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FEATURE: College student’s business venture is fighting fit

Starting a business is notoriously difficult, but one entrepreneur launched her fitness empire in her first year at college. Now, just two years later she has opened her own studio – and she’s only 19. Samantha King reports.

When Amy Simpson left school, she decided a traditional A-level route wasn’t for her. Instead, she enrolled at Middlesbrough College to pursue courses in level two fitness instructing and level three personal training.

Her passion for fitness was a constant throughout her time at school, where she captained the football team, and “always liked leading”, a quality that would prove to be crucial in the success of her business.

Although it was a full-time course, I had a couple of hours in the morning or in the afternoon between study times, so I’d fit in personal training classes then

At just 16, during the first year of her studies at Middlesbrough College, Amy decided to set up a personal training and group fitness class service, which she called Amy Simpson Fitness.

Speaking of how she juggled her work and study life, she said: “Although it was a full-time course, I had a couple of hours in the morning or in the afternoon between study times, so I’d fit in personal training classes then. When I was qualified to teach classes, I ran them at night, and it built up and up from there.”

Building a client base through leafleting and social media, she would train clients in whatever space she could find. For personal training sessions, she would work with them in football fields, and even their front rooms and gardens. When it came to group classes she would rent out school halls, paying by the hour.

“When I first started my classes, they were very small in numbers and it was a struggle to get them to expand. Starting off, I just had my friends and family there.

“In the first couple of weeks I thought, ‘There’re only eight people here, is it worth carrying on?’ because I was only making £4 at the end of the night after I had paid the venue.”

Amy Simpson of Normanby has completed her Personal Trainer Level 3 training at Middlesbrough College and now entrepreneur Amy - still just 18 - has built up her own business, and recently opened her own 2,000sq ft fitness venue in a prime high street location in Normanby. 19/10/16 Pic Doug Moody Photography — The venue has plenty of space for fitness classes

A business unit on her course gave Amy the confidence to take her next steps and when she left the college, she invested in a 2,000 sq ft fitness venue in the heart of Normanby high street in North Yorkshire.

“As soon as I saw the premises I thought ‘yes, I need it’. It had all the metal beams to hang all my bags on and it was just perfect. I said there and then that I wanted it, and signed the papers.”

Amy’s business has grown exponentially in the two years it has been in operation and classes that started out with a handful of family and friends now regularly attract around 30 clients.

“At the beginning it might be hard and it might be embarrassing if only three people are turning up to the class, but you’ve just got to keep going because that three will soon turn into 30.”

Her client base now ranges from teenage boys training to go into the army and wanting to build up their general fitness, to women who are struggling to put on weight and want to develop muscle.

Speaking of how college helped her, she said: “I couldn’t have done it all without the experience at Middlesbrough College behind me. My tutors really encouraged me, and it was working with them that gave me the inspiration to go for it.”

Featured picture: Amy at her new fitness studio

Poppy selling won’t lose its appeal for Sian

A dedicated volunteer and manager at a Teesside college hopes to raise thousands of pounds selling poppies this November.

Sian Cameron, who is support centre manager at Stockton Riverside College’s engineering and vocational training provider, NETA Training, spends two weeks a year working 14-hour shifts for free during the poppy appeal.

Last year, Sian and her team of volunteers raised more than £50,000 for the Royal British Legion charity, and she hopes to raise even more this year.

The charity provides lifelong support for the Armed Forces community, including serving men and women, veterans and their families.

The 34-year-old took on the job of annually shifting 60,000 poppies for the poppy appeal following the death of her father in 2010, and is now entering her sixth year as a volunteer.

Cameron said: “As poppy appeal organiser for Hartlepool it is something my dad, Ian, was really passionate about. He was proud to be involved”.

“When he died suddenly after suffering a heart attack in 2010, it seemed only right for me to step into the role.”

With her small terraced cottage filled with poppies year-round, volunteer Sian has even had to have her loft renovated to accommodate them all.

Featured picture: Sian with her beloved poppies

Students sleep under the stars to raise money for the homeless

A group of social work students at Bradford College are preparing to spend the night outside to raise money for the homeless.

The team will give up their home comforts and bed down at the Shay Stadium in Halifax as part of a charity fundraising event.

The students have already raised over £500 through their online fundraising page, and hope to hit a grand total of £1,000 before the event takes place on November 11.

Marco Radley, who is in the second year of her social work course at the college, said: “A few of us did the event last year and it was absolutely freezing, we were cold to the bone, but it’s for a great cause. As tough as it was to do last year, we all felt it was very worthwhile and wanted to do it again.”

The ‘Under 1 Roof’ fundraiser, which will see teams of fundraisers come together to sleep outside, has been organised by homeless charity Calderdale Smartmove, which assists homeless and vulnerably housed people to find accommodation in the Calderdale area.

Featured picture: The students with their sponsorship forms for the fundraiser

Unique mindfulness course is a hit with college students

A unique life skills programme for first-year students at the Sixth Form College Birkenhead has reached its halfway point – and students are already feeling the benefits.

Devised by two psychology teachers at the college, Roy Owen and Amanda Hoey, and deputy principal Mike Kilbride, the BePART (Be Positive, Ambitious, Resilient, Thoughtful) course looks at methods to improve mental health and wellbeing in teenagers.

The six-week programme focusses on the importance of sleep and diet, challenging negative thoughts, and mindfulness – a form of meditation.

Students who joined the Wirral-based college in September have now had three sessions and several are already reporting an increase in their overall wellbeing.

Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Adams, who studies biology, chemistry, English literature and maths at the college, said: “I’ve found it really therapeutic. It’s helped me with stress levels and eating habits, and made me take a step back and assess what I’m doing, which makes things a lot easier and calmer.”

“This kind of programme is so important. You may have the ability to get good grades but you’re never going to achieve that if you’re burnt out.”

Featured picture: (L-R) Psychology teacher Roy Owen, head girl Emily Wagstaff, head boy Louis Earley, psychology teacher Amanda Hoey

Students get involved with international eco-hairdressing project

Staff and students from the hair and beauty department at Bridgwater and Taunton College had a lesson on sustainability during a recent trip to Spain.

The aim of the trip was to get students involved with the Green Salon project in Malaga, which develops innovative ways of promoting sustainability in the hair and beauty sector in schools, colleges and businesses.

During the visit, staff and students played a vital role in the next stages of the project, developing educational tools for use within the hairdressing industry across the EU.

Lucinda Vaughan, curriculum manager for hair and beauty at the college, said: “As a college we are so fortunate to be linked with such an important project. This trip has enabled our students to collaborate with a group of international students to discuss ideas, produce an industry video and visit Spanish salons.”

The trip also included a visit to L’Oréal Green Academy in Madrid, a salon which combines the application of modern technology and the use of environmentally friendly materials to develop a new method of hairdressing for future generations.

Featured picture: Tutor Lucinda Vaughan, centre, Rebecca Franks, top left, Melanie Sukevic, bottom left, Sophie Westlake, top right, Ellie-Mae Davies, bottom right

Ofqual opens malpractice investigation following apprentice complaint

Allegations of malpractice lodged by a former apprentice of Highbury College are being investigated by Ofqual, an FE Week investigation has revealed.

The qualifications watchdog confirmed it is looking into complaints lodged by 35-year-old Maxwell Hyde – who started as a boatbuilding apprentice at the college in

Portsmouth in September 2011, and who went on to work there as a workshop instructor from January 2013 until May 2014.

He completed his apprenticeship, but claims that during the process he was granted qualifications for courses that he did not take.

The SFA has previously opted to “partially uphold” another of Mr Hyde’s complaints against the college – in which he alleged his apprentice progress reports were falsified – in a report released in October 2015.

An Ofqual spokesperson told FE Week that it is currently “reviewing the actions carried out by the awarding organisations” involved – VTCT, Laser Awards and NCFE – but that it won’t be investigating the college.

Mr Hyde submitted a freedom of information request to the Skills Funding Agency in February, which indicated funding had been paid out for courses he claimed to have no knowledge of, for example on preventing contact dermatitis and substance misuse awareness.

Funding had been paid out for courses he claimed to have no knowledge of, for example on preventing contact dermatitis and substance misuse awareness

“Sadly it seems to me that students are seen as little more than cash cows, and provided the correct boxes are ticked and funding is obtained, no one cares how this is achieved,” he told FE Week.

NCFE revealed it had conducted its own investigation into the complaints in June – which concluded the certificates Mr Hyde felt he should not have been awarded had been built into other parts of his apprenticeship.

It said: “Qualifications awarded to Mr Hyde by NCFE were completed as additionality qualifications which were delivered during Highbury College’s induction programme.”

Laser Awards and VTCT also confirmed that they have been carrying out investigations into the claims.

A VTCT spokesperson denied any wrongdoing, adding that Highbury College “followed appropriate assessment and quality assurance procedures”.

Mr Hyde alleges that Highbury College had wrongly indicated that the progress reports had been completed with his input, despite the fact that in some cases he was allegedly out of the country.

The SFA report said: “There is no suggestion the college has committed any kind of fraud, but not ensuring the learner is demonstrably involved in his own reviews was bad practice on behalf of the college.

“We note that the college has committed to improving its processes.”

Mr Hyde told FE Week that he had taken up his concerns with Stella Mbubaegbu, the principal of Highbury College, who told him that her managers “had acted properly”.

A Highbury College spokesperson said: “The allegations raised with the SFA by Mr Hyde were in the first instance investigated by the college in line with college procedures.

“All the SFA recommendations have been considered by the college and changes arising from those recommendations implemented.”

She added: “Mr Hyde has reported the college to a number of awarding bodies and on each occasion, where requested, a report including the scope and outcome of the internal investigation was submitted by the college in response to each enquiry.

“On all occasions the awarding bodies have been satisfied with the way the college handled the complaint and the outcomes of the investigation.”

Lead DfE civil servant debunks Skills Plan ‘myth’

The government’s controversial plans to replace over 20,000 technical courses with 15 routes won’t lead to just 15 qualifications, a top civil servant has insisted.

Warwick Sharp, the deputy director 16-19 strategy at the Department for Education, said it was a “myth” that the streamlining – which many in the sector worry is too drastic – would result in limited outcomes.

The plans, announced in the Post-16 Skills Plan in July and building on the recommendations of Sainsbury Review into technical education, will see the first routes being taught from September 2019.

They will be two-year, college-based programmes closely aligned to new apprenticeship standards.

The full 15 routes are due to be rolled out for teaching by September 2022, with four of the 15 “primarily delivered through apprenticeships.”

There has been considerable confusion in the sector over this significant simplification, with many worried that it would lead to just 15 qualifications

There has been considerable confusion in the sector over this significant simplification, with many worried that it would lead to just 15 qualifications – which would leave many in the range of subjects as awkward bedfellows.

The ‘Creative and Design’ route, for example, includes training as an audio-visual technician, a journalist or a furniture maker. The ‘Engineering and Manufacturing’ route meanwhile links the roles of aircraft fitter, printer and energy plant operative.

However Mr Sharp attempted to ease sector worries during a speech at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ autumn conference on November 1.

“There is myth out there that there are 15 qualifications because there are 15 routes,” he said, adding: “I think it will look different across each route.”

He suggested that the routes could branch, using ‘Legal, Finance and Accounting’ as an example.

“I’m not saying it will happen – but we could see three clear branches there; something like engineering or manufacturing is probably much more diverse.”

He went on: “I can’t say how many qualifications there will be, but there will definitely be multiple qualifications per route, according to how much sense it makes to either bump those occupations together, or have a qualification per occupation.

“We just don’t know yet.”

FE Week put Mr Sharp’s comments to the DfE, asking why this “myth” has been allowed to spread, whether the DfE was responsible for the idea, and what the reality will be for the routes and qualifications.

However, the department’s spokesperson insisted that there were no further comments to make at this stage.

Nevertheless, a letter from apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon, written in October and sent to all chairs and principals of colleges and chief executives of independent training providers, raised the suggestion directly.

He wrote that the Post-16 Skills Plan “replaces the current system of thousands of competing qualifications with 15 high-quality routes encompassing college-based and apprenticeships”.

A release from the DfE for Business, Innovation and Skills on July 8 also said: “Thousands of ineffective courses that short-change employers and young people will be replaced with 15 straightforward routes into technical employment creating a more skilled workforce fit for modern Britain.

“Currently young people considering a technical education must choose between more than 20,000 courses provided by 160 different organisations with no clear indicator of which course will give them the best chance of landing a job.

“The skills plan proposes a new system where students who have finished their GCSEs will be able to choose from up to 15 routes providing a clear path to skilled employment.”

AELP voxpops: Is the fact that there’s no guaranteed funding for non-levy payers a big concern? Will the apprenticeship levy ultimately shut out the SMEs?

The government must go much further with reforms

The Technical and Further Education Bill is a good start, but it needs to address structural problems that will hold us back in world trade, says Shane Chowen.

In the wake of the vote to leave the EU, the economic aftershocks are beginning to be felt. Economists still forecast a rise in unemployment – albeit not to the scale predicted immediately after the referendum – and the consequences of a weak currency are starting to have an impact, with retailers and energy companies set to increase prices.

But looking at other changes to our economy, it seems the government has not dropped the ball. Self-employment is now at its highest rate ever, helped by the rise in what has been dubbed the ‘gig economy’, where companies enlist self-employed individuals for work that is often low-paid and insecure, but very flexible.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive at the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce, and a former adviser to Tony Blair, has been asked by Theresa May to look into what these emerging employment models mean for employee rights and employer responsibilities. One of the six key themes of Taylor’s inquiry is to look at progression and training, and to recommend ways to ‘facilitate and encourage professional development’. After all, self-employed people can’t ‘apprentice’ themselves.

Self-employed people can’t ‘apprentice’ themselves

The sector must engage in this important review.

The Technical and Further Education Bill, introduced by the government on October 27, is the ideal opportunity for the government to go further in granting the regulatory freedoms necessary to respond to our changing economy. The bill provides the legislative backing for the new Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to provide technical training pathways within defined occupational groups.

If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s what the Sainsbury Review recommended. However, the bill doesn’t say there should be 15 routes, as Sainsbury suggested. Instead, it charges the secretary of state with responsibility to determine occupational groups, and then it will be up to the new Institute to decide which occupations fall into each group. Interestingly, there is a clause in the bill that would ensure any occupation that doesn’t fit neatly into a pre-determined group, would still have to be lumped in anyway. So I for one would not put money on 15 being the magic number.

The new Institute will have a powerful role in technical education as well as apprenticeships. It will be empowered by law to set standards and approve, own copyright for, and license technical qualifications related to those occupations.

People with learning difficulties and disabilities, and people from BME backgrounds have been famously underrepresented in apprenticeships

I would love to see a more explicit requirement to work with learners. The bill requires it to share information with Ofqual, Ofsted and the new Office for Students, but these are hardly organisations with outstanding track records of learner engagement. Lessons should be learned from the trailblazer process and learners should be systematically embedded in the development and approval of standards and assessment plans for apprenticeships and technical education.

The Department for Education’s own evidence suggests that their reforms will benefit groups of learners. For example, its impact assessment says those with learning difficulties and disabilities will benefit from the transition year proposed in the Post-16 Skills Plan. Learners from black and ethnic minority (BME) groups will benefit from the new college insolvency regime introduced by the bill, because a higher proportion of BME learners go to college relative to the general population.

Yet the bill does not even touch on glaring access issues currently plaguing the apprenticeships system. People with learning difficulties and disabilities, and people from BME backgrounds have been famously underrepresented in apprenticeships for a number of years. There should be amendments to the bill that enshrine the developed recommendations of the Maynard Review on apprenticeship accessibility.

At the very least, the bill should legislate for the new Institute to have a defined role in widening access to apprenticeships and technical education, similar to the Office for Students’ role in widening participation in universities.

The bill is a good start, but could do much more to set the sector up for a modern economy and address serious structural problems that will hold us back as we trade with the rest of the world.

Shane Chowen is head of policy and public affairs at the Learning and Work Institute, and a governor at Westminster Kingsway College.

How to create inclusive learning spaces

To successfully create inclusive spaces for those with learning difficulties, the entire organisation needs to be brought on-board, says Karen Roberts.

While dyslexia is estimated to affect around 10 per cent of the general population (four per cent severely), the figure is estimated at around one third in young offender institutions.

If colleges and FE institutions are not dyslexia-friendly, it may well be that learners and staff are not reaching their full potential and many maybe struggling to articulate their needs.

In September, HMYOI Werrington became the first secure establishment ever to receive the dyslexia-friendly quality kite mark from the British Dyslexia Association. Here are three elements that we at Novus, working alongside them, found to be essential:

Support for the leadership team

The demands of the award were stringent, assessing areas such as leadership and management, communication, training, partnerships and educational provision.

For Werrington the whole process took almost two years, from initial self-assessment on the standards, through development of an action plan, to building up a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate that we had met the standard, ready for a verification visit.

We had full support from senior management, both in the YOI and at Novus – this ensured that staff were enabled to attend the training and given time to develop the initiative in their area of the prison.

A full-organisation project

A critical factor in the success of this project was how we approached the process – as a whole establishment, not just an education department.

Young people in this environment are influenced by many touchpoints in the prison regime, and there was a danger that the impact of the project could be significantly diluted once the young people went back to other parts of the prison, if the project was contained within the education department.

Fortunately, the governor at Werrington provided his full support in ensuring the establishment took an inclusive and proactive approach. Dyslexia-friendly training was embedded into the prison induction programme for all new staff, as well as training of existing colleagues.

One thing that surprised us was the number of staff who identified themselves as needing support as a result of the training

We asked for volunteer dyslexia champions across all parts of the establishment, including the kitchen, residential wings and chaplaincy, for example – supported by their line managers and allocated time to attend training with our regional SENCo.

Once the champions started to understand the challenges faced by young people with dyslexia, and the impact this had on their daily lives, they began to identify innovative ways in which they could support them in the prison.

Their enthusiasm was infectious – coloured acetate overlays appeared everywhere, notices such as the daily menu were replaced with newly printed versions on cream-coloured paper with sans serif fonts size 14 or larger, and dyslexia-friendly support packs were provided to all wings and every department throughout the establishment.

Full training led by the governor and the education staff ensured everyone had an understanding of dyslexia and knew where to go for support.

One thing that surprised us was the number of staff who identified themselves as needing support as a result of the training – it became an initiative to support staff, as well as young people.

One member of staff in his 60s, who had not been diagnosed previously, took home a coloured overlay and returned the next day excited about the new world that had opened up to him overnight,when he had managed to read a chapter of a book.

The HMYOI Werrington and Novus team with representatives from the British Dyslexia Association

A committed project lead

We had an enthusiastic, inspirational and determined regional SENCo who was able to gain support for the project from a wide range of colleagues. The project lead needs to have a real commitment to this area of work as well as the ability to motivate others to get involved.

A dyslexia-friendly environment boosts individuals’ confidence and supports the creation of an inclusive environment, in which all can thrive and fulfil their potential.

The buzz from hearing one young offender saying he doesn’t need help with reading his letter from home today, “because I’ve got my coloured filter now”, makes the whole project worthwhile.

Karen Roberts is director of youth justice at training provider Novus.