£1.5M boost to Brampton Road Centre

The LSC has agreed the College’s bid for £1.5million to rebuild House 5 at Brampton Road. A new building on the site will be a wonderful complement to the new building already in place. Staff involved in the first rebuild three years ago may remember the original architect talked about the site needing two “bookends” – he was disappointed  that he had only been able to complete one of them. So now we can get on with the matching bookend!

The new building will again have a focus, as the first rebuild did. It will be designed to accommodate vocational courses, probably including catering, and will focus on Train to Gain work. It will replace accommodation that was originally part of a private house, with L-shaped rooms that were really quite unsuitable for teaching and learning. So we are grateful to the LSC and to Bexley Council for their support for this superb new scheme.

Work on the scheme is likely to start in 2009. The College will aim to minimise disruption, but obviously there will have to be some temporary displacement of classes and facilities (such as the canteen) and we hope staff and students will appreciate the reasons.

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Celebrations kick off Learning Disability Week

This year’s annual award ceremonies were held on Tuesday 17^th June at Crayford Manor House & Friday 20^th June at Sidcup Arts & AEC.  Both events celebrate the achievements of our learners with a learning disability and are very lively, vibrant occasions.

The college has over 200 hundred learners with a learning disability taking part in a whole host of courses.  These range from art to floristry, from money skills to life skills to mention but a few.  One group of learners has just completed an OCR Certificate in IT whist another group have successfully completed an NPTC course in floristry.

 Each group of learners gave a short presentation giving the audience an outline of what they have learnt through the year.  This was followed be each learner being presented with a certificate from The Mayor of Bexley, Councillor Nick O’Hare.

 An extra dimension was added to the event in the form of Angus Morton – a soloist who has sung for the Queen – who opened and closed the ceremonies.

 The Principal of the College, Richard Easterbrook commented  “the dedication and enthusiasm of all of these learners is truly inspirational”.

As always these events were extremely well attended by families of the learners and tutors and staff from the College.

For more information about the Celebrations of Achievement contact Glenda Jackson, Learner Support Manager 020 8269 8990

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Adult Education opens its doors for Adult Learners’ Week

The Adult Education College Bexley kicked off Adult Learners’ Week this year with an Open Day at its Crayford Manor House site on Saturday 17 May.

As well as the displays and demonstrations showcasing the talents of Bexley’s students there were over 30 free taster sessions during the day from computing and floristry to hairdressing and Chinese cookery!

Despite the torrential downpour the College was hugely busy, particularly

the Family Learning team who endured the rain and offered a number of opportunities for parents/carers and children including ‘k’nex construction’ and ‘wicked wildlife’.

This year the College also teamed up with local radio station TGR Sound who offered a Radio/Media Skills workshop on the day.

In addition to the Open Day, taster sessions were available at all centres during Adult Learners Week.   This was the first time the College had offered courses during the week and once again the take-up was fantastic.  Over 400 learners took advantage of almost 70 taster sessions during the ALW campaign.

 Principal Richard Easterbrook said  “This is an ideal platform for students attending the College to show exactly what can be achieved and how further education can lead to life enriching experiences.  This is also a wonderful opportunity to try something new and I am sure many will be inspired by the huge range of courses available”.