Published Fortnightly - Issue: 157 Edited by: Mike Pink & Caroline Ponto Friday 16th December 2011

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Chichester Matters

Christmas Carols

A view of the stunning Chichester Cathedral filled to capacity

PICTURES CONTINUE ON PAGES 2 & 3…

On Wednesday, 7th December, staff, students, friends and family gathered at Chichester Cathedral for a festive celebration of Christmas song, dance and traditional hymns.Guests were welcomed by Jazz students’ interpretations of Christmas carols followed by ‘Sleepers Wake’ by J S Bach, performed by AS/A2 Music students and Level 1 Performing Arts students. The Reverend Canon Tim Schofield introduced the service and invited the congregation to join the first carol, ‘Once in Royal David’s City’.

The Reverend John Dane explained the theme of traditional values before Jazz students played ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ by Chester Hairston, and Drama students performed ‘Christmas Bells’ by H W Longfellow.

Dance Studios Junior Ballet class charmed onlookers, as they pranced through the aisle accompanied by Level 3 Dance students,

while AS/A2 Music students played ‘The Yuletide Waltz’ by Tchaikovsky. There were poignant Bible readings from Becci Diffey of the Student Executive and Sebastiaan Posma, student president, about the birth of Jesus and the shepherds.

Level 3 Pop Music students then sang ‘This Christmas’ by Christina Aguilera, and the crowd contemplated the thoughtful prayers led by

Reverend John Dane and students Yvonne Li and Roma Lee. The AS/A2 Music student choir sang Gesu Bambino by Pietro Yon, Intensive Acting students read passionately from the book of Matthew, after which Level 3 Dance and Pop Music students performed an interactive rendition of ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’, adapted from the television series, Glee.

Everyone joined in for a lively and invigorating sing-along to the final carol, ‘Hark! The Herald’, and AS/A2 Music students performed a traditional spiritual, ‘Mary Had a Baby’, as people retired to the Cloisters Cafe for mulled wine and mince pies.

All money collected during the evening will be donated to the Harbour Cancer Support Centre, based in Gosport, which helped support one of our former members of staff, Chris Gibbins, of the Furniture department.

Merry Christmas to you all!

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Shelagh’s Christmas MessageWell done for reaching the end of a tough but successful autumn term. We should be celebrating because as the final results for 2010/11 were captured it is clear that we have achieved the best overall, long qualification, apprentice and Train to Gain success rates that the college has ever attained.

Overall success rates were 3.2% above last year at 86.3%, which should put us in the top 20 colleges in the country. Apprentice rates were 7% higher and Train to Gain reached 91.4% which is 5% above the national average. The timely success rates for Train to Gain are 9% above national average.

We also had a very successful financial year with an operating surplus of £2.2m. None of this could be achieved without the commitment, passion and hard work of all of you. It was great to recognise six staff at our brilliant Stars of 2011 celebration.

Two parts of the organisation achieved Outstanding Ofsted; First Steps nursery and Accommodation. We were also re-accredited with Investor in People. It is a tough climate at the moment but we are working hard to help the unemployed with job shops, short courses and we have expanded further into Worthing to run some very successful construction courses.

Financially, going into the New Year, we are still trying to juggle very tight finances and need your ongoing help to be as efficient and cost-effective as we can. We should also be ready to greet Ofsted inspectors who have traditionally visited us every four years in the spring term. We are ready for them and we should all feel confident that it will be a great outcome for us.

Thank you for your support and commitment. I hope you all have a very well-earned break and have a wonderful Christmas. I look forward to welcoming you back at the start of 2012.

Best Wishes, Shelagh

…CAROL SERVICE, CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

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There are Christmas Lights in Chichester this year!

Although this is a testing time financially for the public sector, Chichester College donated £200, earlier this year, to the Chichester Christmas Lights fund in the hope that the Observer’s campaign to encourage local business to contribute would be a success.

Chichester City Council budgeted £15,000 towards the Christmas Lights display this year,

and if a minimum of £15,000 match funding was received from the business community by 3rd May 2011 a Christmas Lights display would take place in 2011. As of 4th May 2011, the target for match funding had not only been met, it was exceeded!

The Lights were switched on by the Mayor of Chichester, Councillor Tony French, and actor Simon Callow on Saturday, 26 November at the City Cross (pictured above).

Let There Be light

A special ‘thank you’ to the carpentry team at Brinsbury; Paul and his students made the sledge and the wardrobe for Floristry’s displays!

This is an M People song that my old secondary school head teacher used to play at every assembly, and after last week’s lesson it really seems fitting to share this with you.

My students certainly made me feel proud of them for their hard work and excellent effort to produce some outstanding and professional-looking work. I have also had the pleasure of having my students tell me that they felt proud of their work – something that does not happen very often and certainly made my day.

The Personal Progress 2 (Life & Living Sklills) students, part of Foundation Programmes, at Brinsbury have been working on an enterprise project which finished with their products being sold at the Christmas Fair.

The students have produced pure bees wax rolled candles, which they were able

What have you done today to make you feel proud?to complete with minimal assistance. This is a great achievement for students who are working at pre-entry level and have a range of learning and physical disabilities. The students enjoyed the feel and texture of the wax, as well as experiencing the natural smell.

All the students fully participated in the selecting of colours, the actual rolling of the candles and the decorating including lots of fun with glitter. One student even spent time typing up warning guidelines on the computer.

The students have also completed a bee project looking at how honey and wax are produced, and tasting a variety of different honey products resulting in some very interesting reactions seen on faces!

To help boost our sales we made some sweet jars and bags. The students had a whale of time counting out all the different sweets (helping their numeracy skills), and following

health & safety and health & hygiene rules in order to make the goods.

It has been an absolute pleasure to work with this group of students who have been committed to the task, worked as a team (something which students on the Autistic spectrum find very difficult but have successfully achieved), overcome barriers and produced some outstanding work.

Well done and thank you to all the students, the carers and the fab learning assistant, Pauline, who has put up with all my strange ideas and been such a help.

So as my student Dan said, there is only one thing left for you to do, “Just bring in your cash and spend!”.

Vicky Tucker Lecturer in Foundation Programmes

On 6th December we ran our Riding for the Disabled Association Christmas Fun Show in the Equine Indoor School.

The riders range in age from 4 to 57 years-old. They ride four of the college horses; Sooty, Ally, Mars and Star. Parents, friends and family were invited to watch, cheer and encourage the riders whilst they rode their course.

During the show, they rode a Handy Pony obstacle course against the clock. This includes stopping between markers, picking

up and posting Christmas cards into a post box, riding a line of bending poles and a fast trot to the finish line!

We finished a fabulous fun morning with prizes and rosettes for all the riders.

Thank you to the wonderful team of volunteers who give up their time and experience to help the riders every Tuesday morning.

Gill Brown Lecturer in Equine

RDA Christmas Show

Floristy Christmas Display

Brinsbury Flower Shop

A Christmas CrackerOn Thursday, 1st December, L1 Performing Arts sang, danced and acted their way through their first public show, ‘A Christmas Cracker’ at the Riverside Theatre; a reflective performance to promote the hard work of the first term.

This brand new course, which has allowed progression for Foundation students, has evolved to create the self-branded ‘Imagination Crew’.

The show included a West Side Story medley, solo pop montage, ‘Only Fools and Horses’ monologue, ‘High School Musical’ tribute and Christmas sing-along!

The students plan to tour special schools in Sussex, with their performances in term three. Siobhan McCormack, lecturer in Dance, explained, “As many of these students have come through that system themselves, they are keen to promote the progression they’ve made through the educational support at the college”.

Level 2 Diploma in Floristry Christmas displays

Level 3 Diploma Floristry innovative ‘sympathy’ displays

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X-mas Factor 2011

The hugely popular X-mas Factor returned on Wednesday, 14th December in Coasters. Staff were encouraged by Andy Green, deputy principal, to bring their classes to the must-see show, hosted by the charismatic Lisa Humphries, student experience manager.Six fantastic acts performed, including two members of staff; all competing for the title of ‘X-mas Factor Champion 2011’ and £100 first prize.

The competition, now in its fourth year, entertained as promised and had the

audience on their feet in the true spirit of Christmas tune appreciation.

From the auditions in October, five finalists were selected and have worked hard on rehearsing their songs weekly with Level 3 Pop Music students under the close supervision of lecturer, Daf Hughes.

The performances were broken up with a delightful musical interlude of ‘Gloria in Excelsis’ from the band, led by talented vocalist and former contestant, Aimee Smith.

The voting opened after the sixth act, followed by a frantic count in the Plus Point (SU office) while past winner, Callie Howard, sang Christina Aguilera’s ‘This Christmas’ and special guest (last year’s legend), ‘Keif’, passionately revisited his victorious classic, ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ – much to the delight of the audience (and especially representatives from the Marketing department!).

The show grew to a climax with a dramatic sing-off between Jane and Paul and the judges had to make the tough decision of choosing 2011’s winner, Jane Turvill.

Congratulations!

Lisa Humphries reveals the finalists

Paul Makinson (learning assistant, Additional Support) – ‘Is This Christmas’ by The Wombats

Jane Turvill (Level 3 Musical Theatre) – ‘Rocking Around the Christmas Tree’

Vicky Truscott (A-levels) – ‘Misteltoe’ by Justin Beiber

Kiri Pearce (Level 2 Popular Music) – ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham

Karen Jones (lecturer in 14-16 provision) – ‘All I want for Christmas is You’

Leon Yates (Level 3 Jazz) – ‘Santa Claus is coming to Town’

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Christingle

First Steps at Chichester

First Steps at Brinsbury

The judges: Sebastiaan Posma, Sarah Day and Andy Green

Foundation Programmes give a rapturous standing ovation for Paul

All work and no play; the all important vote count

We love you ‘Keif’! Get your votes in!

WINNER

Chichester College | Westgate Fields | Chichester | West Sussex | PO19 1SB t: 01243 786321 f: 01243 539481 www.chichester.ac.uk

What Will You Do?A New Year could mean a new you!

We want to know what you plan to give up, do less of, do more of or start in 2012. We will be publishing a list of the funniest, most interesting, unusual and inspiring ideas in the first Chichester Matters of next year.

We want to hear from you! Send your New Year’s resolutions to caroline.ponto@chichester.ac.uk

Have a wonderful Christmas break, The Marketing Team

Silent Knit

Mistletoe and WineOn Saturday, 26th November 2011, we were picked up at the early hours of 06:30 for a day trip to Bruges via the Eurotunnel to explore the Christmas Markets.

The cost of the trip was only £40.00 per person and included return coach with Diamond Travel. Jeanette Oates approached me in March with the idea and already had a small group of 20 wanting to go. In the end it went from 20 to a coach from each.

Elizabeth Smith, lecturer in Additional Support, from Brinsbury phoned us to say she had a lovely trip and to thank College Travel and Diamond Travel. Barbara Golledge, learning assistant, from Chichester commented that everything went to plan and the day was a good team-building experience for all staff that went along.

Jacqueline Amey, funding co-ordinator, said, “We were able to decide where to go beforehand and found the lace museum. We watched these little old ladies making very complicated lace panels, had bratwurst sausages, chocolate waffles, drank mulled wine and bought chocolates and lace – amazing.

“I’ve been on a day trip before to Bruges with a local coach company, but we weren’t given maps and my mother and I were afraid to go too far in case we got lost! I now realise we didn’t see half of the city and missed the main market squares and cathedrals. I will have to go again!”

If you have any suggestions for future trips you would like College Travel to arrange please contact me.

Juliet Littlechild College Travel Co-ordinator

And finally... Here’s a special Christmas wish from the unsuspecting Construction team elfing around: http://ow.ly/7Xyfw!

Thanks to Sally Strickland for taking the time on her day off to come in and put on the Christmas Novelty Knitting session. I was able to learn Fair Isle technique after some confusion due our surprisingly contrasting knitting styles, however we got there in the end, and I managed to rustle up some dinky festive stockings thanks to Sally’s patient instruction.

If you would be interested in learning how to knit or develop your skills, please contact sally.strickland@chichester.ac.uk and if we have enough interest, we may set up a regular weekly Knit ‘n’ Natter.

Be a Winter WarmerJoin the Herald & Gazette’s

Festive Campaign

Imagine if you could not get warm or dry. Something as simple as a coat or blanket

would make a huge difference.

Donate your unwanted coats, hats, scarves, gloves and blankets to help the elderly and

homeless through the winter months.

Drop your items off to:

Caroline’s Christmas creations