23 July 2010 - A breath of fresh air!

London Borough of Sutton's Darren King - Internet Administrator and Gary Shambrook - School ICT Development Manager, met with us today to explain the support we get from the Council in respect of our IT services. A positive, encouraging and helpful meeting was held that went a long way to restoring my faith in shared services. They provide IT support and services to schools and educational institutions associated with the Local Education Authority in Sutton. A lean team providing good service, listening to what we require and proactive in suggesting solutions. I was very pleased to hear that there are pilot projects regarding various IT systems, including getting our email services up to speed. SCOLA has offered to be a test bed for any such initiatives and I look forward to working with the team more closely in our quest to use technology to streamline operations and processes without losing the human touch and quality of service.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

20 July 2010 Work Experience

It was great to receive a letter of thanks form Ho Cheng Sit who completed a couple of weeks work experience at SCOLA - she had this to say :

"I enjoyed working for SCOLA because the environment is very friendly and all colleagues were very kind to me. In addition, all colleagues in SCOLA cooperate and work as a team".

Thank you for those kind words - it was a pleasure having you at SCOLA. Best of luck for the future!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

15 July 2010- Staff Conference 2010: Your Views, Your Scola , Our Future Day 2

The Staff Conference held on the 15th July was particularly for part time staff. I had four sessions to deliver as part of the staff development activities. It was great to have the highest number of colleagues at the A-Z of Social Networking session where I showcased examples of real life impact of social media in business. My thanks goes to Jo Barnett - Snr Lecturer, ICT Digi Media - from SCOLA and Brenda Knight from Best of Sutton who helped bring the session to life.

The other workshops included the 'Signs of a Miserable Job' which was aimed at Curriculum and Support Management, 'Qwizdom' for teaching staff and 'Evaluating Multimedia Learning Resources' which was aimed at teaching staff. Hopefully these sessions added value to the day and inspired colleagues to use some of the techniques and resources provided in their planning and work. This was yet another great day of activities which was well received and well attended.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

13 July 2010- Staff Conference 2010: Your Views, Your Scola , Our Future Day 1

Today was an exciting day for me. I was facilitating the 2010 Staff Conference, a full day of fun- packed activities that hopefully will lead to the changes we want to make at SCOLA. Anxious throughout the planning stages due to the fact that the activities were so different to what the staff are used to, I started very early to ensure that all was in working order and to my standards. It was reassuring to be greeted by our hardworking caretakers George Skillen, Tony Kelly and Bob Richards, who had transformed the arena into a nice cabaret style conference set up.

The day progressed very well and staff participated in activities with enthusiasm and energy. Excellent feedback was provided that was an encouragement to me that I had pitched the session right and that the hard work had paid off.

The first activity of the day of the day started at 9am entitled "Who am I" and was a good ice-breaker which got staff moving about and talking to one another. This activity was followed by finding solutions to problems and then an adventure in Sherwood Forest! At 12.30 a fantastic buffet lunch was served and staff had the opportunity of networking. After lunch feedback was given on the activities that had taken place in the morning. The fourth and last activity to take place was one involving lego called Monumental Direction and staff had the opportunity to work together in teams. It was great to see how staff interacted with one another!

The success of the conference was due to the hard work of those who participated. My special thanks go to Arnie Skelton, www.etduk.co.uk, Howard Shepherdson from TVU and Jan Keone who helped me with suggesting various activities for the conference.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

12 July 2010- Margaret White - Strategic Director, Community Learning & Foundation Skills - leaving do

Tonight we celebrated Margaret White's loyal and dedicated contribution to SCOLA over 24 years. Margaret has worked at SCOLA since 1985 initally as a part time tutor and ultimately having a successful career rising to the position of Strategic Director. It is evident that during the time she has spent at the college that she has always been the friendly face of SCOLA, supporting staff and being there for students, particularly by running the Student Focus Groups.

Margaret played a key role in developing and promoting a successful marketing strategy, also guiding and supporting events which are a key part of that strategy. Colleagues and students alike have told me that Margaret has also been one of the first people to step forward to support any new initiative.

It was a great event where many staff, past and present, came to bid farewell to Margaret and to wish her the very best for her future and to wish her a happy and long retirement. She will be missed at SCOLA and I am glad that she will be coming back to teach at SCOLA next year.

It was great to have such a marvellous do for Margaret and I enjoyed the line dancing routines which added more flavour to the occasion.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

12 July 2010- Dog Clicker Training

Bright and early this morning I had a visit from Sandra from DOGS (Dogs and Owners Guidance School) http://www.dogsandownersguidanceschool.co.uk/ who came to train the dogs how to respond to the sound of a 'clicker'. I think it was more for me to learn how to use the clicker with my little puppy Lilia. It was great to have Molly the 2 year old Jack Russel of Barbara Eayrs there too.

After an hour of clickering and feeding the dogs lots of treats they were both alert and we were somewhat proud of how they responded to the training. Highly recommended.

At the end of the session we discussed an exciting opportunity for an open day in September in the form of a fair. I am very excited about this and will keep you posted. Watch this space....

Saboohi Famili - Principal

09 July 2010- SWLSEP Conference

Yet another abbreviation to be added to the jargon buster pages on our website. SWLSEP or The Southwest London School Effectiveness Partnership is a co-operative and collaborative arrangement among the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton, Wandsworth and Croydon. This partnership allows individual southwest London local authorities to build their capacity for school improvement, through co-operation and joint project work.The 2nd annual conference held at Sandown Park with beautiful grounds and inspiring surroundings was well attended and promised a day of information giving and knowledge transfer. The following people addressed the conference throughout the day - Trevor Sandford: DCSF 14-19 Regional Adviser; Mary Vine Morris: Director, London 14-19 Regional Planning Group; David Andrews: Senior Fellow of the National Institute for Careers Education; and Patrick Leeson: Director, Education & Care, Ofsted.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and made good contacts with colleagues from different neighbouring boroughs.
It was great to feel part of a bigger team that can potentially achieve effectiveness on a larger scale and give educational partners a louder voice.
Further information can be found on http://www.lsep.org.uk/swlsep/

Saboohi Famili - Principal

8 July 2010 - Get That Job Seminar

A well attended and very successful seminar delivered by Arnie Skelton from Effective Training & Development generated a raft of very positive comments and brought in people who have never been to SCOLA before. Those who attended were impressed with what they saw and very complimentary about the seminar itself.

A Job Coach who attended commented as follows: "I found the afternoon extremely beneficial! What an amazing person Arnie is - the content of the session was appropriate for our clients too!"

Those who attended also had the opportunity of speaking to SCOLA's Information & Guidance team.

Judging by the excellent comments we received I am sure that this was the first of many more great seminars to come!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

How wonderful it is to receive positive comments about SCOLA tutors. A student had this to say about Daniele de Mori Calderon who teaches French : "She was a good teacher and the lessons were enjoyable. It is a pity we are actually moving to France in a few months so will not be able to continue. However, what we have learnt will stand us in good stead and it has given us a good grounding for our future attemps!"

I am sure that Daniele will continue to teach her students so that they benefit from her expertise. Well done, Daniele.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

30 June 2010- Visiting Swimming class at Sherwood park

After a tip off from Kevan Samwells, Programme Manager - Performance, Health, Fitness & Hospitality, to visit this class, Jenny Sims - Strategic Director - and I visited the Sherwood Park Swimming class this evening. Gill Pomeroy the tutor on the course welcomed us with surpirse and appreciation and told us with some vigour and passion about her students.
It was very clear that swimming through her efforts has transformed many lives by teaching people who have often had a lifelong fear of water to swim. One of the students said that after 40 years she is now able to go on holiday with my husband, and be able to join in and use a pool in a hotel and actually feel as though she is benefiting from her holiday. Another said that being able to join her children, grandchildren or friends in the pool rather than always being left out has all been down to Gill's efforts.
A wonderful display of a job well done. An excellent example of what SCOLA is about. I will talk to Jenny and Kevan on how to improve this provision and make sure we allow such programmes to continue running despite all the cuts the sector is facing.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

29 June 2010 End of Year Show at SCOLA

A wonderful display of art was set up in the Europa Gallery from students work at SCOLA.

I had the honour of welcoming the guests and thanking the students for being prepared to have their work put on display. SCOLA technicians, Fay de Winter and Jon Fisher helped the foundation students display their work and also set out the pottery and jewellery displays very effectively. Many of SCOLA's tutors were thanked for ensuring that their areas of work were on display such as Miles Winter - Photography, helped by volunteer, John Stacey; Jo Barnett - Graphic Design; Natalie Gardner - Interior Design; Suzanne Cole and Michael Collins - Visual Arts; Angela Williams, with the help of two of her students, Faye Chaston & Cherry Smith - Drawing & Painting; Amanda Paul - Patchwork & Applique; Dawn Burton - Fashion; Nicky Calvert - Stained Glass, Jane Richards & volunteer, Audrey Bannister - ASDAN Pottery & Ceramics. Faye Bilyard and Natalie Grey were also thanked for the countless hours spent putting together the catalogue for the items on display. Special thanks were given to the library porters for painting the central screens!

It was wonderful to see how well attended the opening ceremony was and how people commented on the quality of the work. A report from the External Verifier regarding the work is expected shortly.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

28 June 2010- Visiting the Office of Naval Research Global

An invite from an old friend and colleague had me visiting the office of Naval Research today. The organisation in building and fostering international connections, propels the execution of long-range strategic efforts that address the future needs of the naval fleet and forces and international partners.

The project that Jake Hodges is involved with is an educational one. One that enables mobile learning for the fleets away from home. An international project that is cutting edge, and very exciting. Jake has invited SCOLA to join the research group with the view for us to use the technology for adult learning. I am very pleased to be part of this group and look forward to working with Jake on creating the future generation of online and distance learning.

Mobile Learning Environment (MoLE) is a multinational, multilingual project aimed at leveraging the global cellular network infrastructure, mobile phones, and emerging phone applications to build a mobile learning capability that facilitates the sharing of educational content between the US and Multinational Partners that initially supports medical stability operations.

SCOLA will be looking to host the first global meeting due to take place in Jan 2011. Watch this space.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

26 June 2010- Wallington Day Fair

This morning started by setting up a stall at the Wallington Day Fair which is organised by the Friends of Wallington Library and Gardens. Two ITEC students from SCOLA gave free reflexology foot massages to the public.

There were councillors selling cakes, the voluntary sector doing raffles and enthusiastic children waiting for the choir to start. The sun shone and a light breeze blew promising that it would be a fun day. Our stall was colourful and well located. We had many visitors who were happy to tell the new Principal of SCOLA how what we offer at the college, changed their life. Many said that without classes at SCOLA they would not know what else they could do. There was clearly a sense that our college community is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

The college's 'Get that job seminar' www.scola.ac.uk/getthatjob and July Learning Month promotion was very popular. I also had the opportunity to put the comments of our community to our Local MP Tom Brake regarding the concessionary fee for over 65's and asked his view on the matter.

It was great to see the SCOLA band there too, led by one of SCOLA's tutors, Maurice Pritchard. They played a few popular numbers and got the crowd's feet tapping.

I had to leave soon after 12 as I had promised to go and participate at the NESCOT open day where there was a promise of an opportunity to dunk the senior management team of the college! It was true and quite fun to watch where and the Vice Principal had no choice but to sit and accept the buckets of water pouring from the top when staff and students hit the bulls eye on the board above her head. An excecllent display of clever and innovative marketing. A joy to be part of and more importantly to have my little pooch Lilia winning the second prize in the best puppy category of the Dog Show. A very good day with memories that will bring a smile to my face.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

25 June 2010- Visit to Orchard Hill College

Today I visited Orchard Hill College in Wallington, who shares the Wallington Town Hall with SCOLA and provides non-residential specialist education services to students with severe Learning Difficulties and Disabilities. The college provides real life learning opportunities within a framework which is flexible, safe and responsive to individual needs. I was greeted by one of the students and was shown around the well-equipped and cheery environs of the centre. The Curriculum Manager at Orchard Hill Wallington explained that most students were out on day activities, shopping, interacting with the public and enjoying the sunshine.

It was great to hear from tutors and assistants that SCOLA and Orchard Hill, as neighbours, have a very good working relationship, which has enabled students to progress after they finish their programmes at Orchard Hill and access further opportunities offered through SCOLA's LLDD department. On several occasions Michele Humphrey's name was mentioned and she was praised for her dedication to her learners and her approach to ensuring there are equal opportunities for learning and progress. Michele is the programme manager at SCOLA and has dedicated her profession to teaching students with learning difficulties and disabilities.

I was warmly greeted by Caroline Allen the Principal of Orchard Hill who I knew remotely from my past work at Carshalton College. She is inspirational, motivating and strongwilled. She explained the work and plans for the future of the college to me and it clearly showed the vision and passion that she has for the work she does. We discussed opportunities of how we could work more closely together to ensure the services we provide for learners are diverse with good progression pathways and at various levels. I very much look forward to working closely with Caroline and her team and wish them the very best of luck for their plans for the future of the college. A worthwhile visit and a supportive friend to work with. What more could you wish for on a Friday morning.

Saboohi Famili - Principal