news

  • Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) honours top geographers

    We are delighted that Simon Holland, Head of Faculty for Geography at Bilborough College has received the Ordnance Survey Award.

    Commenting on his award Simon said “I am deeply honoured to receive this RGS Ordnance Survey Award. Geography is an amazing, engaging, empowering and ever-changing subject which opens so many doors for young people. It is a real privilege to teach the subject I love every day and share my genuine passion with so many students over the last 18 years of my career. I work hard to open the eyes and minds of my students, encouraging them to fully explore all that the subject has to offer, including engaging with the many wider opportunities on offer to them. In recent years, my students have won awards including the RGS Young Geographer of the Year and the GA award for NEA Proposals. Seeing my students go on the achieve enormous success in their diverse careers, often engaging with Geographical career paths directly and indirectly, including at COP26 for example, is extremely rewarding and inspiring. Receiving this award was a wonderful surprise and I am immensely proud to receive this unexpected recognition for my hard work and huge enthusiasm for Geography education over so many years – without geography you are nowhere!”

    You can find out more about the award below.

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  • Bilborough College Alumni Involved at COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow

    We are very proud that one of our brilliant Bilborough College Alumni (Geography, Biology, Chemistry and English) has been heavily involved throughout COP26 in Glasgow as part of the UK Government Team working on Communications. Jasbir Basi was an excellent student at the college who progressed to study at several Russell Group Universities and has since gone on to achieve great things in his very successful career so far, also becoming a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

    Commenting on his experiences Jasbir said “Working on COP26 has been THE geographers dream. A dream started a while ago in Bilborough” he strongly encourages students to choose Geography at A-level, saying “Bilborough is a fantastic place to study geography and would urge everyone to study it”.

    Simon Holland, Head of Faculty for Geography, who taught Jasbir when he was at the college said “Jasbir is a great example of what our students can achieve if they work hard and follow their dreams to make a real difference in their future career”. “It is fantastic and humbling to see our great Geography students like Jasbir who we have taught about the challenges facing the world such as Climate Change actively being involved in the process of finding solutions to these difficult global issues”.

    We are very proud of all he has achieved – he is a real credit to the college and his journey to this crucial global climate conference highlights the many and varied high quality career progression routes open to our students after college; Bilborough College students and alumni really do make a difference every day!

    You can find out much more about COP26 here https://ukcop26.org/ .




  • National recognition for Bilborough College super-curricular programme 

    We were delighted to be recognised in the national media as a leader in super-curricular activities.  “Super-curricular” activities develop and further extend learning in a subject area.  These might be competitions and Olympiads, online courses and MOOCS, work with visiting practitioners, and trips which bring the subject to life. It’s all part of Bilborough’s excellent preparation for university. Find out more about making the most of super-curricular activities here.

    https://www.tes.com/news/your-school-offering-super-curricular-activities

     




  • New COVID-19 guidance announced for start of academic year 2021-22

     

    We hope that you have enjoyed the summer break and are ready and enthusiastic about the new academic year.  As restrictions have been eased, many of us have been starting to experience those things we have been missing for many months.  As you are probably aware, there have also been significant changes to guidelines for schools and colleges which are summarised below. 

    Summary of new guidance

    These are explained in detail on the attached slideshow  Info for Students Sept 21 – Covid19 Safety Arrangements –  Please read these slides carefully so you know what to expect when returning to college in September. 

    Aim 1 – less disruption to face to face teaching

    The new guidance prioritises face to face education, which is especially important given the disruption students have faced during the pandemic.  There remains risk everywhere, every day, in all that we do and thankfully, for the majority of young people, COVID-19 is a mild to moderate illness.  Time lost from education also has a significant impact on pupil’s heath, wellbeing and life chances and so we must balance these risks. 

    Because of this new focus, we will no longer send home close contacts of Covid-19 automatically which should significantly reduce the number of students needing to study at home.  Equally, there will be no more ‘bubbles’ or social distancing requirements to allow for normal student interaction to take place.  Students and staff will be able to choose whether or not to wear a mask and we will maintain good ventilation and other hygiene measures.  However, if you do have COVID-19 symptoms and /or test positive, you must isolate as before until your period of quarantine is over and notify the college as soon as possible (07801173168 / covid19absence@bilborough.ac.uk

    Aim 2 – reducing the risks through testing and vaccination

    We know that vaccination is effective in protecting people against COVID-19 and that more and more people have been vaccinated.  Now that vaccination has been opened to 16-18 year olds, we are strongly encouraging all students who feel comfortable getting a vaccination to do so as this will further protect students, staff and our wider families and friends. 

    We also know that lateral flow testing can pick up asymptomatic people who did not even know they were infected, and that this can limit or halt transmission.  We are therefore offering on-site ‘assisted testing’ for all students who consent to this at the start of term (see slide 4 on guidance PowerPoint).  One you have completed the on-site testing programme, staff and students are encouraged to self-test and report regularly at home (using the tests that we supply)

    Limitations of guidance

    We have seen what has happened in Scotland where schools and colleges returned before those in England and Wales.  Numbers have risen steadily, and we know the same could happen here.  We’ll continue to do all we can to reduce risk and provide a safe environment, within the new guidelines, but we will make further changes should they be necessary.  If you are especially vulnerable and / or have been unable to have a vaccine, we can take other specific measures to protect you so please speak to your tutor or to student support who will be able to refer you to someone who can help.  

    Info for Students Sept 21 – Covid19 Safety Arrangements 




  • Channel 4 News visit Bilborough College for national vaccination story

    After featuring in an August 2020 item on results day*, Channel 4 news were back at Bilborough College this week to talk to our confident and reflective students about the merits of vaccinations for 16-19 year olds, and a new government campaign to encourage take-up.

    Current Y13 student Dapo Edun, made some great points about how lucky we are in the country to be being offered a vaccine that other countries in the world are struggling to access.  Meanwhile, Gabrielle Aikulolw explained clearly why some students do have reservations and how reliable and trustworthy information is needed for young people to have the confidence to take up this offer.

     

    You can watch the piece by following the link below – https://www.channel4.com/news/covid-all-16-and-17-year-olds-in-england-invited-for-jab

     

    It was great to see the college looking so vibrant in the sunshine as we enrol our next cohort of new Y12 students, and we are delighted that Channel 4 chose Bilborough College for this piece.  It is a great learning opportunity for our students to put themselves in front of the camera and they did themselves and the college proud.  We know that Channel 4 love meeting our students because they always have something interesting to say and are able to say it so well.

     

    *If you would like to watch last year’s national news story, you can find the link here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V997iqvtWno




  • The first Work Related Experience and Progression week is a huge success

    Year 12 students took part in the college’s first ever fully remote work-related experience and progression (WREP) week. From May 24th to 28th 2021 all Year 12 students could access over 119 sessions with local and national providers, develop employability skills and learn more about their career plans. Every subject area at Bilborough Sixth Form College provided a career challenge and businesses also provided challenge activities in marketing, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, IT and fashion. We were able to attract international companies such as BBC, Channel 5 and the NHS to support the event with inactive workshops as well as many high-profile Universities such as Nottingham, Sheffield, Derby, Lincoln and Cardiff Metropolitan.

    Over the week the sessions were attended over 5000 times and students reported how informative and beneficial the week was for them. Director of Curriculum and Quality Andrew Ball was pleased with the new programme and its wider impact on the student experience at Bilborough Sixth Form College. He said “I believe this was an incredibly valuable and positive experience for our learners and a huge thank you to all the staff and external organisations that worked tirelessly to host an event of this size in such a tough year for education and young people”. The event was well received by the students, Joshua Eaton one of our Year 12 members of the Student Executive team said “WREP week was a great opportunity to explore not only what careers our subjects can lead to, but to explore various different career paths that we may not have considered before. Hearing from Politics graduates who had gone on to work in City Hall London, the Civil Service, with the RAF and in political consultancy made me all the more excited to apply for Politics at university.” Alison Lardi, Careers and Progression Manager, added “We would usually invite employers and universities into college during the year, and students would go out on work experience placements, but this couldn’t happen this year. The WREP week gave our students an even wider range of opportunities than usual though, and they developed employability skills in the subject and employer challenges. We were proud of how well they engaged, and now feel they have a great foundation for informed decision-making about their futures”.







  • Student launches fundraising drive after winning place at drama school with string of famous graduates

    A Bilborough College student is following in the footsteps of a string of famous graduates after securing a place at a prestigious London drama school.

    Grace Hodgett Young was thrilled to learn she had an offer from Mountview, in Peckham, which counts Amanda Holden, Ken Stott, Sharon Small and Happy Valley, Shameless and Thin Blue line star Mina Anwar among its alumni.

    Dempsy & Makepeace’s Glynis Barber, Downton’s Mr Bates Brendan Coyle, Shetland’s Douglas Henshall and soap stars Don Gilet, Michael French and Sally Dyvenor are also former students.

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  • Work from three Bilborough College students displayed as part of national online art exhibition themed around lockdown

    Work by three teenagers from Bilborough College is featured as part of a national online art exhibition to showcase the life of sixth form college students during lockdown.

    More than 140 students from 46 colleges submitted contributions to ‘At home’, which is being co-ordinated by the Sixth Form Colleges Association.

    Bilborough College students Chloe Duriez, Ellie Edwards and Daisy Evans all had their submissions accepted.

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