The Skills Funding Agency has produced its long-awaited and overdue online Learning Aims Reference System (Lars).
It is an online tool that allows providers to, among other things, look up qualification funding values.
And it went live today [click here for Lars] with learning aims data for the current academic year and also 2014/15.
It had been due out for the start of 2013/14 as part of the agency’s wider data collections and funding transformation programme.
A new funding information system (Fis) was also part of the revamp, but it has produced inaccurate reports. And Online Data Collection (OLDC) system replacement the Hub has also had problems.
But in November the agency conceded it was struggling to develop Lars in time for the R04 data return deadline the following month, and instead produced “Lars Lite” — which didn’t contain 2014/15 data.
However, there were reports that Lars Lite, a temporary downloadable database from the SFA, itself produced unreliable data.
The problems could now be over though, with an SFA spokesperson revealing that Lars was now live.
They said: “On Thursday, May 22, we will make a new learning aims search facility available in the Hub.”
They added: “This will replace Lars Lite and the simplified funding rates catalogue, which we will decommission in the coming months.
“We will also release an update to Fis to support the processing of 2014 to 2015 Individualised Learner Record (ILR) files alongside ILR files for 2013 to 2014. A reinstallation is not required.”
Lars helps providers’ Management Information System (MIS) officers check whether qualifications are eligible for funding, and how much per learner providers should receive.
Sparsholt College students won gold at London’s Chelsea Flower Show with a recycling-themed garden.
The team of 21 extended diploma horticulture learners designed and built the garden, which portrays the lifecycle of a paper cup.
Student Jack Shilley, 18, said: “We are all on cloud nine… this year’s show will go down as one of the best weeks of my and many of my mates’ lives.”
The garden also won best exhibit in the show’s new Discovery area.
From left: Lance Russell, Dan Handley, and Jack Shilley, with Alan Titchmarsh after winning a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show.
Lecturer and team leader Chris Bird said: “The team have worked very hard over the last nine months and for their huge efforts to result in a gold medal is absolutely tremendous. How better for these students to start their horticulture careers than as proud Chelsea medal winners?”
Picture caption, from left: Horticulture students Jack Shilley, aged 18, Lance Russell, 19, and Dan Handley, 21, with lecturer Chris Bird in their recycling-themed garden
Former Tomorrow’s World presenter Maggie Philbin took part in a pit-stop challenge during a showcase event for skills training at Barking and Dagenham College.
Ms Philbin, who has also worked on other TV shows including This Morning and children’s show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, was helped to change a car tyres by college motor vehicles studies lecturer Nick Jackman and motor vehicles technology students Thomas Cheung, Elliot Heritage and Ben Furlong, all aged 17.
More than 2,000 people attended the event, where they could watch demonstrations by hairdressing, cookery, dance and forensic science students and learn about careers the college’s courses prepare learners for.
Hairdressing student Simran Kaur gives a hair curling demonstration
Level three hairdressing student Simran Kaur, 18, showed visitors how to curl hair.
She said: “I love the idea of being creative and making people feel good about themselves. I’m doing my hairdressing course this year but then I want to do a business course so I can open my own salon.”
Picture caption: TV presenter Maggie Philbin takes part in a pit-stop challenge with, from left, Barking and Dagenham motor vehicles studies lecturer Nick Jackman and students Thomas Cheung, Elliot Heritage and Ben Furlong.
Young people often get portrayed as not having a positive attitude and not contributing to society. But Cirencester Sixth Form College student Bella Allen Stevens is on a maission to change all that and make teenagers’ voices heard, writes Rebecca Cooney.
In 2012, just before starting a BTec performing arts diploma, Bella Allen Stevens, now aged 18, joined the National Citizenship Service (NCS), a government scheme helping young people develop life skills.
From there, Bella has given talks in the Houses of Parliament, is due to be featured in a TV documentary and is planning a trip to help communities in Zambia.
“I’d never heard of the NCS at all, until my head of Year 11 told us to get involved in the summer camp programme and I thought ‘why not?’” Bella told FE Week.
“It changed my life.”
After attending a team-building summer camp Bella’s college nominated her to be one of 100 NCS national ambassadors.
Bella with the cast of her play Stuck in Purgatory
“The message I want to get across is teenagers aren’t the stereotype we’re viewed as, instead we change things — people in my age group actually do more charity work than over 24-year-olds,” she said.
Bella was then chosen as one of 10 NCS leaders running the ‘Generation Citizen’ project which supports community projects all around the country and was invited to the Houses of Parliament to speak to a panel of guests including Nick Hurd MP, Channel 4 political editor Gary Gibbon and former Labour MP and Home Secretary David Blunkett.
Speaking at the House of Commons, she said, was “scary… but really interesting”.
“David Blunkett did this beautiful speech about what life was like when he was a teenager and how life has completely changed and how can we make it better — he’s a lovely, really sweet man,” she said.
As a result of her visit to Parliament, Bella has been asked, along with her father and grandmother to take part in a TV documentary called the Evolving Teenager, about how life has changed for teenagers in the last 100 years.
“My nan’s really looking forward to it, she couldn’t be prouder of me,” said Bella.
But Bella is no stranger to the limelight — her ambition is to be a theatre director, and after entering a competition with youth arts charity Ideas Tap at the suggestion of her college tutor, she won the chance to have her own play staged in London last month.
The play, Stuck in Purgatory, explored the morality of religion.
Bella, centre, with other NCS members at her first NCS summer camp in Minehead, Somerset
“I had two weeks to finish the script, find a cast, have the lighting and set and everything done in two weeks – my friend was still making costumes for me on the bus ride over,” she said.
“It was pretty stressful but it was literally a dream come true for me to see a play I wrote put on in front of people that I look up to it was brilliant.”
Next on Bella’s packed schedule is a project with the International Citizen Service — she’s off to Zambia in August to work with Restless Development, a charity delivering sex education to young girls in the developing world.
But first she has to raise £1,500 to pay for teachers in Zambia and is planning a 70 mile sponsored walk around the Isle of Wight.
The reason Bella is always so busy, she said, is that: “I say yes to everything — I’m so glad I go out there and grab every opportunity.
“It all started when I heard about NCS, at the time I wasn’t someone who volunteered, I would usually go home and sit on the sofa and that would be about it.
“And then I got involved with NCS — and I found out that actually I mattered.
“They were talking to me and asking my opinions… and I thought wow, I’ve my voice can change things, how much more can I do?”
Email bellaas1995@icloud.com to sponsor Bella’s walk.
Main photo: Bella during her visit to the House of Commons
Footballers from Salford City College scored double success by winning the British Colleges Sport North West League title days after winning the Under-18 Manchester FA Cup.
They clinched the league title with a 3-0 result against Liverpool’s Elite Academy.
The team also beat Salford-based side Barr Hill JFC 4-1 to win the county cup final.
Head of sports development and team coach Phil Arbelo-Dolan said: “I feel like this season has been 15 years in the making, since we first started a football team at the college and began to compete within the area.
“We have seen some outstanding players and coaches over the years, and this team has not disappointed in the slightest. The lads thoroughly deserve the success they have achieved this year.”
Picture caption, from left: Advanced diploma in sports leadership students Jordan Poole (captain), aged 18, Mike Itela, A-level and Btec student Matty Bablinski, Advanced diploma in sports seadership students Luke Tonge, Josh Livesey, Kalvin Morris, all 17, Erike Souse, and Ben Steer, both 18, celebrate their victory in the Manchester FA Cup final
More than 50 hair and beauty students from Southampton Totton College put on a vintage-themed catwalk show.
The level two and three learners recreated hairstyles, make-up and costumes from the early 1900s to the 1960s.
Right: Model Sarah Salim models a look created by level three hairdressing student Caroline Omari, aged 23
They included hairdressing learner Emma Zamojski, aged 24, who took guidance from the glamorous outfits worn by dancers in the film Moulin Rouge, which was set in 1900.
She said: “I took my inspiration from the bright colours, showy outfits and extravagant hair of the Moulin Rouge dancers during the 1920s. My interpretation of Moulin Rouge included adding gems and facial designs around the model’s eyes, cheekbones and jawline.”
Fellow hairdressing student Aby Connell, 19, gave her model a look based on the movies of the 1920s and 1930s.
She said: “I was inspired by Charlie Chaplin and intended to capture the silent-movie era. I wanted to put my own female twist on the classic black suit with a cane and of course his famous bowler hat.”
Level three street dance and film-making students celebrated the life of a Hawaiian princess who spent part of her life in Hove.
Princess Ka’iulani was heir to the throne of the kingdom of Hawaii until the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, a year after she moved to East Sussex.
Princess Ka’iulani of Hawaii campaigned against the annexation of her country by the United States until she died in 1899, aged 23
She campaigned tirelessly against the subsequent annexation of Hawaii by the United States until she died in 1899, aged just 23.
Dance students from City College Brighton and Hove performed a specially choreographed hula dance at Hove Bandstand in her honour, which film-making students recorded for an exhibition on the princess which will be held at Hove Museum in August.
City College intensive support teaching assistant Jane Couldrey, who is organising the exhibition, said: “Ka’iulani was a very special person. Hula is a very sacred part of Hawaiian culture and we’re honoured to have been able to perform this dance and, in a way, return the princess to Hove.”
Picture caption: Tutor Rosaria Gracia and her street dance students, Nikita Weller, 20, Kornelia Koszak, 19, Michael Turner Lee, aged 21, and Brodie Tierney-Orr, 18, perform a hula in honour of Hawaiin Princess Ka’iulani at Hove Bandstand. Photo by Matt Stephens.
A group of 30 Weston College students spent a week in the Gambia.
The level four and five sport and uniformed and public services learners met members of the local police, fire service and army and learned about their roles and responsibilities.
They also visited Ayr Luton Primary School, in Serrekunda, the largest city in the Gambia, which received more than £1,000 from the Somerset-based college to pay for new stationary.
Uniformed and public services learner Fiona Fogg, aged 21,
said: “It was fantastic to get an insight into such a different culture, and I found the people
I met really inspirational. It
was an unforgettable experience.”
Uniformed and public services tutor Andy Hunt said: “The trip gave the students an insight into the impact a different culture has on the way the public services operate.
“What impressed me the most was to receive such positive feedback from local residents about the students’ maturity. I was very proud.”
Photo caption: Uniformed and public services students Carla Bray (left), aged 20, and Fiona Fogg, 21, with children from Ayr Luton School
