News from the Open College Network Yorkshire and the Humber (OCNYHR)

The Sheffield College, Hillsborough Campus, 22 May 2009, Access to HE grading meeting.

Welcome to new members of the Open College Network Yorkshire and the Humber (OCNYHR)

At the OCNYHR Board of Trustees Meeting on Tuesday 16^th June 2009, the following new members were ratified:

• Doncaster School for the Deaf
• Action for Children, Sheffield
• CambridgePark Maths and Computing Centre, Grimsby
• Lundwood and Monk Bretton Community Partnership, Barnsley
• Consortium of Rotherham Schools – The Bridge
• 7 KS, Scunthorpe
• Take 2 Training, Barnsley
• Yorkshire Tiling Company Ltd, Bradford
• Crime Reduction Initiatives, Leeds
• Lifeline Calderdale, Halifax
• CravenCollege, Skipton
• North YorkshireEducational Psychology Service, Northallerton
• Public Health Directorate NHS, Kirklees
• ECM Connections Ltd, Harrogate

It is tremendous to see such a broad range of providers being attracted to the Open College Network (OCN) from across the Yorkshire and Humber region. Public, private and voluntary bodies are finding the flexibility offered by the OCN tremendous value for money in supporting them in offering accredited options to their learners.

I look forward to welcoming representatives from each of the new members to our Continuing Professional Development events.

OCNYHR Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Calendar for 2009 - 2010 now available

We now have our 2009-2010 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Calendar available for you to download.  We have a variety of new, exciting courses on offer including:

• PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector);
• Principles & Practice of Assessment;
• Good Practice in Information, Advice or Guidance;
• and events specifically aimed at schools.

To book your place on events of your choice, please complete our Booking Form which is available to download or contact our Customer Service Team on 01924 434600 who will be more than happy to help you. Please return your completed Booking Forms to: Theresa Shaw (t.shaw@ocnyhr.org.uk) or Farria Hussain (f.hussain@ocnyhr.org.uk)

Please email any CPD enquiries to: enquiries@ocnyhr.org.uk

View the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Calendar for 2009 – 2010.

The Missing Link: Adult Learning and the Widening Participation Agenda Conference

PECHE Network

Progression & Engagement between Communities & Higher Education

Open College Network Yorkshire and Humber Chief Executive, John Lawton, will be leading a workshop on, ‘Adult Learning Policy: The Learning Age, the Learning Revolution, what now?  A look at current and future policy in the field of adult learning.’

To view the full programme and to book your place for this free conference, which is being co-sponsored by Aim Higher, West Yorkshire and the PECHE Network and co-ordinated by the Lifelong Learning Centre at the University of Leeds, please see the full programme and booking form. There is also a poster to publicise the event, available here as a downloadable pdf.

OCNYHR work with Knottingley School and Ossett School, Wakefield

We can congratulate Knottingley School and Ossett School students on achieving their first, 'Careers Education and Preparation for Working Life' Qualifications. The students have achieved all the mandatory and optional units along with the External Task to gain the Qualification. The majority of the students have achieved the Level 2 'Intermediate Award', with a smaller group achieving the ‘Foundation Award’. Originally, the students were not doing well in their Science GCSE and this course re-engaged them with learning. They found the content more relevant to their lives.

This has been a true partnership between the OCNYHR team - Business Development Officer, Caro Blount-Shah, OCNYHR Staff Development Coordinator, Karen Jenkins and Quality Reviewer Merv Lebor - and the staff of the two Schools.

Karen Jenkins said, “This has been a very clear demonstration of how a whole-school approach can give positive results for the staff and the students in a school. Staff training and ongoing support has been at the forefront of this successful pilot. The support of the Head Teacher and the commitment of the students, the learning mentors and senior teaching staff have made this a great success.”

After the External Verification and Standardisation event, Dave Trowmans, teacher and quality assurance lead from Knottingley School said, “Thanks for all the help and support with the delivery of the course, please pass on my thanks as well to Merv for both of you making the day an enjoyable and educational one. It is all very much appreciated.”

The schools will be able to claim Performance Points equal to two B Grades at GCSE for the students achieving the 'Intermediate Award'.

Delivering a Skilled and Employed Region - The Third Sector Working Through the Recession - free half-day seminar.

The Regional Skills Partnership, with support from the Regional Forum and ACEVO (North) are holding an event which aims to engage with Third Sector leaders on their response to the current economic challenges and potential to contribute to skills and employability in the region. This event aims to generate constructive discussion around opportunities for the third sector to support skills and employment in partnership with other regional players.   

This event will take place on Monday 20 July 2009 starting at 9.00am and finishing with lunch at 12.30pm at Shine, Harehills Road, Harehills, Leeds LS8 5HS.

For a detailed location map please visit www.shineinharehills.co.uk

If you are able to attend please contact tina.maisuria@lsc.gov.uk

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Standardisation Event

On Monday 6th July from 10.00 to 14.30 we are holding an ESOL Standardisation event her at OCN House, Wakefield.  This is a mandatory event for all centres running ESOL and is facilitated by our ESOL Quality Reviewer, Rosi Gemmell.

Anyone who has not yet booked onto this event is asked to please contact our Customer Services Team: Theresa Shaw (t.shaw@ocnyhr.org.uk) or Farria Hussain (f.hussain@ocnyhr.org.uk) to confirm their attendance.

Learner Voice Event at Digital Media Centre, Barnsley

OCNYHR Chief Executive, John Lawton, will be speaking at a NIACE Regional Achievement Dialogue Seminar, ‘Learner Voice: What does it mean to you?’.

The half-day, free event takes place at the Digital Media Centre, Barnsley on the morning of Tuesday 7^th July 2009. The target audience includes tutors and managers in Language, Literacy and Numeracy provision and learners are welcome, too, to share their views as to what learner voice initiatives mean to them.

OCNYHR Chief Executive John Lawton said, “The Yorkshire and the Humber region is the only part of the country where the Learning and Skills Council has supported a Regional Learners’ Panel to give learners a formal opportunity to comment on and shape regional policy and provision. For this, the LSC and the learners who have supported the development of the Panel should be congratulated and supported.”

“At a local level, many providers are now finding innovative ways to consult with learners. I’m particularly interested in how these initiatives ‘hear’ the voice of learners who, in the past, have been marginalized or excluded from mainstream consultation arrangements. I’m currently researching how some of these issues play out in the language we use and I am interested in how at the Open College Network Yorkshire and Humber (OCNYHR) we get the learner perspectives into our thinking and planning.”

To find out more about the seminar and to book your free place, please click here to download the application.

Accessing Access Newsletter Edition 3

Download your copy of the OCNYHR Newsletter, Accessing Access Edition 3 for all things to do with Access provision.

This is the third edition of the Newsletter and contains brief articles on the QAA’s (Quality Assurance Agency’s) statement on International Students; our links with the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Networks (WYLLN); GCSE Equivalencies; Grading Meetings; and a note about the Access Validating Agency’s QAA Review, which took place in the first week of June, with the outcome reported to us in early July 2009.

The Newsletter also introduces John Lawton, OCNYHR’s new Chief Executive, to the Access community; as well as a call for regional Student representatives to join Diploma Panels and Access Advisory Group meetings; the AVA database; and the growth of new business enquiries, which is showing an increased demand for Access provision in the Yorkshire and Humber region as the recession really starts to bite.

Grading Implementation for all Access to HE Courses at Level 3

Tutor training on the implementation of Grading Descriptors to Level 3 Access Courses is now available. These are important events which will help you to prepare for the implementation of grading, required for September 2009.

Please view the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Calendar for 2009 – 2010 for dates or contact our Customer Services Team to arrange bespoke training a a venue of your choice, perhaps bringing colleagues together from across different Access Pathways.

Contact our Customer Services Team:

Theresa Shaw (t.shaw@ocnyhr.org.uk) or Farria Hussain (f.hussain@ocnyhr.org.uk) or call them on 01924 434600.

Goodwin Development Trust - Building On Success

The social charity, the Goodwin Development Trust trains volunteers to be ‘Doulas’ or birthing partners for women across Hull who have little or inadequate support through the later stages of pregnancy, birth and for six weeks post-natally.  The project has now been given Department of Health funding to replicate this model in eight new areas over the next three years.

The Doula project is very keen to hear from any other organisations who may be interested in getting involved in this initiative.

Please see the Goodwin Doula press release along with Goodwin Doula Event in July and accompanying booking form. The directions to the Octagon Centre.

For further information, please contact the Goodwin Volunteer Doula Service at www.goodwindoulas.org or contact Heather Barnes on 01482 497811