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Students breathe new life into old police car

A duo of Devon apprentices have earned their stripes by restoring a decommissioned police car to its former glory. South Devon College automotive apprentices Jack Cleaver, 24, and Jordan Brewster, 20, from Teignmouth, took 18 months to strip down, re-spray, apply period stripes and replace engine parts of the 13-year-old 1.6 diesel Ford Escort. The […]

Design students help raise LGBT awareness

Creative learners in London aimed to turn heads, change minds and promote diversity for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) History Month. BTec art and design, and graphic design students at the College of North West London were challenged by tutor Philip Crichton to create eye-catching posters to raise awareness of the event last month. […]

Heads in the cloud for game design students

Two groups of Midland computer whizzes managed to create a 2D game without even sharing a classroom. Level three diploma games development students at Birmingham Metropolitan College worked on the project from campuses four miles apart using ‘cloud’ technology. Student Liz Wright, 18, said: “A resource like this means that if for any reason I […]

Apprentice lays career foundations

A Lancashire construction apprentice is building on his career with a scholarship awarded because of his academic ability and potential to excel. James Martin, 21, is studying for a diploma in construction and the built environment and an NVQ in built environmental design at Bolton College and has been awarded the scholarship by the North […]

Alumni can offer more than money

Universities don’t bid a final farewell to their students — the world of higher education alumni bodies is a well-populated one that brings its own rewards. It’s about time FE colleges jumped on board, says Iain Mackinnon. Why would a college bother to make links with its alumni? Professional fundraisers in universities sometimes contrast their […]

White paper raises the flag for sixth form colleges

Colleges often feel undervalued and under threat. The Sixth Form Colleges Association, launched last week, is determined to change that More than 150 guests were at Westminster for the official unveiling of the rebranded Sixth Form Colleges Association and heard how sector principals were competing in an unfair education market. The event, on Tuesday, came […]

Angela O’Donoghue, principal, South Essex College

Angela O’Donoghue doesn’t see herself as ambitious. In fact, the principal of South Essex College, who has set up a Sixth Form College from scratch and been awarded a CBE, considers herself having always been “lucky”. She has a reputation for reaching out to people, from teaching excluded schoolgirls to blind and disabled students, as […]

It’s time to share the secret

Former House of Commons Education Select Committee specialist Ben Nicholls is head of policy at London’s Newham College. He writes exclusively for FE Week, every month. Last year, I was lucky enough to visit Singapore for a few days with MPs. Once we’d got used to the temperature, and established that smoking and gum-chewing weren’t […]

Provider told ‘no chance’ of growth request

A training provider in the Midlands slashed its growth request by 75 per cent after local staff at the Skills Funding Agency said there was “no chance of putting forward any form of growth case for classroom-based provision for the unemployed”. Bosses at Leicester-based Skillspoint, which has around 450 learners in sectors including construction and […]