Director's report 2009
There are a number of important advantages and benefits that this brings to both organisations and are the key motivation behind Bedford College 's interest in Shuttleworth as a College which are:
Land and Environment, Science and Technology Curriculum
- 14-19 curriculum and School Links
- Central Bedfordshire location
- Serves the Bedfordshire rural community
- Platform for innovation, partnership and advocacy
Of course Shuttleworth needs to be financially viable as well as adding to the student experience.
We have already benefited from a number of 'impacts and improvements' and are in the process of reorganising our staffing to match the Bedford College structure.
OFSTED
The OFSTED inspection under Writtle College was broadly 'satisfactory' with no areas graded 'unsatisfactory' and the capacity to improve was recognised as being 'good'. Behind these headline figures was a recognition that a great deal of work had gone into raising standards and that success rates had significantly improved on the previous year. Bedford College has an 'outstanding' OFSTED rating and is a LSIS Beacon College . Shuttleworth College can expect to see a further improvement in the students' experience and success rates as we move towards attaining these quality standards and this is going to be really good for Shuttleworth students.
Academic
Recruitment in September 2009 has been very good for 16-19 year olds and has risen to 539 full time students, which is a 14% growth on last year. However, part time and 19+ student numbers have shown a decline, partially due to the withdrawal of some programmes but also because of increased tuition fees, limited marketing exercises during the summer period and we believe that the recession has had a significant impact on this area of provision.
Recruitment on 16-19 full time courses has been strong across all subjects, particularly in Animal Care, Outdoor Education and Horticulture which have very strong cohorts. Agriculture numbers have grown dramatically through the schools programmes and we now have in the region of 90 students studying agricultural subjects.
Our partnerships with schools have strengthened with around 130 students from mainstream Upper Schools and 45 from local Special Schools attending each week to study for nationally recognised qualifications.
In total the College has almost 900 students studying full or part time courses every week. In addition to this we have a number of Short Courses covering a variety of activities with a particular focus on professional skills and training towards meeting legislative requirements.
Schools Events
We have had a very active summer season of summer schools and Children's University events. BLEBP ( Beds and Luton Education and Business Partnership) have continued to support us and we have delivered: –
Summer Schools during August Countryside Day Vets Day 'Into Action' Outdoor Education day Aim Higher – 3 events to support young adults 'at risk' Children's University – 180 students had a great experience studying forensic science
Business and Enterprise
The College's Fresh Start project continues to be successful with over 20 aspirant young farming business people attending business events on a regular basis. From its early roots, this group is already helping members develop business skills and opportunities.
In addition to the £7,000 reported in February 2009, we have now secured a contract with Land Skills East for £80,600 to deliver a number of courses in Agriculture, Horticulture and Food Technology to support enterprise and business initiatives for the rural community.
Premises
Students are already benefiting from improvements to the premises which have resulted from investment by Bedford College .
- All main teaching classrooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards
- Computer suites are in the process of being upgraded with either new PCs or increased RAMs
- The computer network upgrade is scheduled to be completed by half-term which will result in a 100 times improvement of internet access and a link to the Bedford College intranet and Moodle virtual learning environment (VLE)
- Completed new classrooms for Floristry and Outdoor Education students in the lower administration block
- Completed estate maintenance workshop and storage at Home Farm to release the 'Red Brick Barn' in readiness for renovation
- Refurnishing of the student halls – new beds, mattresses, bedside tables and chairs Smoking area between the halls of residence
- Completed toilets, roof replacement and insertion of skylights in the student rest area at Mount Pleasant Equine Yard
- Painting of the College Courtyard which gives a much improved impression of the College's entrance.
- Completed new student common room in the Courtyard archway to provide a student focused area with seating and a TV.
Further work includes replacement of the equine school surface, improvements at the Mechanisation Centre to provide for a larger area of hard standing, and a developed wireless network around the site to enable internet access and improved communications from all parts of the campus.
It all looks good for Shuttleworth!