STAFF REPORT

December 2014

Lisa Lewis Joanna Varnava Support Staff Governor Teaching Staff Governor

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Student Support

Student Support would like to introduce Lily Chuah our new Wellbeing Coach. Since staring her role in October Lily has already supported numerous students with a range

of wellbeing issues such as anxiety and panic attacks, and run workshops on how to cope with exam stress.

What is a Wellbeing Coaching? The purpose of coaching is to offer mental health support in college, as well as

support to attain excellent progress while you’re here. What Wellbeing needs/Mental Health issues are addressed?

Anxiety (including panic attacks), depression, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide ideation, and others.

How is Coaching different from Counselling? The Wellbeing Coach can be a first point of contact for support, if you’re not feeling

too well, especially in terms of intense stress, anxiety or even feeling a bit lost and helpless. You can drop in for a one on one chat or send an email when you feel you

need to talk to somebody about something that happened. This term we have had a real focus on student mental health and wellbeing. We have

participated in the Time to Change awareness raising campaign ‘Make time in November, showing films on plasma screens, relaxation exercises in tutor groups and

emailing information to students. We have created a Moodle section for Health and Wellbeing and have begun

populating this with useful links and information for students. There is also a ‘padlet’ where students can post anonymous questions relating to health and welfare issues,

and we can leave a reply advising what to do, or where to access support. We have created Health and welfare Facebook and Twitter accounts, which allow us to

easily share information from other agencies alongside promoting events happening in college.

We have always worked closely with Harmless and the Tomorrow Project (support

with issues around self harm and suicide). Harmless are delivering a workshop session on 10th December, open to all students, raising awareness and advising on support and self care.

The session will look at:

what causes distress for students

how we manage distress

what is self-harm

how to support a friend who is self-harming

how to support yourself if you are self-harming

where to go for support if you are in distress or are self-harming

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We are hoping to offer a follow up session in February around ‘Self Injury Awareness

day’ (28th Feb).

Student Support are working in conjunction with the B-eat (eating disorder) support group at Nottingham University with a view to offering a series of workshop sessions

in college. Our sexual health teams continue to be really busy, and now run an additional clinic

on Monday mornings, which is always well attended.

Managing Exam Stress Workshop

The first sessions took place in November and

looked at: • Calm Breathing Techniques

• Muscle Relaxation Exercises

There was also a student speaker who shared her experiences with Deep Breathing and Yoga to

prepare for exams

Derek’s one of our link bus drivers had an Open house event for Cancer Research UK:

- they raised £4168.50 on the day and donations are still coming in!

Lincoln University have offered 3 Access Award Scholarships for year 12 students

this year. The selected students will receive £500 in yr 12 and again in yr 13, plus mentoring support, application support and an invite to an awards ceremony!

November is Mental Health Awareness Month – this year the theme is to ‘make time for friends’; with the emphasis on the fact that just simple conversations and

asking how someone is can make a huge difference.

Follow this link to watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuH_dI7Iw78

You can find more information and support by visiting http://www.time-to-change.org.uk or speak to your tutor or student support about how college can help.

You can email healthandwelfare@bilborough.ac.uk in confidence and follow us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/maddy.bilborough and twitter @BilbWelfare for

more help, advice and links to other agencies.

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Many thanks to everyone who donated to our Fresher’s Week food bank collection.

We collected three large boxes of food that will be distributed locally.

National Personal Safety Day was on 6 October. We had

representatives from Nottinghamshire Police in college,

talking to students about how to stay safe, and issuing personal alarms where appropriate.

Headway (brain injury charity)

also had a stand – 16-25 yr olds are statistically more likely to suffer brain injuries than other

groups, so they were talking to students about how to keep safe

and make sensible lifestyle choices.

Imogen completed her first half marathon as a student at Bilborough and has recently completed her

first full marathon. She ran the New York Marathon with her mum raising £470 for Mind Mental Health Charity.

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SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM

We have already had several Media students take part in

research into the impact of computer gaming for the University of Nottingham and will have more students taking part in this research.

The study is exploring perception and action in the world

around us. In day-to-day life we use our vision and other senses to help guide our actions and movement through our environment. Our current project is addressing the development of a number of

visual skills in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how this compares to typically developing individuals. This study will help us gain a better understanding of

both typical and atypical perceptual processes.

MODEL WESTMINSTER – EDUCATIONAL REFORM

On the 4th of September Model Westminster held an event within the Department for Education to gauge the views which students have on the forthcoming reforms to education. The

make-up of the attendees ranged from those currently in secondary education; those who are about to leave for

University and those who have graduated. Such a make-up resulted in this event being peppered with diverse, challenging questions and equally interesting answers.

The timetable for the day was fast paced and, although carrying an underlying serious

tone, several of the tasks allowed and encouraged the students to utilise their creative (some may say eccentric) ways of dealing with issues that affect them in their student and educational life.

We began by critically analysing the

proposed reforms to subjects ranging from ancient language A-level to P.E at A-level and GCSE. This led on to us

creating our own new proposals that we believed would improve the

governments suggested plans from the views of the young people involved. These improvements ranged from how a

course is assessed to how it is perceived and even the base level of teaching.

The next question raised was about how

to improve the decision making relationships in education. For the most part the

students felt that the relationship between pupils, head teachers and government was far too weak. Various proposals led from this as to how this could be improved to

increases the influence of the pupils on the decisions that affect them.

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The final section was around equality in

education. Different groups received information and government legislation

about how certain pupils with a range of issues facing their education should be

treated and dealt with in an educational environment. The groups were asked to critically analyse this data and make

proposals of how to alter this legislation and how it will affect the young people. The day

involved guest speakers from the Department for Education, the youth parliament and businessmen and women

that are all heavily involved with students and were interested to gain our views.

Maddy Varley Welfare Officer

Ironman UK 2014 Flushed with the success of Nottingham Outlaw last

year, I entered another long distance triathlon this summer. What a difference! 1 lap of an enclosed lake at

Holmepierrepont followed by straight sections of a fairly flat bike course then a flat riverside marathon felt quite do-able in 2013. But Ironman UK has been in Bolton for

the last 10 years, so a few journeys to Lancashire to reconnaissance the route opened my eyes to what I had

let myself in for. Pennington Flash is a large reservoir which channels the

wind to provide sea-like conditions for the 2.4 mile swim. A long bicycle climb takes you up to Chorley Moor

which is then scenic but ‘undulating’ and twisty, requiring lots of concentration on the bridges, hills and junctions for the 112 mile bike ride. 4 dull laps of a

main road with a nasty drop into Bolton town centre for the knee-aching granite cobblestones of the 26.2 mile run rounds the course off.

6am on July 20th dawned drizzly and cold as 2,200 triathletes trod water for a floating start of a 2 lap 3.8km swim. Keeping calm in the washing machine of neoprene is the

biggest challenge. Inevitably, you take a few punches in the melee and have a few bodies slither over you as you do the same to others, trying to find clear water. I was

glad of the ‘Australian exit’ after 1 lap, where we pulled ourselves up onto a pontoon so we could run on dry land back round to the start for lap 2.

The weather dried up for the ride, but a cold breeze meant my tri-suit didn’t begin to dry for the 1st 2 hours as we fought our way up Sheepfold Lane (otherwise known as

Heartbreak Hill!) The support was vocal and the chalked messages on the tarmac

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were reminiscent of Le Tour, even if the

clag (or low cloud) which we disappeared into, wasn’t. 180km later the sun was

out as we dropped down to the Macron Stadium of Bolton Wanderers FC to rack

our bikes in transition 2. Trainers on, gel swallowed and onto the 3rd part.

The marathon route climbs cruelly up to the main road, as you’re trying to ease

your legs into running mode. Suddenly it’s carnival time and the crowds on the other side of the barriers know they are

in for the long haul so have come prepared with picnics, posters, music

and fancy dress. The support was tear-inducing. Putting names on race numbers is the best idea ever; I could’ve

sworn some of those people knew me as they yelled me on.

Eventually the red carpet came into view. I saw the inflatable finish gantry

and rounding the last bend, the huge red ‘M’ on Bolton town hall signified I had

done it. My finish photo shows the relief I felt when I heard those longed for words over the tannoy – ‘Caroline

Waterhouse, You Are An Ironman’

Caroline Waterhouse Personal Tutor and Ironman

Study Room and Study Zone

The Study Room has successfully moved to the Conference Room and is

now adjacent to the new Study Zone space which is

located outside the staffroom, below the LIC.

212 students are currently registered in Study Room. Both spaces are supervised

throughout the day and the Zone is available for

students to use in the evenings until 6pm and during the holidays.

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Year 13 returners who need to boost their grades start off in Study Room using the

Study Plan Card to develop their active learning abilities. Most have now completed their card and have been awarded the Study Room Target Setting Certificate.

Study Zone

Year 12 who drop an AS are timetabled for one slot in the Room and one in the Zone. Tutors are

able to timetable their tutees in for short periods of time if it is felt this

will help them to achieve their target grades.

Study Room All other students are welcome to

drop into either space and both are being very well used.

Gilly Archer Volunteer Study Room and Study Zone Manager

ICT and Computing

Computing at Villiers Park Educational Trust Villiers Park Educational trust is an institution working with young people to develop a passion for learning and the study of life skills to ensure they reach their full academic

potential.

The institution is based in Foxton near Cambridge and brings together more able and gifted and talented students helping them to gain places at leading universities and thrive once there.

The ICT & Computing department was fortunate enough to be given one free place for

a student to spend a week at the institution learning Computer Science. Our natural choice was Anil Kiral who is currently on target to achieve an A* in

Computing. The following is an account of the time he spent at Villiers Park:

Week commencing 17 November, I was at Villiers Park on a residential course. Below is my best attempt in compiling a recount.

Lectures Lectures were chosen under the discretion of the lecturers who are PhD Students from

Cambridge. Courses ranged from conceptualised topics such as P vs NP to practical projects such as Programming and creating Logic Gates in Minecraft. All were taught at a very sophisticated level, seminar style.

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Logic Gates in Minecraft

P vs. NP

Logic Relays

Haskell Programming

OpenGL Library

Algorithmic Problem Solving

ProLog Programming

Building a CPU

Algorithms Behind Bitcoin

Security Algorithms

There was no possible way that they could teach such complex topics in 90 minute slots without the assumption that the students had, at minimum, a good

understanding of what was being taught. It is clear that the lectures were directed at Computer Scientists only, meaning that anyone who came to see what it would be like

to learn Computer Science would be completely lost. That being said, the pace of the lectures was rather brisk though. I could see a few

students feeling lost when it went to the third quarter of the lecture.

I found these topics all to be interesting. The topics the PhD Students chose clearly represents what a Computer

Science degree is like, and it has definitely strengthened my decision to

pursue a Computer Science degree. Students also had to choose a project out

of a list. My partner and I were allocated with creating an unbeatable game of Tic-

tac-toe, using the Haskell programming language which was introduced earlier in

the week. Other projects were equally, if not more sophisticated.

Projects were then ranked and the students behind the best project were

prized with a box of Guylian’s each. The winning project was indefinitely unanimous and involved creating a first

person camera perspective in OpenGL.

Their project involved using an algorithm that generates a 3D world (similar to Minecraft) using a square bitmap where the colour of each pixel represented the height of each spot on a field. Another bitmap was fed into their program which

allocated the property of each spot on a field.

Other notable projects I can remember involved a binary clock constructed in Minecraft and a Bouncing Ball simulator which involved physics related principles such as Hooke’s Law and the Laws of Motion.

The projects that were allocated to students unintentionally collided, leading to

several groups doing the same project. This benefitted everyone as most students

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opened themselves to others in the process. I’m assuming they realised the collective

nature that was necessary to complete their projects.

Enrichments The tour at ARM (technology company and sponsors of the course) was concise

enough that you were provided with the most important information without being bored. The talks were good, and the speakers knew what they were doing. People who were working as engineers ARM at that time came to talk about their role in the

company, and how Computer Science was necessary for them to continue what they do.

Another speaker from Cambridge Silicon Radio personally came to Villiers to talk to us. While the talk was certainly less ostentatious, it felt more natural and the

charisma of the speaker definitely spoke to the interest of the students more than ARM did.

Both talks couldn’t stress enough that Computer Science graduates are in high

demand, and had their own way in trying to help us in terms of describing the field of

Computer Science, and how important it is to do things that interests you, whether small or large.

Post Course

Being part of Villiers Park Alumni brings affordances such as connections to Enterprises. Students are to be informed of

more information whenever Villiers Park gets new links with industry.

ARM and other Blue-Chip companies, are interested in students who have attended

Villiers Park as it expresses evidence of interest, not to mention that Villiers Park is a

very selective trust, where they help ‘gifted students’ only. This entire course was

sponsored by ARM. Conclusion

Villiers Park is a very enlightening experience. Not only are you exposed to similar minded people from around the country, but you’re exposed to their enthusiasm.

What I originally thought was going to be a lecture full of anti-social nerds, turned out to be a very captivating time with amazing people from different parts of the United Kingdom, housed in a very great and welcoming place. I’m certain to remember this

week for years to come.

Iqbal Khan Curriculum Manager – ICT and Computing

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Bilborough College Christmas Concert 2014

Bilborough College - Gilly Archer Theatre,

Tuesday 16th December 2014 7.30pm

Admission £3.00 by Ticket only. Available from Simon Lee in the Department of Music.

All Welcome!!

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Maths

Bilborough students win 2014-2015 Regional Final of the UK Senior Maths Team Challenge.

The UK maths challenge is a long standing national event run annually by the United Kingdom Maths Trust. There are individual and team events for different age groups.

The senior challenge is open to students from across the UK. It is run jointly with the Further Maths Support Network and supported by Rolls-Royce plc.

Bilborough students have been preparing for this event for several weeks now. We are only allowed one team of four students for the team event and sixteen hopefuls sat

the selection test. Every student that sat it prepared and performed very well and we could easily have picked four strong teams. Unfortunately the rules did not permit that

and our team of: Jason Zhang, Alistair Benford, Vivian Su and Christina Zhang were selected. Practice sessions were arranged and quickly the students decided that they wanted to devote four lunch breaks a week to their preparation. This dedication paid

off as the team steadily improved, recognising each other's strengths and fine tuning tactics for each round of the competition.

The Regional final was held at Nottingham University on Wednesday 26th November. It was attended by teams from schools and colleges from across the East Midlands. Our

team quickly settled down to answering the practice questions on their table in preparation for three rounds of extremely challenging maths problems.

They maintained their concentration and determination to score full marks in the forty minute group question round and the following forty minute crossnumber round,

which they completed inside twenty minutes. Their only small slip up came in getting just one question wrong in the final relay round. A superb effort and a well deserved

final result.

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1st Bilborough Sixth Form College

2nd Oakham School

3rd St Mary’s RC High School Chesterfield

Next up the National Final at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London on Tuesday 3rd

February 2015 - watch this space!

As well as our excellent performance in the team maths challenge, 76 of our students took part in the individual Senior Maths Challenge. They faced an hour of taxing

questions and came out with some excellent results. 13 students obtained gold awards, 13 silver and 29 bronze. Following on from this, Alistair Benford was eligible to take part in the British Maths Olympiad and ten for the Senior Maths Kangaroo.

These are follow on rounds for the best scorers in the country. As entrants to the Olympiad may be selected for a national team, only British students are invited to

compete, otherwise two other students would have been eligible. Jason Zhang actually elected to pay for a private entry to the Olympiad which is the only way for overseas students to enter. We await the results for these contests.

Adrian Wilson Teacher of Maths

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£108.65 RAISED

Andrea Hemmett Teacher of Performance Studies

The Bilborough Poetry by Heart Competition took place on December

3rd. Students recited poems from pre 1914 and from post 1914. The

winner was Joel Walker with his recitation of ‘O’ by Mary Sidney Herbert

and ‘A Supermarket in California’ by Alan Ginsberg. Joel will now go on

to the County Competition in January. The runner-up was Sophie Owen

who recited poems by Byron and W.H.Auden.

Full details of the Competition can be found at

www.poetrybyheart.org.uk

Jane Bluett

Teacher of English Language

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Careers and Higher Education

There have been lots of visitors and activities during this busy autumn term

Helen Holden had a meeting with Lidia Califano the new link person from Coventry University on 11 September. There was a discussion about ways of working together as Bilborough are part of the Phoenix Partnership scheme.

Carol Magner attended an event at Nottingham Trent University on 17 September. This was to celebrate 40 years of careers

guidance.

Throughout September there were several personal statement workshops which were very well attended. These

were on 24 September- Kirsty Wilkinson from De Montfort University, 25 September Hannah Wright from Derby

University and 29 September Nottingham University. Theses were

excellent opportunities for students to have their personal statements checked over by university staff. Feedback from

both students and University staff was excellent. Nottingham and Derby also

ran lunchtime roadshows on the same days.

There were a series of student finance talks as part of the tutorial programme during the week commencing 13 October. Universities attending were De Montfort,

Derby, Nottingham, Staffordshire, Loughborough and Coventry. On the Thursday of that week both Loughborough and Staffordshire were in the college student support area for drop in roadshows.

On 21 October Student Finance England

ran a drop in roadshow at lunchtime in college.

On 3 November University of Newcastle visited the college. They ran a drop in roadshow over lunchtime.

The Au pair in America company ran a very successful session on 13 November. 15

students attended and feedback from the visitor was excellent.

30 students applied for the College

Ambassador scheme validated by the Chartered Management Institute. Interviews commenced on the week of 10

November.

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Planning has started for both the College Careers Fair and the UCAS Fair. The

college careers fair will be held in the sports hall on 12 March 2015. To date there have been 75 replies from Universities, Colleges, Apprenticeship providers,

Gap year projects, Employers etc. We are now fully booked and operating a reserve list!

The UCAS fair will be on the 22 and 23 April 2015 at Leicester University. Buses have been booked for both days

Helen Holden Careers and HE Manager

Nottingham Harmonic Choir have recently performed Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Concert Hall so we are firmly in Christmas mode and looking forward to two Family Carol Concerts on Saturday 20 December and Monday 22 December. Both are with

the Thoresby Colliery Band and have some traditional audience participation- with children invited onto the stage, so a chance for your darlings to dazzle – and start at

7pm. Tickets in all price ranges from The Royal Concert Hall. The Harmonic is a large, well established and successful choir but welcome new

members so have a look at the website if you are interested http://www.nottinghamharmonic.org. It’s often a challenging repertoire but the

sound at concert time makes it well worthwhile, the audition was not as scary as it sounds and I am learning lots off my fellow 2nd sopranos! If a regular choir is too much of a commitment, we have a Come & Sing day on February 28 2015 where you

can have a singing fix for just one Saturday – details on the website and the staff room notice-board.

Caroline Waterhouse Personal Tutor and 2nd Soprano

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Work & Community Placement

Each week I advertise to the students various opportunities from taster sessions, visits and voluntary work, this is a selection:

Nottingham University placements available offering anything from Economics, Environmental, Catering, Equestrian, Finance, IT, Forensic, Marketing, Occupational

Health, Sports Science, Textiles, Product Design, Languages etc etc

https://ntu.ac.uk/community/teachers_practitioners/work_experience/placements/index.html

NTU are currently advertising 2 IT placements available. Students have taken up opportunities in Catering, Textiles, Science and Economics.

Teaching Taster Session for years 12 and 13 on 22nd Oct 1.20pm – 4pm Vicki a graduate from Derby University came in to discuss what it is like to do a

Teaching Degree. She gave a general view on teaching and lots of information about, what’s expected out on placement, what’s a lesson plan, Student profiles, marking

work, discuss children’s progress with parents and carers and issues. She had several practical scenarios involving spaghetti and marshmallows which made this a fun and enjoyable session.

Law undergraduates from

Nottingham University came in to deliver a lunch time sessions for our year 12s on November 11th. Four

students gave lots of useful inform

ation about studying law at University and how to prepare your application.

Jodie Lawton from the University of Law delivered an afternoon of Criminal

Law to Year 13 and Year 12 on the November 19th. This session was a

criminal case study based on the recent Oscar Pistorius case. Students got to hear different testimonies, reviewing the interviews of witnesses and cross examinations. This was an excellent session and showed the complexities of the case.

Into University: A project where students can help make a difference to a young

Childs education. http://intouniversity.org/content/about-us Volunteering opportunities for students in a role called “Academic Support Tutors”

helping primary aged children from age 7 to 11yrs. These sessions are delivered at the Hope Centre in Strelley on a Tuesday and Wednesday 3.30pm – 5pm

Into can also provide assistance to students who meet certain criteria academic support and Mentoring. These sessions are delivered on a Monday and Thursday 4 -5.30pm. Delivered at the Hope Centre in Strelley. Students have shown interest in

both areas.

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Boots careers event. This was open to Careers Advisors, Teachers, Parents and

Students. Students used the link www.bit.ly/shinebright14 to book their place on the November 27th. This was their second ShineBright careers event following the success

in March.

http://intranet.bilborough.ac.uk/sites/student/careers/workexper/Documents%20and

%20Resources/ShineBright%20event%202014-10.pdf

This event is designed to showcase all of the early careers options for students following

their education. Everything from being a Pharmacist, Optometrist to being on one of

the many Apprenticeship Programmes across areas like Engineering, Science, IT and Finance. Students will also be able to find out

more about what it is like to work at Boots and their award winning work experience

programme designed for 16-18 year olds finishing GCSE’s and our Future Leaders Programme for 18+ after A-Levels.

Boots Inspiration week Monday 6 July to Friday 10 July 2015

http://www.boots.jobs/talentprogrammes/work-inspiration/ Students could apply for this work experience week. This has been running for several years now and students

form Bilborough have found it to be very fulfilling.

“GIGS” - CYA (County Youth Arts) based at the Old Library in Mansfield were looking for students to help organize and promote live gigs. They were also looking for music bands who might like to have the Old Library as their venue.

This is organized in partnership with “Plug Promotions” and the CYA.

Students could help if they were interested in Photography, Promotion, Marketing, Bloggers, Sound Technicians and Engineers They would then attend a session once a week on a Monday at 6pm- 8pm at the Old Library in Mansfield. The live band events

run once a month from 7pm-10pm

The armed forces came to Bilborough on the November 4th. We had Lieutenant Rennie Higson from the Navy manning a stand from 10.45 - 11.15 and then again

from 12 noon to 2.00pm after he had delivered a session on our BTEC Public services. http://www.hmforces.co.uk/

Finance with “Get In Get On”. For those interested in a career in finance and want to get some virtual work experience?

www.directionsgetin.org.uk Life Skills at Barclays. https://www.barclayslifeskills.com

As we have seen advertised in the media and a fantastic webpage worth

advertising. Students can learn about gaining a job, people skills, money skills, CV writing, the interview and lots

more.

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EVENTS HAVE BEEN ADVERTISED TO STUDENTS IN:

Legal: with Pinsent Masons, with opportunities in Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham,

Edinburgh, Falklands, Glasgow, Leeds, and Manchester.

Medical: A taster day at the University of Leeds for yr 12s on 25th October Organised by Medical undergraduates, WAMS, (Widening Access to Medicine) Students could also

register for MMI (Multiple Mini Interview)workshops www.wanttobeadoctor.co.uk

Radiotherapy Careers Open Day: Students could book a session at the City Hospital on

Saturday 15th November to learn about Radiotherapy and its technical and caring profession.

Midwifery: Students had the opportunity to join midwives and student midwives on a Study day. 6 venues across the east midlands were offered during Oct and Nov.

Certification was issued for those who attended. There was a cost of £45 for the day.

The study days covered: Sessions with a student midwife speaker who gave insight into: the application process, what universities are looking for, what happens on the assessment day and

what are the interview questions like. There was advice on personal statement, interview, work experience and what to swot up on. Along with some "Taster

sessions" in Breastfeeding is best!, Empowering Women, Caesarian Section, Hynobirthing, Baby Safety, Bereavement Midwifery, Taking care of Mum: Postnatal Depression, pregnancy complications etc

Sporting: Students could volunteer to help with

the Midlands Regional Boccia Championships on Saturday 22nd November 2014, 9am – 5pm and Sunday 23rd November 2014, 9am – 5pm at the

Lee Westwood Sports Centre, Nottingham Trent University. Full training was given, all expenses

paid, lunch was provided plus a free t-shirt. bocciaengland.org.uk

Jenny McGeehan Work & Community Placement Officer

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UBS Award for Outstanding Students

For the fifth time Pure Potential has

teamed up with leading financial services firm UBS to recognise and celebrate the achievements of 50

bright state-school sixth form students.

This award celebrates the achievements of academically gifted

and hardworking students from state schools who have excelled in their

academic studies. With such an overwhelming number of outstanding nominations, being selected for this award is a great achievement. Their

accomplishments were celebrated at an awards ceremony hosted by UBS at their London office on Thursday, 30th October.

“UBS is proud to support this outstanding group of

state school students. Campus Recruiting at UBS is committed to encouraging talented, hard-working students from all backgrounds across the UK. We

wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours.” Shila Bhudia, EMEA Head of

Graduate Recruiting DAVID JACKSON who achieved 14 A* grades at

GCSE, 5 A grades at AS Level and is on target for 4 A*s at A level, was selected for the UBS

Award for Outstanding Students and was handpicked from over 450 high calibre nominations!

Binda Bhudia, Managing Director of Pure Potential had a difficult task selecting the final 50

students – “We are delighted to be working with UBS for the fifth time to celebrate the achievements of this country’s

state-educated students. Once again we were completely

overwhelmed by the exceptionally high-standard of students, and are impressed by the hard work and dedication displayed by the award winners.

We are certain they will go on to achieve great things.”

Bilborough College are very proud of David’s accomplishment. He has also recently received

news that in connection with his application to read Mathematics, at Trinity Hall, Cambridge

University he has been invited to interview on 5 December 2014. Congratulations!

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It has been a great pleasure having David Jackson in my tutor group. He is an

extremely gifted and humble young man who works industriously to achieve success at its highest.

We wish David every success!

Joanna Varnava Personal Tutor and Staff Governor

Siobhan Doyle MAAT Is now a fully qualified Accounting Technician

Siobhan was a student of Bilborough and started as an apprentice in the Finance office

Heather Lyle Achieved Level 1 in Chinese Language

Heather is the Curriculum Manager for English as a Foreign Language teaching our International students

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BOLERO ANNIVERSARY This year was the 30th anniversary of Torvill and Dean's Winter Olympic Gold medal in Sarajevo, with a record breaking score of 6 x 6s. As their home town, Nottingham proudly organised a number of activities to celebrate. In conjunction with Dance4, Nottingham Playhouse and Spool, an amazing piece of choreography was learned by various community/work groups and filmed to fit Ravel’s music then shown on Notts TV and at NEAT Festival. It proved so popular it went viral on YouTube so a Live Bolero was planned for the Market Square on Saturday 12th July. The Performance Studies team thought it would be great to get involved. Tina and Damian rounded up a few dance students and invited staff to get out of their comfort zone and join in. They patiently took us through the middle section of the routine step by step, and even provided 1 to 1 tuition for those of us who don’t dance and found remembering all the steps really hard! Fortunately I was partnered with a talented year 12 who eventually realised I was serious about pushing me into the right place and making sure I was facing the right direction.

Performance day was roasting hot and there were far more people involved than I had realised. I’m sure I was also told that it was a Flashmob, so expecting to mingle with the crowds and suddenly burst into life, you can imagine my horror when stages and uniform T-shirts and caps appeared! However, I loved it, our turn flew by and Michael Sylvester, my dance partner, saved me from too much embarrassment. Grace Fildes and Jordan Hatfield, Luke Vincent and George Dawes, along-with Tina and Andrea were a credit to the college. It was fascinating for me to be a part of someone else’s ‘world’ and appreciate the effort just a short piece of dance requires. I haven’t forgotten there were witnesses to Tina’s promise to reciprocate and come open-water swimming with me.......

Caroline Waterhouse Personal Tutor and Bolero Dancer

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Finnish exchange trip to Helsinki, Finland

A group of twelve International Baccalaureate Bilborough students spent a

week in October 2014 in Helsinki, in the south coast of Finland. The students were

hosted by their Finnish partners in Ressu Lukio and experienced their first ever proper Finnish sauna and enjoyed the traditional

Finnish cuisine including “korvapuusti” and pancakes cooked on an open fire in a

Finnish teepee.

The students had a few lessons at the partner college Ressu and a session learning the basics of the Finnish language.

There was also a guided tour of the main sights of Helsinki by tram and lots of walking organised by the Ressu students

and a visit to the Fortress Island of Suomenlinna, a short boat ride from the

main harbour in the city centre.

In addition to lessons and sightseeing the students did two days of voluntary

work. On the first day the students had work placements at a local primary school helping out in the after school

club. The second day included lots of outdoor work including planting

heathers and raking in a Finnish holiday centre located by a beautiful lake in the middle of the woods.

Katrina Straw European Liaison Officer

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International Baccalaureate CAS

The IB students give up hours of their time to support the college, the Bilborough community and their local communities. There are literally dozens of activities taking

place every week but here is a very small sample to illustrate how Bilborough students are making a difference and the impact it has on the students themselves.

Lavena Mc Farlane - Suspended Coffee Project

Lavena has been heavily involved in launching this scheme in Nottingham and

urges us all to support it if the scheme is advertised in a café we visit.

‘It’s simple really. First, you walk into a coffee shop, and instead of buying just

one cup of coffee, you buy two or more. You buy one for yourself and one for someone in need. The barista gives you

your coffee, then logs the second coffee as “suspended”. The coffee can then be

redeemed in a number of ways, often by a homeless person who is sleeping rough.’

Annie Utting - supporting a Polish student at Copthorne Community

Infant School

Annie supports a girl who has limited English and lacks in confidence. Annie visits her every week and has formulated a plan to scaffold the girl’s learning. This is done

through playing, reading and maths and Annie has already noticed a difference in her spoken English.

‘This week I began a journal for the reception teacher of Julia's progress. I'd planned for her to look at farm animals, and we started out on a book about this. She

remembered some words from the previous week, and was keen to show me some toy animals related to last week's book. She'd learnt how to say monkey properly and could remember crocodile as well as some other safari animals. She picked up a lot of

other animal names over the session, and was particularly keen on the giraffe toys. We tried counting them, and I could get her up to six but not beyond. Perhaps next

week I will find some other counting exercises with her. It was interesting how she related to the other kids; she communicated with them through playing with the animal toys and looking at the books together. I tried to use this to help her learn, by

asking them to find me all the monkeys together and count them, or asking Julia what animal another child had found. We looked at quite a lot of different animal books,

which was good because there was a lot of repetition of words, strengthening her knowledge of them. At the end of the session, she showed me on the whiteboards how she knew the letters s and a, which was really encouraging, and perhaps it would

be an idea to work on some sounds and letters next week.

Overall she seems to be improving her language skills at an impressive rate, as to begin with she didn't really say a word and I'm pleased to be able to help her with this.’

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Phoebe Butler - Bilborough Library Homework Club Students are encouraged to volunteer in

the Bilborough community and an ideal opportunity is the homework club which

takes place on a Thursday after college. Phoebe would like to become a primary school teacher so this opportunity will help

support her university application.

‘Every week that I go, even though it's towards the end of the week and I'm usually extremely exhausted I really enjoy myself. This week Megan coloured a poppy in to commemorate Remembrance Day and gave it to me with 'To Febeye' written at the

top. I have noticed that the children are really starting to feel comfortable around me now as I've been going for a while. The fact that they're asking me directly and

involving me is more than I could ever ask for. I wouldn't have got this opportunity if it wasn't for CAS and I'm so grateful that I've been introduced to all of these activities

in the local community.’

Celine Ischebeck – Bilborough’ My Mates PHAB Club’ Celine supports this children’s club on a weekly basis and over time has been given

more responsibility to lead sessions. ‘I notice how much the children look up to me, to help them, to give them ideas, or to

make them get along. I know that a lot of the children aren't very well behaved at home or school, so I am grateful them seem to respect me and ask me for help.

Spending these hours with the children makes me realise how much I enjoy doing this. Being creative, silly and around an age group I find so important. Hopefully the

club will become a bigger part of the community in the future.’

Ruqaya Malik – Big Debate Tour This was an event held at Loxley House, which included a debate involving a variety of

topics. The topics for discussion included Political Engagement, Media Representation, Education and Crime, and there were local MPs present are willing to take views into consideration. The aim of the event was to hear the voices of the youth in Nottingham

and their opinions on the said topics. Ruqaya’s reflection on the event is excellent and she is a great role model.

‘The debate started by addressing the issue of how women of the black race are

presented in the media, and this was discussed whilst a picture of Nicki Minaj was being shown. The point that was raised by many people there, including one of the panelists, was that black women are now being seen for their bodies rather than for

their talent or intelligence. Of course this offended some people particularly those of the black ethnicity, because it dehumanises those women. The next topic which was

discussed was about political engagement, and a question was raised as to whether UKIP was a racist party or not. This quickly lead on to the topic of the police and how people from BME backgrounds were not accepted into the police force as easily as

people of the whit race. The Police Commissioner of Nottingham Paddy Tipping was present at the debate, and he did admit that in previous years people from BME

backgrounds were not accepted into the police force as easily as people of the white ethnicity, but said now he is trying to recruit people from BME backgrounds.

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This is when I raised a question to the commissioner himself, I asked what relevance

it would make of recruiting more people if the police officers that person were working with would be racist to the new employee anyway? I also added that surely the police

should be working to ensure that their own staff are not discriminate of people of different races - instead of just recruiting more people? He answered by saying that

my point was very well articulated and valid, and he agreed that what I said was true and he said that action is being put in place as we speak to stop this type of discrimination in the police force altogether. A lot of other guests added to this point

also, saying they agree.

Futher into the debate the topic of school was brought up in discussion. A question was posed as to what schools in Nottingham were doing wrong to have such low pass

rates in comparison to other cities. This question was soon brushed to the side - and the topic of sets was brought into the discussion. It was said by a panelist that

'children from BME backgrounds (black ethnicity mainly) are always told they can't do this or that, for example they can't be a doctor, so there is no point trying, and then they get put into lower sets than the other kids'. This was agreed with by most of the

people there and it made me realise that the International Baccalaureate is a qualification which breaks those stereotypes and does not conform to any level of

discrimination on any means. This made me think that the qualification should be given more credit where it is due.

In conclusion, I think that I learnt that I am able to voice my opinion in an articulate manner without offending people, and I also think I became more confident after

attending. I also think that attending the debate gave me a different perspective of people of a different race, and allowed me to empathise with the issues they have to go through. I also learnt how to take religion, race and general equality into

consideration when making a point and I think this helped me to become a more open minded individual.’

Maggie Burrows CAS Co-ordinator

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Performance Studies and Dance

The Bilborough College Performance Group performed at Unite The Scene 2014 at the Nottingham Arts Theatre on 21st November. The piece Treachery of Images was based

on the art work of Rene Magritte. The dancers met for enrichment on Wednesday afternoons throughout the Autumn term and worked collaboratively with Tina Carter to choreograph the piece. Students involved: Iona Houston, Georgia Patilla, Jemimah

Allen, Marija Lastauskaite, Curtis Gault, Iona O’Garro, Imogen Dakin, Natifah White, Sian Langley.

Tina Carter performed as one of 9 local artists in Joe Moran’s The Body at The Space in Nottingham Contemporary on 8th and 9th November. One of five works by

internationally renowned choreographer Joe Moran, The Body was a performance installation containing elements of Joe’s practice including a series of impossible

questions inspired by Deborah Hay.

Tina Carter Curriculum Manager – Performance Studies and Dance

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Enrichment

START OF YEAR The start of year was launched with the

Enrichment Taster Week, Freshers Week and European Day of Languages.

As well as offering taster sessions for all of the different enrichment activities, students

were also given the opportunity to take part in one off events organised by the Student Exec. The aim of Freshers Week was to

introduce the Exec to students, to help new students feel that they belong and to help

them settle into College. The Freshers Week programme and the Enrichment Taster Week programme both included events to help

celebrate the European Day of Languages.

The Student Exec did a fantastic job organising Freshers Week with the highlight of the week definitely being the Wednesday

afternoon Freshers BBQ and activities.

The canteen also put on a week of events following on from Freshers Week, which promoted healthy eating, sustainable food

production and careers in the catering industry.

AUTUMN TERM ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME

The autumn term Enrichment Programme offered students the opportunity to try out

and take part in 54 different activities.

We introduced several new activities this term, all student led!

Knitting club

Bilborough Cabaret Group Politics Society

Two Debating Societies National Cipher Challenge.

All of the activities have been very well attended and superbly led by the students

organising them.

As ever Duke of Edinburgh, the Leadership Academy, First Aid, Sign Language and Young Enterprise have proved extremely

popular.

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This year we have offered the Duke of

Edinburgh Silver and Gold Award with the option to complete the expeditions either

by foot or by canoe. So far 8 students have signed up for the Silver Award and

23 for the Gold Award. On the 18th and 19th of October all the students completed a taster session.

The Silver and Gold Walking groups

completed a mini hike in the Peak District and practiced some of their camp craft, while the Gold canoe group went to the

National Water Sports Centre to try out their skills! The groups are now busy

completing their volunteering, physical and skill sections of award and are preparing for the route planning days and

training expeditions that are coming up in the new year.

Over 100 students have signed up for the first aid course and they have all been

allocated places over the autumn and winter term. We have also complete one

BSL Level 1 Sign Language course and the second course is underway.

The Leadership Academy has had a large number of applications and places have

now been allocated. THE WINTER TERM ENRICHMENT

PROGRAMME After the October half term we launched

the Winter Term Enrichment programme. The programme saw the introduction of

some new activities as well as the continuation of the ever popular courses. The new courses included:

Archery and Fencing club Reading Group

Beginners Piano Indoor Cricket

Introduction to Practical Criticism.

The Student Exec also organised and led

a trip to the Black History Museum in Liverpool.

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UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

Preparations are underway at present between Enrichment and the Student Exec for the End of Term Activities week. Activities organised so far include a charity donation

day, Santa’s on the Run, Christmas dinner and concert, Ice Skating trip and a Christmas Jumper day! We have also being meeting with students of different faiths

and formed a student working group. The group is planning to put on a week of different activities designed to promote understanding and celebrate different faiths in the first week of February.

OTHER

This year has seen the formation of the Bilborough Extra working group. The idea behind the group is to bring together all the fantastic ‘extra’ activities that go on in the college and to work together in the promotion of these. An audit is being

conducted into all subject areas to identify all the activities / talks / trips that students take part in beyond their academic study. Some of the highlights from different areas

are shown below!

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Laura Goulding Enrichment Manager and Teacher of Business Studies and Economics

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Drama and Theatre Studies, BTEC

Acting and Trinity Guildhall Acting Our very first year of Teaching BTEC Extended

Diploma in Acting is being taught by Chris Chambers who was an alumni of the

college and trained at East 15 School of Acting. He also

did his teacher training with CM Sharon MacInnes

In October our Year 12

cohort went in two coaches to Derby Theatre to see Pilot Theatre’s production of

Antigone, a new version written by playwright Roy

Williams. Sharon MacInnes, Chris Chambers, Mike Bowler and Andrea Hemmett

attended a CPD with the company about the use of current technology in theatre making. In October Rose Bruford graduate Sam Dunster delivered 3x2hour Commedia dell Arte

workshops for year 13 to help with their devising for Unit 3

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In November Year 13 went to see Frantic Assembley’s reworking of Shakespeare’s Othello at Curve Leicester in preparation for their Unit 4 exam.

Splendid productions came for the day and delivered 3 workshops and a performance

of Georg Buchner’s Woyczek which is a set text for Unit 4.

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November also saw the launch of the prestigious Silver Arts Award in partnership with

Nonsuch Theatre whose founder is alumni Ed Boott who trained at Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama. The project will culminate in a 2 day Arts Festival on the

13th and 14th of February. The Friday will be a series of Arts events around the college and the Saturday will include performances by students, practitioners and Nonsuch will perform their touring show Aqua Alta.

The College production this year is Rent to be performed on the 10th, 11th and 12th of December

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We will be holding our first Teachers and Practitioners network meeting in the theatre on Thursday 18th December co-hosted by Nonsuch theatre. Amongst the guest will be Fiona Buffini an Artistic Director from Nottingham Playhouse. Sharon MacInnes continues her work on the education committee at Derby Theatre and has also joined the Nottingham Creative Quarter committee as an education representative.

Sharon MacInnes Curriculum Manager – Drama and Theatre Studies

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Sport

BTEC SPORT On Wednesday the 15th of October the Bilborough College BTEC Sport students visited the Wattbike centre in West

Bridgford. The purpose of the visit was to conduct a range of Aerobic Endurance and Power tests using the high tech

bikes at the centre. The Wattbike was created with British Cycling to provide an affordable indoor bike for training and testing that is suitable for everyone from school

children to Olympic Gold Medallists. Within seconds you can be accurately measuring your power output, your

pedalling technique and heart rate.

The students used the bikes to

conduct three tests. Under the guidance of Steve Marshall the

students were able to test their leg power and compare their results to some of the world’s most talented

athletes including Sir Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins. It

was a fantastic opportunity for the students to conduct some different fitness tests and use new high tech

equipment.

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SPORT AOC Survey Results

Having successfully received activation funding from Sport England one of last year’s targets was to engage more students in physical activity with a particular focus on trying to engage more female students into sport at the college. The recent AOC

survey results show that we have met our targets and surpassed the National Average in more than one category.

2013 / 2014

National average

for Sixth Form

Colleges

only 2014

2012 / 2013

2011 / 2012

2010 / 2011

Participation Number of College

students engaged in Physical Activity

68%

1257

54%

929

58%

1043

50.4%

933

Male / Female split with regards to percentage engaged in

physical activity

Male: 54%

Female:4

6%

Male: 75%

Female:

25%

Participation in Intra College Competition

Number of students taking part in Intra

College Competition

34%

626

205

35%

596

36%

651

33%

610

Participation in Inter

College Competition

Number of students taking part in Inter College Competition

26%

481

164

20.5%

354

23.7%

427

22.4%

414

Range of Sports

Offered

75 25 50 50 45

Leadership and

Volunteering

Total number of College students

involved in leadership

8.2%

152

3%

52

8.5%

147

8%

145

5.6%

104

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REPRESENTATIVE SPORT

National Championships: It has been another successful year with 16 students qualifying to represent

Bilborough College and the East Midlands at the AOC National Championships at Bath University on the 27th, 28th and 29th of March. The successful athletes include:

SPORTS ATHLETES

Badminton Men’s Doubles

Women’s Doubles

Brandon Carr / Callum Buck

Hattie Lowe / Maxine Gates

Cross Country Ashleigh Burton

Keenan Chambers

Golf James Hollis

Eliza Davidson

Tennis George Coates Kimberley Baker

Swimming Hannah Clay

Katy Teasdale Sport and Recreation Manager