FEATURE: Students bring home the bacon at farming festival

The annual East of England Smithfield Festival attracts competitive farmers from across the country, with the College Challenge category perhaps the most competitive of all. The 2016 winners have now been crowned. Samantha King reports.

For months, students from agricultural colleges across the UK have been gearing up for the East of England Smithfield Festival’s College Challenge, which took place last week.

Judging students on their knowledge of all aspects of farming, from identifying feed to assessing a quality carcass, the challenge saw over 30 teams from across 15 colleges enter in the hopes of returning home as champions.

They were able to represent the college so well and we’re just really proud of them. It just shows that we must be doing something right

After beating off stiff competition, it was a team of four girls from Askham Bryan college in York that brought home the bacon – and £300 in prize money.

Emily Watson, Marian Porter, Pippa Jackson and Lauren Rucklidge – currently in their second year of studying an extended diploma in agriculture at the college – each had to complete an individual challenge, before taking part in a final group task, which saw them sail into first place.

Each team member had to judge a breeding ewe, a breeding heifer (a cow that has not previously had a calf), a lamb carcass or a pen of finished lambs, before working together to pass the final task of identifying different types of feed.

campus-feat-inset
Lecturer Tim Moakes (left) with the girls and boys teams from Askham Bryan

 

In order to judge the animals, students looked out for features such as the quality of their coats, the amount of muscle along their backs, loin and tail head, and the level of fat along the ribs – a key aspect in identifying animals ready for slaughter.

They were then asked to put the animals in order of merit, and received a mark out of 100 from the judges.

Livestock lecturer at the college Tim Moakes, who accompanied the students to the event, said: “The tasks tied in well with the agriculture course, as half of the modules are about livestock. Learning what a good heifer or good breeding ewe should look like, and identifying what a finished animal looks like if you’re going to send it off for slaughter, are all key skills.”

Askham Bryan college also entered a team of four boys, Tom Hartley, Richard Allen, Henry Grant and Freddie Harrison, but they were pipped by the girls.

Aside from the College Challenge, there were also categories for butchers, young stockperson of the year, the trade stand award and the livestock equipment award, appealing to professional farmers of all ages looking to show off their skills in their respective parts of the industry.

Mr Moakes said: “You drive them there, you get them ready, you give them some confidence, you tell them that they can do it, you can organise them and make sure they know where they should be, and then you leave them to it.

 

Students judge the heifers
Students judge the heifers

“We’re all very proud of the students’ performance, their achievement and the conduct shown. They were able to represent the college so well and we’re just really proud of them. It just shows that we must be doing something right.”

The festival was established in 2011 after The Royal Smithfield Club joined up with the East of England Agricultural Society Winter Stock Festival, and is the leading primestock show for commercial cattle and sheep; hosting one of the largest pedigree calf shows in the UK.

 

Featured picture: (L-R) Pippa Jackson, Emily Watson, Lauren Rucklidge and Marian Porter

 

 

UTC Cambridge hit by Ofsted grade four rating

A University Technical College based in Cambridge has been hit with an ‘inadequate’ grade by the education watchdog Ofsted.

UTC Cambridge opened in September 2014, specialising in biomedical science, environmental science, and technology, and is backed by Cambridge University Health Partners and Cambridge Regional College.

Andrew Hutchinson, interim executive principal at UTC Cambridge, said a “transitional leadership structure” had been put in place.

He said: “We believe these measures and others will rapidly take the college out of special measures and help us with our journey to become an excellent college.

“While we face a challenge at the moment, we should not forget what makes the college a great place to learn.

“The future of the UTC remains positive – we have amazing young people, staff and facilities.”

At the time of going to press the Ofsted report was yet to be published.

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, which oversees UTCs, said: “Baker Dearing Educational Trust accepts, with regret, the findings of the recent Ofsted judgment for UTC Cambridge.

“Despite the issues highlighted in the report it is good to see that teaching and learning, assessment and 16-19 study is effective.

In the coming months, we will provide advice and help as needed and support the UTC in any way we can

“We fully support the approach the board of governors and senior management team have taken to address issues raised in the report.

“The board has acted quickly to put in place plans to safeguard students.

“In the coming months, we will provide advice and help as needed and support the UTC in any way we can.”

Jon Green, chair of the board of governors at UTC Cambridge, said: “I am sure this rating will come as a disappointment to many people who are rightly very proud of the progress which the college has made in its short life.

“We fully accept these findings and have already taken significant steps to deal with the issues which were highlighted.”

He added: “As you should expect, the pupils are the priority at this time.”

FE Week has followed ongoing problems with the UTC programme, and our research showed in October that more than 10 per cent of these 14-19 institutions are expected to close, only six years since the first one opened.

The latest UTC to shut up shop was the Royal Greenwich UTC in London, which Greenwich Council is converting into a secondary school at a cost of £13 million.

Its closure made it the fifth UTC out of 48 to fold since they were launched in 2010.

Four other UTCs – UTC Lancashire, Central Bedfordshire UTC, Hackney UTC and Black Country UTC – have all closed amid low student numbers.

The Department for Education meanwhile confirmed in September that a proposed UTC developed in partnership with Burton and South Derbyshire College would not now open, despite the £8 million the government had already spent setting it up.

And in October, Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC was issued a financial notice to improve due to an “apparent loss of financial control”.

 

Quirky college training day goes down well with staff

Staff at a Blackpool college have enjoyed a training day with a difference, complete with ideas-sharing workshops and pampering sessions.

Blackpool Sixth Form college hosted the Staff Marketplace event in one of its main catering areas, with the aim of getting staff to share tips, techniques and resources they use in their departments.

Each department had a stall with examples of what they did well, with others taking inspiration and seeing how it could then be applied within their own area of the college.

In order to boost the wellbeing of the workforce, there were also free taster sessions in reflexology and reiki healing, healthy lifestyle advice, gym demonstrations and mental health awareness on offer.

The emphasis on positivity also carried on into the afternoon, with a session on how to encourage students to approach their learning and personal development with greater positivity and resilience.

One member of staff who attended the event, said: “The marketplace is a wonderful idea – it is a great opportunity to learn from staff right across the college and we have all come away with plenty of new approaches to try.”

 

Feature picture: A member of staff unwinds at a healing session

Apprenticeship funding brokerage ban is a victory for students

It was a great honour to be recognised last week for my investigative reporting on FE, and I know our talented senior report Alix Robertson feels the same way.

The best thing about working for this paper is that we are given the time and backing to truly get to grips with really important issues for a sector which means so much to us.

It has been all the more satisfying, therefore, to learn that the SFA has taken on board our hard-won findings, showing how brokers are hiving off millions meant for frontline learning.

They deserve full credit and the decision to effectively ban brokers is the right one. Taxpayers and more importantly students lose out through this secretive business, as do subcontractors who have been paying the commission fees.

Rest assured we will be keeping a careful eye on how the tougher rules are implemented next summer.

 

Half the levy will be paid by just 400 employers – but who are they?

Around half of the upcoming apprenticeship levy will be paid by just 400 employers – but the Skills Funding Agency won’t say who those companies are.

The revelation came during a breakout session on funding at the Association of Colleges annual conference earlier this month.

Keith Smith (pictured), the director of funding and programmes at the SFA, said that while 20,000 employers were expected to fall within the scope of the levy when it launches in April 2017, just 400 employers, or two per cent, will cover “about half of the entire levy”.

“The top 400 carry a big load,” he said. “Some of those bigger employers will be paying over £30 million a year, in terms of the apprenticeship levy.”

But he later admitted it was “not as simple and straightforward as being able to just publish a list” of the names of those firms that would bear the brunt.

He said that while the SFA did know which companies would be paying the levy, the agency couldn’t share that information as it was “a tax matter”.

Information published by the Department for Education in August on the number and size of employers who would be paying the levy in 2017/18 said there would be 19,150 businesses in scope, but it made no mention of this smaller figure of 400 companies paying half the levy.

Peter Lauener, head of the SFA and the Education Funding Agency, and the shadow chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships, also referred to this figure during his conference session on November 17.

I don’t know the precise figures, but it’s around 20,000 levy payers. About 450 of those will pay about half the levy

“I don’t know the precise figures, but it’s around 20,000 levy payers. If you look at it in a bit more detail about 450 of those will pay about half the levy,” he admitted in response to an audience question.

More than half of the top 400 employers in the UK currently have fewer than 200 apprentices, and some have none, Mr Smith admitted, though he hopes the levy will to lead to a “significant market shift” in apprenticeship delivery.

Business administration and health and safety currently account for a quarter of current apprenticeships – but “going forward the actual single biggest sector that’s going to be involved in the apprenticeship levy is the education sector”.

“In terms of understanding the employers and the sectors that you’re in, this type of market analysis is really important to understand what you’re doing, who you’re pitching to and where you’re going,” he said.

Chichester College’s principal Shelagh Legrave later asked Mr Smith how colleges could identify which companies will be subject to the levy, as without this information she said she was “left scrabbling around trying to work out who is actually paying”.

Mr Smith explained that the SFA was talking to levy-paying employers about whether “they’d be happy for us to share their information more widely across the sector” but that “those conversations are patchy – some for obvious reasons are a little bit relaxed about that, others are not”.

He added that there were “companies out there that do know” and “some databases that operate in the commercial sector, particularly those that offer tax advisory services” that would be able to provide this information “if you’re willing to make a small investment”.

“There’s no really easy answer, or easy fix for this,” he said.

 

Student crowned ‘all-round inspiration’ at awards for extensive volunteering work

A student at Salford City college has won the title of ‘all-round inspiration’ at the Greater Manchester Care Leavers’ Awards.

Robert Wright took the top accolade, along with £100 worth of vouchers, for his volunteering work.

He has volunteered for five years with young people at the YouCan Community Club and also volunteers at the British Heart Foundation in Eccles. Alongside this, he is also a member of the Salford Youth Council.

It isn’t the first award Robert has won for his extra-curricular work; he has previously received an award for ‘outstanding volunteer’ from the Salford City College Annual Awards, as well as a medal for his involvement with YouCan community club, which won the Queen’s Award – the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups.

Held at the Royal Northern College of Music, the awards aim to recognise the achievements of young carers across the region.

Award categories included community and volunteering, sport, leisure and apprenticeships, with the ceremony culminating in the final award for being the ‘all-round inspiration’.

Speaking of his newest accolade, Robert said: “All-round inspiration is a very prestigious award and it’s another reason why this has been such a brilliant year!”

 

Featured picture: Robert Wright with his award

 

Arrival of baby corn snakes make history at college

The arrival of two baby corn snakes at a college in Gloucestershire have made history as the first reptiles ever to be hatched on site.

Hartpury College has a collection of over 70 different species of snakes, but never before has a reptile been successfully hatched at the college.

The corn snakes needed a specialised incubator to keep them at the correct temperature, with the eggs kept at a toasty 30 degrees and an 80 per cent humidity.

The new babies will provide a new learning experience for students at the college, who have so far had experience only in caring for a range of adult snakes.

The snakes are expected to grow to between four and six feet in length, and have a lifespan of around 15 years.

The animal collection manager at the college, Aleksandra Lipinska, said: “It has been a great learning experience for all the students involved and we are really pleased it has been a success.

“Now that we have successfully bred and hatched our first reptiles we are planning on doing some more breeding. We have plated lizards here that are quite rare so we are looking at getting a programme in place to breed them as well.”

 

Featured picture: The new baby corn snakes at Hartpury college

 

Lewisham Southwark College still wants Newcastle merger despite local offers

A struggling London college is still trying to engineer a merger with a group based almost 300 miles away in Newcastle, despite rejecting offers from both a neighbouring college and a nearby university.

Lewisham Southwark College, which last year became the first college ever to receive two ‘inadequate’ ratings from Ofsted in a row, has explored a number of what it called “potential options” to improve in the wake of the London (central) area review, according to a spokesperson.

Options under consideration included separate mergers with two nearby institutions: London South Bank University and Lambeth College.

Both options were deemed unviable by the bosses at Lewisham.

The college is instead revisiting its “preferred” proposal – of merging with Newcastle College Group, based in the north-east of England.

Lewisham first approached NCG last autumn and representatives from both colleges have confirmed to FE Week that “active discussions” are ongoing.

LSC said it had carried out “extensive work and engagement” on a merger with LSBU, but governors concluded that joining an HE institution was not a “strong way forward”.

In reaching this conclusion they considered the examples of failed HE/FE mergers

A Lewisham spokesperson said: “In reaching this conclusion they considered the examples of failed HE/FE mergers, the fear that FE would be lost in the bigger university, and the belief that most of the strengths of the proposal could be achieved through good partnership work and without the risks of a merger.”

Dave Phoenix, the chancellor of London South Bank University said a collaboration with Lewisham would “not be a merger”, but would “bring together a formal group structure of educational bodies such as schools and colleges, respecting the importance and specialist nature of each”.

Lewisham also considered merging with Lambeth College after former FE commissioner David Collins asked it to explore the option last October, but concerns were expressed about the potential risk of merging two colleges that are in financial and quality recovery.

LSC was the first college to receive two ‘inadequate’ ratings in a row from Ofsted, after an inspection in February 2015, while Lambeth retained a grade three the month before.

The spokesperson for Lewisham said the colleges had “agreed to look at” the option of a merger, but it would “require a significant financial package” to reduce the financial risk.

She said that Lewisham’s “preferred” option is therefore for a merger with NCG.

“A merger with NCG doesn’t need a financial package to go ahead, and would see Lewisham Southwark College fully retain its local identity within this national group.

“At the same time we have agreed to do some further work on whether a merger with Lambeth College could be an option if suitable finances were available.”

A Lambeth College spokesperson said there is “only an expressions-of-interest stage at present” from LSC.

Lewisham Southwark College is led by Carole Kitching, who took on the role last summer after leaving Newcastle College, where she was in charge from 2013.

NCG is made up of three FE colleges, one sixth form college and two independent training providers.

Of these, two are based in Newcastle: Newcastle College, and Newcastle Sixth Form College.

The remaining four members are based in other parts of the country: Kidderminster College, West Lancashire College, Manchester-based Rathbone, and Sheffield-based Intraining.

A spokesperson for NCG said: “We are pleased that NCG remain the preferred merger partner of the board of Lewisham Southwark College, however we of course recognise their requirement to consider all options as part of the London area review.”

 

Ron Dearing UTC expands a year before opening

A University Technical College (UTC) scheduled to open in Hull next year has expanded to accommodate an extra 50 student places in its first intake, in response to huge demand.

The Ron Dearing UTC will focus on engineering and digital skills and is backed by the University of Hull and a number of employers, including communications provider KCOM, engineering business Spencer Group, and Siemens.

The new UTC had planned to take on 150 students for its first year, beginning September 2017, but applications have already outstripped that target, so a successful application to the Department for Education will allow it to increase this intake to 200 students.

Principal Sarah Pashley (pictured) said the news was “really encouraging”.

If we receive sufficient demand to take us over the new level of 200 places, we can choose to reapply to the DfE to request a further increase

“We expected the UTC to be popular, but we’ve been surprised by how quickly the applications have come in,” she said.

Almost 200 applications have already been received for the 100 places each available in years 10 and 12, but Ms Pashley stressed that students who want to attend should continue to apply up to the end of January, as “places will not be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis”, and capacity might even expand further.

“If we receive sufficient demand to take us over the new level of 200 places, we can choose to reapply to the DfE to request a further increase,” she said.

“We want to stress we will not go over more than 150 in any year group and 600 in total.”

FE Week asked Mrs Pashley what she felt set her UTC apart from certain others which have closed amid reports of low student numbers, such as UTC Lancashire, Central Bedfordshire UTC, Hackney UTC and Black Country UTC.

“The biggest positive about Ron Dearing UTC is that our employer sponsors and Hull University are extremely proactively involved in the whole project,” she added.

“They’re not paying lip service to this; they are involved from leadership and governance right down to choosing the qualifications, developing the projects.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “UTCs have a vital role to play by providing young people with the technical knowledge and skills employers are after, and it is encouraging that the Ron Dearing UTC is proving so popular.”