Business Busters offer advice to companies

Students at a Teesside college have made a film to stop companies starting out from making costly mistakes.

Ten Prior Pursglove College students wrote, filmed and starred in Business Busters, with help from writer and director Laura Degnan and support from the Redcar and Cleveland Enterprise Team.

The film features a city girl who is given the chance to follow her dream and run a cake shop. She stumbles across problem after problem until the Business Busters swoop in to help her find solutions.

Laura, a director at Writers’ Block, a North East company that runs writing, drama and film-making workshops, worked with the students for several weeks.

Student Zoe Dean, 19, from Brotton, said: “We’ve all had the chance to take part, by either directing, starring or writing. We hope it will be helpful for anyone who is starting their own business or expanding current enterprises.”

The film was unveiled to an invited audience, including local MPs, at a red carpet premiere at the Guisborough college.

Laura said: “The students were able to learn not just from me but from one another. They developed some really creative and extremely funny ideas and delivered them in a very
visual way.”

New live room is ‘investment in the future’

Chart-toppers of the future will receive a head start at MidKent College with a new soundproofed live room.

The facility will give music students the opportunity to practise in private while their music technology counterparts can use the latest high-tech equipment to ensure the quality of performances shines through.

Sevenoaks musician and former college lecturer Dan Clews, who performed alongside Tim Minchin during Children in Need, officially opened the room during Colleges Week.

“The UK is the second largest music exporter in the world behind America; it’s important we continue to invest in the future of the industry,” he said.

“I came across some talented musicians during my time at the college and it’s great they now have a room of exceptional quality to practise that talent in.”

Louise Molton, head of the creative and visual arts faculty, said: “This room gives the musicians their own self-contained area to perform in, and will really help to raise their performance levels.

“But it’s not just music students who will benefit. Our performing arts students can also use the room, and our creative media students can film the various events that go on here.”

Students’ work crashing on to screens with new road safety awareness drama

Sheffield College photojournalists helped with the filming of a new drama that highlights the dangers young people can face on the roads.

“Crash,” which shows a serious accident and how the three emergency services respond, is due to be screened in South Yorkshire schools early next year.

Students on the press photography and photojournalism course helped the film crew on location earlier this term.

Tom Maddick, 26, said: “I had the chance to take some good photos of actors and trainee surgeons in an intensive care unit mocked up at Sheffield Hallam University and I lent the crew some of my lenses for filming. The two days on set also gave me the chance to capture a number of images for my portfolio.”

Diane Malpass, South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue group manager, said: “Some of the material in the film will be shocking but is designed to have a strong impact on the youngsters to bring home the consequences of careless or reckless driving.” Nationally, road accidents are the biggest killer of young people aged 17 to 24. The film’s main message is that they could often be avoided by simple changes in behaviour.

I’m a student. . . get me out of here

Students ate a pig’s head, devoured an octopus and handled a tarantula when Canterbury College held a series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here-style challenges to raise more than £1,000 for Children In Need.

Eleven brave students tried weird and wonderful dishes cooked by the catering department, including pig’s tongue, frogs’ legs, lumpfish roe and Bourgogne snails.

A crowd of nearly 200 students gathered to see if the contestants could stomach all nine courses. All but two finished — although none came back for seconds.

But students’ union president Harry Fox, 18, was up for more. After the last course he volunteered to eat a pig’s eyeball for more money. The crowd handed over the cash — and Harry took several minutes to swallow the delicacy.

Catering tutor Fodos Skordi prepared the dishes. “The students may have found it disgusting but in other countries what we served is gourmet food,” he said.

Seven staff and students then handled some of the animal care department’s creepiest critters for another challenge.

They plunged their hands into a tank of meal worms, held hissing cockroaches, got up close and personal with a palm snake, and let a Chilean tarantula crawl over them.

Cooking up a storm in FutureChef 2013

Two aspiring chefs will showcase their cooking skills at the regional final of Springboard’s FutureChef 2013 competition after victory in their local heat at Central Sussex College’s Crawley campus.

Lauren Sinfield, 14, from Lancing, and Rhianna Catt, 15, from Brighton, both wowed judges with their culinary creations. Lauren, a pupil at Sir Robert Woodward Academy, prepared salmon fillet in a white wine sauce with rice and courgettes, followed by a passion fruit soufflé served with raspberry coulis. Meanwhile, Rhianna, from Dorothy Stringer High School, served pigeon breast with a potato rosti, mushrooms and a balsamic jelly, followed by a cherry chocolate fondant and clotted cream.

Head judge Francis Estephane, chef lecturer at the college, said: “Both Lauren and Rhianna put in outstanding performances. Their menus were exceptional.”

“I’m still quite surprised,” said Lauren. “I love cooking at home and would like to be a chef in the future.”

Rhianna said: “For me, cooking is a real passion. The pressure of expectation made things quite tough today and so I was really pleased when the judges announced the result.”

Students hear top tips from fashion veteran

Fashion designer Simon Carter dropped in on Kingston College students to give advice on how to get creations from the classroom into stores on the high street.

The menswear and accessories designer, who has shops across the UK, told students how he first created his brand 27 years ago.

“One of my earliest defining moments took place when I was trying to get my accessories into Next,” he said. “The buyer said she would come to my showroom. I cleared my kitchen table, laid out my stock and invited her to view — in my flat, as I did not have a showroom­  in my early days. One hour later she had placed an order for £27,000; you can imagine my astonishment and excitement.”

Media student Josef Cisneros, 19, said: “I loved the way Simon showed us his products and got us all involved. It was useful to hear how he started on a small scale and built his way up. Simon also talked about other designers such as Paul Smith and how his influence informs the entire industry.”

How to get 14-year-olds on the right track

From left:  Jewel Barnes and TJ Anderson, both of Downside Fisher Youth Club, Ann Hodgson, Institute of Education, Nick Linford of FE Week, Nic Dakin MP, Christopher Monaf and Nathanial Danderson, also of Downside Fisher Youth Club

Meaningful careers advice and support would help 14-year-olds plan their futures, teenagers told  a parliamentary panel.

Four members of Downside Fisher Youth Club in London spoke about their experiences in education at a seminar for the Associate Parliamentary Skills Employment Group’s (APSEG) cross-party manifesto for Learning, Skills and Employment.

The event, held at the House of Commons, was part one of Skills: A Life, a series of four discussion panels looking into the skills and employment issues facing those aged 14, 23, 35 and 50. APSEG said it recognised problems and changes in the workplace such as high youth unemployment, the volume of different career paths taken in a lifetime as well as the image of FE.

Speakers included FE Week editor Nick Linford, Graham Allen MP and Professor Ann Hodgson of the Institute of Education. Guests were invited from organisations  such as City & Guilds, 157 Group, Skills for Justice, Learning and Skills Improvement Service, Policy Connect and Ofsted.

Sixteen-year-old TJ Anderson, one of the teenagers to address the panel, called for more one-to-one support for school pupils.

“When I was 14 I wanted to become an actor,” he told the group. “I was doing drama for a couple of years but I didn’t really get enough support so I dropped out. When I got to college I was pleased — I was there because I chose to go. I then decided to become a gym instructor and got lots of support.

“If I’d had support when I was younger I think I might have become a different person with different aspirations.”

He said if he could do things his way he would make sure that  Year 9 pupils had  monthly one-to-one meetings with school staff so that they had the chance to obtain “personal advice, full details and support. Fourteen-year-olds could then plan the next steps they took,” he said.

Graham Allen MP, a young learner from Downside Fisher Youth Club and Professor Ann Hodgson, Institute of Education

Professor Hodgson said school pupils should be given “meaningful careers guidance, information and guidance constantly” throughout the 14 to 16 stage and that young people should be given more opportunity to get out of the classroom to experience the real working world.

TJ said: “I think that would make a difference.  In Year 8 you’re young and can get excited about going to places and your aspirations are high.”

David Harbourne, director of policy at Edge, said that pupils needed more exposure to FE colleges.

“People should take children to FE colleges in Year 8. Many have never heard of most jobs; all they know is what they see on television and on the high street.  It would help to change the way they think about what to do for GCSE,” he said.

TJ added that it helped when big businesses came and told pupils of the opportunities available to them. “Barclays came in and spoke to us about jobs, which was great.  It’s good for big companies to come in and give us hope,” he said.

TJ Anderson, 16, from Downside Fisher Youth Club

Meanwhile Rona Macdonald of Opito, the Oil & Gas Academy, said schools should push more “soft skills”, a suggestion that followed a meeting with a group of teenagers. “They were fidgeting, hardly any of them could hold eye contact with me and they were getting their parents to speak for them,” she said.

Mr Linford, of FE Week, highlighted the benefits of obtaining evidence “destination data” showing what jobs people gained through what routes.

“In 2009 I wrote about how FE has become obsessed with qualifications and success rates at the expense of evidencing positive progressions, such as gaining employment and moving on to higher levels of study,” he said.

“The situation in 2012 remains unchanged, which means it is hard to shout about the real difference vocational education can make to young people and adults.

“It’s critical that we resolve this information gap, to help promote FE to school children, as well as our paymasters, in the form of the Treasury.”

The next Skills: A Life session will concentrate on 23-year-olds, focusing on the changing youth labour market, alternatives to university after the rise in higher education fees as well as the role of welfare.

The seminar took place in Committee room 17 in the House of Commons       Pictures by Shane Mann

Free lunches for learners is ‘no brainer’

By not offering all eligible college students free meals the government is “piling disadvantage upon disadvantage”, says Nic Dakin MP.

The member of the Education Select Committee, who is spearheading a campaign, No Free Lunch? led by the Association of Colleges (AoC),  introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill in Parliament calling on the government to extend the provision of free meals to qualifying students who attend sixth-form and FE colleges.

He told FE Week that it was a “no brainer” that 16 to 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds should get free lunchtime food. “More people from deprived backgrounds go on to vocational courses at FE and sixth-form colleges — 13.3 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent at school sixth forms,” he said speaking from the House of Commons where he was chairing a panel about choices for 14-year-olds.

“Yet they are not the ones allowed access to free school meals. It’s piling disadvantage upon disadvantage.

“I think every person, wherever they go, should be entitled to free meals if they meet the need.”

He said it was “absurd” how at Hackney University Technical College eligible students didn’t get free meals whereas those at Hackney Community College did — and they were both on the same site.

I think every person wherever they go, if they meet the need, should be entitled to free meals”

He added: “The age of participation in education is going up so why should those beyond 16 not be entitled?”

As a former principal, he said it was “absolutely crucial” for students to eat properly.

“Missing meals has a detrimental effect on performance. You’re more likely to miss classes, be inattentive and more likely to fail,” he said.

Mr Dakin said that David Laws, the Minister of State for Schools,  had described the situation as an “anomaly” and  that the government was looking at ways to address the situation.

After the MP introduced his Ten Minute Bill to Parliament he said he received “massive support” across the parties.

“Members from all sides came up to me — Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Greens, Labour supporters and a Northern Irish MP,” he said.

“Many of them have now signed up to AoC’s petition.”

So far more than 5,600 had signed up a government e-petition.

To sign up to AoCs No Free Lunch? petition see www.aoc.co.uk or see epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31069.

The state of play is not always clear

Ofsted’s annual report may make uncomfortable reading for colleges, but counterbalance and context are needed, says
Joy Mercer

Ofsted’s annual report can make for uncomfortable reading for those working in and with colleges.

This is not least because the methodology of planning inspections is so heavily weighted by risk.

The report itself says: “The timing of inspection of learning and skills providers, like schools, is determined significantly by risk assessment. Over a third of all the learning and skills providers inspected in 2011/12 were identified on this basis, and this figure was higher for colleges.”

While the report is tempered by recognition of the significant pressures that colleges face, plus funding incentives that can lead to behaviours that Ofsted effectively penalises, counterbalance and context is required.

In terms of employment outcomes, Ofsted’s Skills for Employability report this year showed that colleges significantly outperformed the government’s own Work Programme.

According to Ofsted, colleges successfully placed 19 per cent of participants in work and as many as 27 per cent from bespoke programmes, where the Work Programme managed a rate of less than 4 per cent in its first year.

Colleges invest a great deal of time and resources helping students who have left school with poor grades in maths and English to improve their marks so that they can go on to further study or start work.

Almost 150,000 16 to 18-year-olds study at pre-GCSE level in colleges, some of whom only just missed the required C grade.  Some get their English and maths GCSEs swiftly, but most have to go back to basics and need a lot of help and encouragement to gain their qualifications in incremental stages.

The report poses some significant challenges for the FE system as a whole.”

It is a fallacy to imagine that 11 years of under-achievement can be fixed in two years at a college.

Risk assessment and context aside, there can be no doubt that the report poses significant challenges to the sector.

Ofsted is pushing for quicker and more marked improvement, in particular for more progress in teaching and learning, and for the sector to rise to the huge challenge of youth unemployment.

In censuring providers for “not focusing enough on measuring the true impact of provision” and leaders for needing to “focus more on the usefulness of qualifications”, the report poses some significant challenges for the FE system as a whole. But colleges are limited in how effectively they can measure impact because they cannot track the progress of alumni beyond a short time span. To do this they need government help.

The implicit criticism of success rates also raises systemic questions — we are interested to discuss how college performance might be better reflected in a wider basket of measures, but as our chief executive Martin Doel said in our response to the report: “If the goalposts are being shifted by Ofsted, we at least need to know the rules of the new game.”

Even before those goalposts move, the state of play is not always clear.

We are concerned that the paucity of data in some inspection reports fails to give those colleges the information needed to understand how to improve.  Nor will these types of reports best serve the needs of parents, employers, school careers advisers and potential students.

We find it baffling that no college has received overall outstanding for teaching and learning, and want to understand what the statistical basis is for such judgments. These reports do not allow for this level of analysis.

We have further concerns about the relevant experience of some inspectors and that some inspections do not give a true reflection of the whole of a college’s provision.

However, we do recognise that when criticism comes it must be digested, understood and ultimately acted upon.

The challenge for colleges, Ofsted and ourselves is how to use inspection to best serve the needs of students and the communities in which they live.

Joy Mercer is the Association of
College’s policy director

Doug Richard, author, Richard Review of Apprenticeships

From humble beginnings a dragon was born.

The entrepreneurial nous of Dragons’ Den investor and government review author Doug Richard wasn’t always present.

Today, aged 54, he runs the School for Startups social enterprise and keeps an eye on new business opportunities with the Cambridge Angels investment group, but the picture of a young Richard, who grew up near New York City, is very different.

“There was nothing about me that was entrepreneurial,” he says. “I worked for other people as I made my way through university, like most people do in the States.

“I had jobs from the time of 17-ish and was fired from most of them. I was not a good employee.

“My first job was supposed to be cleaning up behind the short order cook in a very greasy spoon diner where I grew up in Buffalo, New York.

“I wanted a job but I didn’t want to work, so I would hide in the attic reading science fiction novels whenever they didn’t need me and inevitably, and probably quite properly, I was fired.”

He had more success at the University of California, Berkeley, where he graduated as a psychology major.

Business acumen remained alien, however, as he followed his lifelong passion for boats. “I started delivering yachts for a living, which was a huge amount of fun,” he says.  “Then I went to law school, became a lawyer, worked for 30 days and was unbelievably bored.

“I thought I would rather die than work as a lawyer. I quit and there I was — sitting on the street, broke and unemployed. But I wasn’t bored.”

Richard the entrepreneur came out of the shadows when he was in his mid-20s and he set up ITAL Computers with his older brother, Ken — now a senior vice president for Xerox.

“We started selling computers to small businesses because we were broke and we needed to make money,” says Richard, who also has two sisters. Susan is a US federal district judge and Barbara is an economist for the Obama Administration.

And there I was — sitting on the street, dead broke and unemployed, but I wasn’t bored”

“We knew literally nothing about business — you could not have known less  — but over five years the business became one of the largest of its type in southern California and then we sold it for a very small amount of money.

“But it was enough to put a down-payment on a house and to start my second business with a friend. It was called Visual Software, which was my first software company and five years later I sold it for a very tidy sum.”

Richard, who now lives in Cambridge with his wife and three children, concedes that his greatest business lesson came after he became involved with US publicly-listed computer software firm Micrografx, which bought Visual Software from him in 1996.

“They paid me in shares of their corporation, but I had to wait 100 days before I could sell and in that time the price fell 99 per cent and I was wiped out again,” he explains.

“But I held a lot of shares and in an effort to get back I did a hostile reverse takeover and installed myself as the global president and chief executive officer having never run a company of more than 30 people in my life.

“The ensuing four years of trying to turn a massive public company around was, without a doubt, my greatest learning experience. It succeeded and I then sold it. It was real hard-going.”

By 2001, the Richard family was on the move to England, and a period of acclimatisation was on the cards.

“I had finished turning this ugly company around and my wife thought it would be good for our children to have half their childhood in Europe, so I said ‘Why not?’ — I had got my money back and I was up for an adventure, so we moved on a whim basically,” he says.

“I didn’t get involved in anything businesswise for six months. It took me that long to talk to people.”

He jokingly adds: “British people are very odd. I had to learn to understand what people were saying, I had to drive on the wrong side of the road and people kept inviting me for coffee or tea when they didn’t really mean it because they’re all falsely polite. It took me forever to get my act together.

“The first few months were a bit of an acclimatisation nightmare and then a friend and I started Cambridge Angels, which introduced me to a lot of the people I came to know.”

And soon there was a call from Dragons’ Den.

“One of the producers was phoning around trying to find entrepreneurs for the show,” he says.

“The angel group we set up had many high-profile entrepreneurs. A number were called and all of them, being very polite and British, said: ‘Oh no, no I couldn’t do that, but I do know this loud American…’ So I got pointed to and that’s how they found me.

“At the time I thought it was a ridiculous idea and that the show would never happen, and even if it did happen no one would watch it so I figured: ‘Why not?’ I enjoyed it hugely.” He stayed for two series.

With his reputation as an entrepreneur firmly established, in 2008 Richard was asked by the Conservative Party to look at the British government’s support of small businesses.

And this year he was again investigating on official business, this time casting his eye over apprenticeships.

“This is my second government review – it’s a bad habit,” he jokes.

“The first one came about when I was approached by the Shadow Business Minister of the time, Mark Prisk. At the time I thought that sounded kind of interesting, but it was a really challenging because it was commissioned by the party out of power and there were very few resources available to do it. We had to work really hard.

“This one was harder because the system is more complex, but I was afforded many more resources, all the doors were open and everyone in this sector is more open to talk. In that sense it was simpler, but the question was more complex.”

The investigations have come and gone, as have the businesses, but Richard’s one true passion remains, complemented by his work advising new businesses.

“In the real word what I really like to do is sail boats, everything else come after that,” he says.

“I’ve not got one at the moment. I have them, then I sell them — the second best moment of your life is buying a boat and the best is selling the thing.

“It’s my passion. And School for Startups is the single most fun business activity I’ve ever engaged in.

“I enjoy teaching tremendously and I have no intention of stopping any time soon. I’ll be doing it for a long time.”

 

It’s a personal thing

What’s your favourite book? 

Anything by Neal Stephenson, Charles Palliser or Susanna Clarke

 

What did you want to be when you were younger?

Older

 

What do you do to switch off from work?

Switch off from work? I don’t understand the question — but if I ever had time to switch off I would sail yachts

 

If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, living or dead, who would it be?

I would only invite    dead people then I wouldn’t have to cook

 

What would your super power be? 

To get a hold of Hermione Granger’s time-turner gadget so I could be in more than one place at once and travel back in time