FE Week

FE WEEKTOWERS

FE WEEKTOWERS

COLL

EGES

COLL

EGES

We launched the FE Week and Me competition back in September.

We did it because we wanted to hear more about your students. We know that there are many reasons why students come into FE, and we know it’s not just about skills, knowledge and career opportunities.

FE changes lives, and we wanted to share some of these amazing stories, and bring them to a wider audi-ence.

We asked students to send in a 500-word article explaining what brought them to college, along with their hopes, fears and aspirations. By submitting their entries, they were in with a chance of winning a brand new MacBook Pro or £1000 of John Lewis vouchers.

It was a creative way for students not only to express their feelings about the courses they’ve enrolled in, but how their college will help them to meet their goals for the future.

We had over 2000 entries, and after intense judging and discussion, we have whittled them down to just five remarkable stories.

Sadly, there can only be one winner, and this is where we need your help.

We need you to vote for your favourite story. It won’t be easy for you to decide.

FE Week & Me What it’s all about?

Step 1: read these stories, they really are incredible. Stories of bravery of conquering fear, overcoming adversity, determination and discovery…

Step 2: choose your favourite (there are no rules, the reason is up to you) and then go towww.surveymonkey.com/s/feweekandme and cast your vote by 1st February.

The winner will be announced in FE Week on the 6th February.

Tactical voting is encouraged!

The competition How to vote

Leaving school and going to college was never something that really fazed me. Then the day came when I actually left school and was on the verge of beginning college. My first day was terrifying.

I thought that I was old enough now to go out in to the big world and no longer become nervous when starting at a new place. I couldn’t have been more wrong! I began going to a college in Kettering tak-ing A-levels.

I enjoyed a lot of my time there but always felt I wasn’t going in the right direction. I became fully aware of this when I applied for an apprenticeship at a local magazine company and they pointed me in the right direction. From here I was led straight to Peterborough Regional College.

Writing is something I have always enjoyed do-ing and always felt I was good at; along with other things I enjoyed doing such as acting and driving people up the wall with my ‘Dad jokes.’

When I noticed a print-based media course with PRC I knew I had hit the jackpot! The first two weeks of induction made me feel completely confi-dent that I was in the right place.

Surrounded by teachers and other students who all had the same passion as I did was amazing, I couldn’t belong here anymore than I wanted to.

My course is based at the Media and Journalism Cen-tre separate from the main college but we get plenty of interaction with the main college and can access everything as though we were based at the main site.

The print-based media course is like a pretty pack-age wrapped in ribbons and glitter, with a lot of interesting aspects such as visiting courts to write court stories and meeting important people for interviews, But with a package wrapped up so neat and tightly it takes effort to open it up.

This course is balanced by fun and hard work, it’s for anyone with an urge to write, voice opinions or design newspaper or magazine pages.

My dream for the future begins with traveling as a freelance photojournalist, culture related, selling my stories and photos to magazines or newspapers that are interested.

Along the way I would love to visit third world countries and do what I can to help first hand. From this I aspire to write for a successful newspaper or magazine in either England or New York.

I do not doubt that I can achieve my ambitions. Many successors will inspire by stating that if you put your mind to something then you can accom-plish anything and this is the attitude I now bare upon my shoulders.

With the help of PRC and the tutors sharing there knowledge and raising my confidence, along with my friends and family having faith in me, I am cer-tain that I will come at least close to my dream.

Jade Scott Peterborough Regional College

City College and me. First of all, I’m not your average college student. I probably could be your granny, but that’s only on the outside of course. On the inside I’m not more than ten years older, than most of you. I have taken up photography as a hobby, and have enrolled in the beginners/improvers course, in the hope to get from one to the other and beyond. I am so far totally self taught, and not doing too badly.

It’s the missing bits of information and technical knowhow that I hope to master on this course. After that ... Who knows? The sky’s the limit as they say. And a good sky is always worth photographing. That I did know, even before I enrolled. Some decades ago, I lost most of my sight, so pho-tography would not seem the first thing I’d think of as a hobby. Well, it wasn’t.

I’ve done other things first, but got bored. Digital photography however, offers so many possibilities that it will keep me busy for a long time I hope. Even for someone with huge blind spots (literally!) photography is possible. There are aspects that are difficult, but finding a way round them, is part of the fun. I often don’t ‘see’ things, till I stumble over them, so I do a lot of low angle shots.

People think I am very artistic, with my different look on the world, and of course I don’t tell them, I actually fell over the blasted thing, before I photo-graphed it. Some secrets are best kept that: secrets.

Let people think it’s all artistry! My bruises are hid-den by my jeans, so who’s to know? Because of the circumstances, I have mainly photo-graphed close ups of all sorts of things and the odd landscape. Things that move are a problem, and that includes people! Children and animals con-stantly move into my blind spot, and then I’ve lost them.

For partially sighted photographers the old rule: ‘never work with children or animals’ certainly holds. But adult people can also be a problem, as I cannot see their facial expressions, or where they are looking.

But I hope to discover more possibilities during my course. Things I haven’t thought of, or haven’t tried. In short: new insights. I have come to City College to learn, but, I must se-cretly admit, I was also attracted by the IT facilities that I get to use! Beautiful Apple Macs, and Photo-shop and Lightroom!

What more can a budding photographer want? Well, actually knowing how to use the software, would be a good start, but all in good time. Granny will get there! Hopes and aspirations I am asked to talk about. Hmmm ... I hope to become a really great photog-rapher, one of those, who is quoted in books and magazines, and whose pictures are immediately recognised. Well ... that is ... well, that is Hope! And I have always aspired to a MacBook Pro!

Ineke Ely City College Southampton

Hello there, I’m Jayde Louise Kirkup.

I’m 16 and I’m attending East Durham College in Pe-terlee. The subject I’m taking is the ‘Btec Health and Social Care Level 3 Diploma’. I’ve chosen this course because I know it’s going to give me the greatest foundation for me to achieve my life long wish.

I’ve wished all my life that I will eventually inspire and help others like I’ve been helped all my life. With me having Cerebral Palsy it’s obviously paid a great deal with my attendance at school.

Since I was only 8 years old I’ve had operation’s to better myself, so for the future, where I am now, I’m able go to college and walk around just like everyone else.

I mean, it’s still painful and I get very fatigued easily and I get a lot of spasms but I have so much ambi-tions and aims for myself I cant just let this little part of myself stop me when I know there’s other people worse off!

Furthermore, I’ve had to learn to walk again four times, I’ve pushed myself all my life to be where I am now, and I’m still not going to stop until I’ve achieved everything I wish for.

In school, like I’ve previously said my attendance was very poor, so I had to work twice as hard as most people, therefore, my aim for myself before I left school was to get 100% attendance in year 11 which was succeeded with hard work, effort and not giving up even if I was in pain or had hospital ap-pointment’s.

I believe that if you believe in yourself and you don’t give up, anything can be possible.

In my course, I need to achieve the highest marks possible which I really hope to get, even though I know I wouldn’t EVER settle for anything less. I need to get either 2 Merits and 1 Distinction or 2 Distinc-tion and 1 Merit.

My life long desire is to help young, physically disabled people in a job like Occupational therapy or Physio therapy.

With me having the experience of having physio all my life and the benefits from help will hopefully be a great benefit for them to see.

Not just to have people surrounding them to help them but to have someone beside them which would not only help them but actually know what there go-ing through which will then hopefully inspire them to help themselves and believe that nothings impos-sible. Also, I hope I can eventually say that ‘If I can do it, you can do it’.

I know in my heart that if I wasn’t disabled, I wouldn’t be inspired or as strong willed as I am today. I’m so lucky to have a great family who have always encouraged me that I can do whatever I set my mind too.

Which is why I’m hoping that I’ll succeeded in eve-rything I try in life so I shall get the chance to help people the way I have. I cant just lay back and not do anything with my life and keep watching people who have never got given the chance to get operations and get better the way I have.

It makes me upset sometimes, why was I the one who got given theses chances to change into some-one I’ve always dreamed of being.

I’ve always dreamt of being like everyone else, to be able to do things like everyone else can do because its hard to come to terms with things you mentally can do but physically can’t.

Jayde Kirkup East Durham College

Hey there FE Week,

Well, I’ve been instructed to write about myself, college and my future in 650 words or less, so here goes;

I’m Adam; everything but your typical teenager. Since the middle of secondary school, I knew what I wanted to do with my life; every step I’ve taken since then has had my desired career in my cross-hairs.

All I’ve ever wanted to do is work with visual ef-fects. I won’t lie, this may be due to an unhealthy addiction to films and movies, but that was all I ever cared for - I knew what I loved and I knew what I wanted to do with my future.

As the end of school drew near, I headed straight for college to raid through their prospectus in the hope they’d have a course to send me in the right direc-tion. Like your average fairytale, on the last page (well, second to last!) was the Media, Animation and Games course.

Now, I’m not what you’d call an athlete, but believe me when I say, I sprinted for the application forms. After the best two years of my life I finished college, coming out with best friends, useful qualifications, improved confidence and many other skills, but most of all, a crystal clear vision of what I wanted to do and how I needed to get there.

Now, Visual Effects isn’t your average career, and I knew I had some more qualifications to achieve before even attempting to start this dream job.

Towards the end of college, I realised what I needed to do, and jumped with both feet into university. I spent a long morning searching through universi-ties and courses but found that I was limited to local universities, due to financial issues beyond my control, which would deeply affect my family.

Still, I was in good shape, and managed to send my application to a local university on a course made in heaven, “MArt- Animation and Visual Effects”. This was a 4 year course, offering a work placement or international exchange at the end of the 4th year. I was on my way to something great, until I found out that all my options had been unsuccessful.

Gutted, I asked the University for some feedback and was told there were too many applicants and the people who gained a place had somewhat “bet-ter applications”. Building on the negative, I have since returned to college, determined to upgrade my skills and qualifications.

I am more committed than ever to get into univer-sity, but I need your help FE Week, as I’m limited to only a handful of universities, there is only one course for me.

If my application is successful next year, I’ll need to produce a demo reel for a selection meeting. I have so many ideas for this but the main problem is that I’m limited to produce this demo reel on a PC as old as the dinosaurs.

As I’ve finished the previous course, I’m no longer entitled to use their equipment. I have experience in the visual effects industry but I have no equipment to turn my ideas into reality, and the £1000 would allow me to upgrade my equipment and give me the final push on the path to my dream career.

It would provide me with a huge edge when it comes to gaining a place on that course, and I’m sure there are others just like me, that may even deserve this fund more than me, but I’m asking you, please, give me the helping hand I need to grab my future with both of mine, and follow my dream.

Adam Martin Rotherham College

For a long time I always thought dreams of college and university were just that – dreams. When I left school at sixteen I went straight into the workplace as that was what was expected.

No-one in my family had been to college or univer-sity so it didn’t really enter my head to aim for that goal. Life for me was all about getting a job and supporting my family and that meant menial work and minimum wage.

I got married, had children and have spent the last eighteen years being a Mum and Wife. My children are now at an age where they are considering their own futures and they both want to go to University after school. I have been with them to quite a few Open Days and UCAS Days and from the moment I set foot on a campus something changed inside me…

I felt envy at seeing hundreds of young people embarking on their exciting journeys and I wanted some of that for myself. I picked up a few leaflets and a prospectus or two and began to browse the different subject areas, finding a few that piqued my interest.

After talking with lecturers at these open days I found that colleges and universities really encour-age mature people to enrol on their courses and from then on, the seed was sown.

I discussed my plans with my family and after hearing how enthused they were at the thought of my going to university I took the scariest step of my life, applied for and was accepted on an Access

to Higher Education course at Boston College. I’ve been at Boston for two weeks now and have found myself waking up in the mornings with a renewed vigour, knowing that I have something to get out of bed for each day.

I feel a new sense of fulfilment because I am doing something with my life that I thought was impos-sible. I am not just a housewife any longer, I am a student and though looking after my children has been a wonderful experience, there was always a niggling voice deep down inside me that used to whisper “what if…” Now I am at college, that voice has been silenced.

My hopes for the future are to attend Lincoln Uni-versity next year to study Psychology with Child Studies. If I am successful in that endeavour I want to become a school counsellor or maybe even teach Psychology myself.

The sky is the limit now and just because I am a mature student I realise now that age is no barrier to furthering myself and achieving a lifelong ambi-tion that I always thought was just a pipe dream.

Alison Powell Boston College

NCFE, one of the UK’s largest qualification providers, discusses Further Education and its vital role in providing young people with the skills needed to secure the right jobs. Alasdair Downes, Director of Business Development explains...

In the wake of rising unemploy-

ment qualification provision

must continue to respond to

the needs of the market. It was

perhaps very poignant that

news broke during the 2011 AoC

Conference that youth unemploy-

ment had broken through the one

million barrier.

With that figure rising, we must

continue to commit to developing

and taking on solutions that ad-

dress this very challenging issue.

We work with a large number

of Further Education providers

across the UK who deliver our

suite of Employability Qualifica-

tions including Levels one, two

and three in Employability Skills

and Job Search and Interview

Skills qualifications.

These qualifications enable col-

leges to prepare their learners

with skills and tactics that will

help them take a decisive step

from education into employment.

With competition for each job

position fiercer than ever before,

learners must be supported in a

way which helps them to develop

their confidence and at the same

time, job search and interview

skills which will provide them

with a solid base knowledge to

help them succeed.

In that respect, our innovative

joint venture with Reed in Part-

nership has been developed to

adapt to the needs of learners and

employers in a local area.

It will positively enhance em-

ployment outcomes for colleges

and communities by brokering,

managing and offering learners

a wide variety of suitable job op-

portunities. Our experienced con-

sultants can access apprentice-

ships and those jobs within the

hidden labour market, enabling

colleges to draw down significant

additional funding.

The offering will also ensure that

students will have the mindset

to appeal to potential employers

as well as realistic expectations

for their first job. There is clear

evidence that if learners have the

correct mindset, they are far more

likely to be attractive to employ-

ers. In a recent survey of 1,264

employers conducted by REED,

97% put mindset ahead of skillset

when recruiting.

The need for learners to be ‘work

ready’ really has never been

greater and with that, we look

forward to continuing our work

with colleges across the UK, help-

ing their cohorts on to brighter

futures in the face of tough global

economic conditions.

National Awarding Organisation, NCFE,is passionate about designing, developing

and certifi cating diverse, nationally recognised qualifi cations and awards.

Visit us at www.ncfe.org.uk and use our qualifi cation fi nder to view all of the qualifi cations that we offer, or call us on 0191 239 8000.

Last year alone, over 340,000 learners from over 2,000 colleges, schools and training organisations chose NCFE as the awarding organisation to help them move their careers forward. Dynamic and responsive with a buzz that sets it apart, NCFE is proud to be recognised for its exceptional customer service and friendly approach.

Our product portfolio is made up of:

Apprenticeships

Progression to Apprenticeships

Foundation Learning qualifi cations

Key/Basic Skills/Functional Skills

Enrichment qualifi cations

Accreditation Services

A range of vocational qualifi cations for schools

NCFE, supporting Further Education students into work