Leader of the Council set the hub as one of his aspirations in his Policy Statement in June 2012. Phase two of the Women’s Enterprise Hub (subject to

funding and location) is expected to open in early 2014 in Sparkhill and will build on phase one.

Well done and thanks to all the staff that worked to ensure the Hub was ready for the launch, and to make the opening event a success.

FYi FEBRUARY 2013 5

News

Michelin star chef offers three students apprenticeships Michelin star chef Glynn Purnell has offered three South and City College students apprenticeships following his search for just one to work with him in his award winning kitchens.

Eight students aged between 17 and 24 years old graduated in December from their Introduction to Cookery Course which was launched in partnership with Glynn last year.

Glynn, who was once an apprentice himself shocked everyone at the final awards presentation by announcing that he would be taking three apprentices to work within his businesses based in Birmingham.

He was so impressed with the level of commitment and skill from the young chefs that he went one step further to support the remaining students, working closely with other catering establishments across the city to secure them interviews for jobs, apprenticeships or work experience placements, including at York’s Café and Bakery, Opus Restaurant, Lasan Group and The Warehouse Café.

Glynn Purnell said: “Both myself and the other establishments involved in this project have been really impressed by the enthusiasm and determination each student has shown, both on the college course and on their work placements.

“All of the students have progressed quickly, showing a passion for the industry while gaining new skills to set them up in their careers. It has been extremely difficult for me to choose just one student, which is why I ended up offering three of them apprentices.

“We are fortunate to have such fantastic links with other employers in the city and I am so pleased that we have managed to generate opportunities for the remaining students that didn’t make it into Purnell’s.

“Importantly, we want to make sure all of these kids have a great start in the industry and we have all pledged to give them continued support as employers, mentors and through the fantastic team at South and City College Birmingham.”

Toyota sponsors College Race TeamToyota World Birmingham has agreed to sponsor South and City College’s Race Team in 2013.

To kick off the new sponsorship Toyota have provided the race team with a new racing vehicle – a Corolla T Sport named TWB1. Along with the race car, Toyota will also provide the budding motor sport students with support during race events.

The college race team is made up of tutors and students who compete in professional races at major circuits throughout the UK. Students get hands-on experience of the motor sport industry, developing cars for racing, maintaining the cars and working on the track and in the pit lane during races.

Sir Doug Ellis OBE, the Honorary President of the college’s networking club InBusiness attended an event to hand over the car from Toyota World Birmingham to the college motor sport tutors and students at the Toyota World Birmingham Fort Dunlop Dealership. The event also showcased Toyota’s new generation Auris – The All New Toyota Auris and other Toyota vehicles.

Mike Hopkins said: “We are delighted to accept this car from Toyota. At the college we believe it is important for our students to get real hands-on experience. This car will mean they will be able to get more experience of working at race events, and the support Toyota will provide is fantastic.”

Poppy, Tom, Glynn and Kayleigh

The racing team with the new car

FYi FEBRUARY 20136

Success for catering student at The Hospitality Show

News

Catering student Dharmendra Chauhan has competed in a national culinary competition and was awarded a certificate of merit and a certificate of hygiene for his work.

The young chef who is studying Professional Cookery Level 2 competed against other talented chefs at The Hospitality Show at the NEC in front of a live audience.

The Gram Masterclass competition was open to cooks of all ages and abilities. Competitors had to prepare, cook and present two main course dishes suitable for a Gastro Pub environment within a 30 minute time limit.

Dharmendra served up a Pan Fried Fillet of Salmon with Crackling, Boudin (sausage) of Salmon and Chervil, Tomato, Cucumber and Olive Salad with a Sour Cream Wasabi Dressing and a Tomato and a Butter Reduction Sauce.

Dharmendra said: “I am very pleased to have received this award, and will keep practising my skills and enter more competitions.”

The Gameathon

The college held its first Gameathon this month. School groups and the general public were invited to come along to the Digbeth campus, where the auditorium had been turned into a gamers dream. Taking centre stage was a gaming competition, where youngsters competed against one another on a large screen from the comfort of a gaming chair to win some excellent prizes. There were also different gaming zones, including a LAN party, retro gaming, Wii and PS3. The feedback from the schools and people who came along was excellent, and the next one is already in the planning.

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New regional director roles at Ofsted

– colleges come under fire

Careers advice in schools to be inspected

Six new regional directors have been appointed by Ofsted in a bid to improve standards across learning and skills.

They will be responsible for ensuring the quality of inspections in their areas, as well as improving childcare, schools, and learning and skills.

Chief inspector of schools Sir Michael Wilshaw, who appointed the directors, said: “The regional directors will be my voice in the regions with the necessary autonomy and authority to support providers and challenge underperformance.”

The announcement comes after the Ofsted boss told MPs on the Education Select Committee that schools were improving, but there was a “real problem in learning and skills”.

He said: “I think one of the reasons

Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has given the strongest indication yet that schools’ careers provision could be formally inspected as part of Ofsted’s framework from September.

Currently, inspectors take into account the extent to which pupils have gained a well-informed understanding of the career options available to them, but there is no separate grade for careers provision.

There has long been a criticism, particularly amongst the FE sector, that schools are not adequately monitored to ensure they comply with their duty to provide impartial and objective advice on qualifications at nearby FE providers.

Whilst speaking at the Commons Education Select Committee in February, Sir Michael said there was a need to “recalibrate the schools framework to focus more on careers advice”.

He said: “ It’s really important that impartial advice is given to students on progression routes and I’m not sure that’s the case,” he told MPs. “In our adjustment to our inspection framework from September we will give the inspection of careers advice a priority.”

Ofsted will now publish a thematic survey on school careers provision to ascertain the scale of the problem, before making a final decision on whether to change its framework this summer.

why schools are improving their performance but colleges aren’t, is that there are very clear consequences to failure and underperformance in the schools sector.

“If a school becomes inadequate and remains so, the head usually goes, something usually happens to the governing board… etc.

“We don’t sense there’s that same sense of clear consequence for failure in the FE sector.”

The Association of Colleges hit back, saying: “We believe the chief inspector’s report includes some significant errors and there are important omissions which undermine the credibility of some of his conclusions.” The AoC also claimed that inspection verdicts under Ofsted’s new framework are inconsistent due to the number of lead inspectors who have little experience of the FE sector.

FE news

News

Sir Michael Wilshaw

FYi FEBRUARY 20138

Regulars

60 seconds with...

How to...

College cars and vans can be used by staff for college business purposes. College vehicles can be booked out by the receptionists at each campus. To be able to drive a vehicle you need to:

l Be 21 years of age or over and have held a full licence for a minimum of 12 months

l Provide your licence (both photo card and counterpart) to the reception staff the first time you go to use the car.

l From 1 November all staff who have not submitted their licence in the five months previous to November will need to resubmit it to the reception staff. Anyone that has already done so will not need to re submit unless any details have changed on their licence.

l If you wish to drive a college minibus you need to get authorisation from your line manager. You must complete an application form and undertake a vehicle orientation with Andrew Williams, Transport Co-ordinator. It is a requirement that all minibus drivers are aged 25 or over and have held a full licence for a minimum of 12 months.

Please rememberl When booking the cars you have a 15 minute time gap

after the specified booking time to collect your car, if it is not collected within this time your car may be released and could be given to someone else.

l If you have booked a college vehicle but no longer require its use, then please phone up reception and cancel the booking. The cars are a limited resource and we need to make sure we are using them resourcefully.

For more information on the use of cars, please visit the transport section on Elvis.

Anita Rodgers

Job title: Senior Management Team Senior Administrator

Campus: Digbeth

What are some key responsibilities of your role? My key responsibilities at the college are arranging meetings, taking minutes and arranging hospitality for the Senior Management Team.

Tell us something interesting about you?I did an NVQ at the college and I applied for a vacancy at the college after I finished my NVQ, so I have been at the college for a while.

How long have you been working in the college? 14 Years.

Why do you think you have been so successful in serving the college and students? I work hard, I will help out wherever I can and I’m very passionate about the college and the students.

What do you believe is your greatest accomplishment at the college? My greatest challenge was when I had to progress from a student to supporting the management team.

Book a college car

Jobs & trainingInternal and external vacanciesAssessor/TrainerScale 5, salary £20,185 – £22,508Closing date 01/03/13

Main Grade Lecturer CarpentrySalary £22,904 – £37,116 Closing date 04/03/13

Please see Elvis for more jobs, information and how to apply.

ITHave an IT issue?Call the IT helpdesk on 6309 or #7 6309

Reminder:Please check before sending emails to ensure that they are addressed to the correct recipient.

Please note:All the IT team at the Bordesley Green Campus have moved into a shared office with MIS Technical over in the old Fordrough building.

FYi FEBRUARY 2013 9

Regulars

Upcoming events

March

What do they do?The Business Services TeamThe Business Services Team, based at the Fusion Centre, work to get local and regional employers to use the college for their training, and to encourage them to take on apprentices. The team, headed up by Teresa Addinell, and supported by Paul Leahy, Business Services Sales Manager and a team of consultants are currently working towards the college-wide initiative of placing 600 young people into apprenticeships by the end of this academic year. It is their role to speak to the businesses interested in taking on apprentices, and also to work with other parts of the college to find the right young people to fill these placements. This year so far they have placed 200 16-24 year olds into apprenticeships, and are continuing to work towards achieving their ambitious goal.

On a day to day basis, business consultants Chris Butler, Pete Cole and Kam Sahota call employers, attend networking meetings and exhibitions, and organise employer events to make contacts and build relationships with businesses. They are working with the likes of working with companies like Amey, National Express, Specsavers, Kier, Purnells and numerous small local employers.

Once an employer has committed to take on an apprentice, it is then the job of the matching team Clare Hickinbotham, Iram Maroof and Niome Thomas to match the right candidates with the job vacancies.

St David’s Day1 March

International Women’s Day8 MarchThere will be an event at Hall Green in the Hall from 10am – 2pm open to staff and students.

Mothering Sunday10 March

World Poetry Day21 March

Student Survey25 February – 15 March

Hello & Goodbye

New staff

Wayne Edwards MGL Functional Skills (Maths)

Rahiana Ali MGL Childcare

Atif Seedahmed MGL ICT

Suzanne Steadman MGL Childcare

Christopher Truman MGL Plumbing (Prisons)

Lynne Brown Student Services (Teaching Assistant)

Jayne Leeson Student Services (Teaching Assistant)

Fareed Khatun Student Services (Teaching Assistant)

Christopher Foster Student Services (Pastoral Mentor)

Peter Goodman IT Technician

Mohammed Khan Canteen Services

Saiqa Khatoon Recharges

Raheel Ladak Apprentice – Motor Vehicle

Leavers

Avinash Ladwa Corporate Services

Vickie McNamee Student Services (Teaching Assistant)

David Upton Student Services (Pastoral Mentor)

Michael Williams IT Technician

Julie Davies Public Services

Stephen Griffin Access to FE

Muslima Choudhury Teaching Assistant

Kevan Grealish Apprentice – Marketing

Russell Johns Marketing Officer

Chelsea Grosvenor-Hargreaves Corporate Services

Helen Regan Assessor/Trainer (Health & Care)

Open Day14 March

St

aff member of the m

onth H H H H H H

H H

H H Stephen

TurnerMIS

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CompetitionsTime to register for the regional World Skills competitionsDeadlines are fast approaching to register students for the regional Worldskills UK competitions. Make sure your students have an opportunity to get involved in competitions. The divisional competition champions should be organising a series of internal events to select students, who will form part of the college’s competition squad and go on to represent the college in the regional competitions. If you don’t know who your champion is you can check January’s edition of FYI.

Beauty students hit the nail on the headCollege competitions have been held to find the most talented Nail Enhancements and Nail Art students to compete in the WorldSkills competitions. Students were graded with scores out of 10 and judged by beauty tutors. The results were excellent and most of the students participated in the event. The students were a real credit with real enthusiasm for the competition and a very competitive streak was shown all week by the students.

Oriental Chef of the YearTwo catering students have taken part in the “Wing Yip Oriental Cookery Chef Of The Year” competition. Phil Colins Rosario and Thomas Everard-Fairburn, both 16, were shortlisted for the competition after submitting menus and recipes to judges Glynn Punell and the TV celebrity chef Ching He Huang. On the night, our students produced dishes to extremely high standards but sadly missed out on the prize as the competition was very tough. Congratulations to them both for getting so far.

Health & SafetyMaking certain maintenance and construction work subject to a “permit to work” is how we keep control of hazardous work.

What is a permit?Permits to work are issued where the work carries a significant risk of serious injury, such as falling from height. The most common type is a “hot works” permit which is used for work which could cause a fire.

What are the benefits?The permit allows us to complete a safe system of work. To make a formal check that suitable precautions are in place before the work is authorised to begin. It also sets boundaries for where the work will be carried out, its extent and timeframe. If problems occur which delay the work or change its scope, a new or revised permit is issued before work continues.

Is there a legal requirement?The legal requirements arise from legislation, including the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

What needs a permit?The college’s Permits to Work Procedure and Permit Scoping Procedure includes a list of potential work activities most commonly subject to permits, including: working at height, hot work, roof work, confined space work, excavation, electrical work, work in lift shafts or pits, work with asbestos etc.

How do you get a permit?The permit to works is issued through the Estates Director and Facilities Manager. The Estates Director has to consider the skills, experience and training needs before appointing the “authorised permit issuers”.For more information, see ELVIS-Health and Safety - Procedures.

Hair & beautyTreat yourself to some hair and beauty pampering at the college’s Salons. Salons are open Monday to Saturday at various times during the day and evening.

Early booking is advised! These offers are for The Salon at Hall Green Campus.

*Skin test must be taken 24 to 48 hours before any treatment can take place.

HALF PRICEon all level 2 beauty treatments26 February – 29 March

on all hair treatments Tuesday mornings at 9.15am and Thursday evening at 5.15pm during March

on all electrical facials26 February – 29 March

20% OFF

HALF PRICE

Regulars

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Thinking Greener is our sustainability awareness campaign to help us achieve our carbon reduction goals and we need everyone to get involved. You will see and hear more about Thinking Greener in the coming months.

Let’s get Thinking Greener this March

We can save energy and reduce the resources we use in every area of the college. This month, we are looking at paper:

Workshop and Webinar

Running Effective Campaigns Using the ‘Psychology of Change’ to design messages and stimulate change.

Workshop: Tuesday 26 March 2013, 10am-2pmSouth Staffordshire College, Rodbaston Campus,Penkridge, Stafford, ST19 5PH Tuesday 26th March 2013

Webinar: Tuesday 26 March 2013, 10am-11:30amDelivered online, in partnership with Jisc RSC West Midlands

If you would like to attend please contact Paul Clark

Why don’t you:Think before you print – do you really

need a paper version?

Use follow me or the print room – it’s cheaper than desktop printers and

more environmentally friendly.

Print on both sides of the paper – select ‘duplex’ in your printer settings.

Use print version – when printing it cuts out unnecessary parts of emails

and web pages.

What’s on in March

Online suggestion boxes – Look out for Thinking Greener suggestion boxes – we’d love to hear your suggestions.

Love Food Hate Waste? There will be cooking demonstrations held in canteen areas across the college during March. Come along to find out how to make the most of the contents of your fridge. More information will be sent in an all staff email.

In February, as a college we printed

847,610pages

of paper

That is

23,274 sheetsof paper A DAY

This is almost

9 WHOLE TREES

And

3246.7kgof carbon emissions

Let’s work together to

REDUCE this in

MARCH

We are currently looking for Green Champions – staff and students who would be interested in contributing and communicating real green initiatives that have a real impact on the carbon footprint and sustainability of our organisation. If you are interested in being a Green Champion, please email paul.clark@sccb.ac.uk

Get involved, be a Green Champion...

T: 0800 111 6311 | E: hello@southandcity.com | www.southandcity.com

Although we will try our best, we can’t promise that everything will go in.Your feedback and comments on FYI are welcome. Email newsletter@sccb.ac.uk

Send your stuff to newsletter@sccb.ac.uk

To save resources and paper, this newsletter will be sent electronically to every member of staff and will be available on Elvis. A small number of hard copies will be printed and sent to each division. If you are happy to just receive your electronic copy or would like to reduce or increase the number of hard copies you receive, please contact us on newsletter@sccb.ac.uk to let us know. Thanks.

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