29 September 2010 - SCOLA praised!

How wonderful it was to receive a letter from a student thanking the Head of ICT, John Faulkner, for his suggestions on how SCOLA may be able to help her continue with her IT studies - ".....just the thought that something might be possible has perked me up no end".

Hopefully we will soon have a programme in place for this student and she will be able to continue with her IT studies!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

28 September 2010 - 'Personal Best' at SCOLA

The Principal of SCOLA recently visited a group of students finishing a 10-week 'Personal Best' course for adults looking to return to work through volunteering. As part of the course, the students completed units covering Public Safety Awareness, Customer Relations, Equality & Diversity, Conflict resolution in a Public Environment, developing Team & Interpersonal Skills, Undertaking and Reflecting on skills developed in Voluntary Placements.

In addition, the students also completed the Red Cross 'Basic First Aid' qualification and the Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering awarded by the Royal Society for Public Health.

Kevan Samwells - Programme Manager
Performance, Health, Fitness & Hospitality

24 September 2010- Help save our funding.

You will all be aware of the Government’s decision to reduce the budget deficit. Many people agree that cuts are needed. However, the Treasury are not as convinced about the value of adult education as we are. There is a very real risk that colleges such as SCOLA will face a massive and disproportionate reduction in Government funding. The net effect could result in very large fee increases. A major cut would potentially jeopardise the future of SCOLA itself.
It is difficult to argue for no cuts at all, but we must do everything possible to present the strongest case for fair treatment so that we can continue to provide a wide range of affordable courses for our community. We believe that in these difficult times, adult education courses are more important than ever, both in terms of giving people new skills and in providing some respite from the hardships we may face.

We urgently need our learners’ voice and support as we try our hardest to persuade the Government of the importance of maintaining funding for adult education.

How can you help?

Your voice is vital, so is the voice of our learners. Please help us by writing to your local MP and encouraging your learners to do the same. The more correspondence they get the stronger our case will be.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

24 September 2010- New Town Centre

Art of Suburbia launches the new high street in Sutton with the very best British and International street arts. A unique carnival atmosphere comes to Sutton High Street to celebrate the launch of our new look town centre on 24 & 25 September 2010. I am looking forward to the events and hope to see many of you there!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

22 September 2010- SFTRA Annual General Meeting

This evening I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Sutton Federation of Tenant & Resident Associations. The Chair, Jean Corsby, was retiring and I felt it appropriate to be present to wish her farewell and good luck for a very long and happy retirement. A very emotional farewell from Jean was followed by many tributes from the members.

The AGM was well attended. Around 100 residents were present and a few were keen to talk to me about their experience of studying at SCOLA and how they valued what we offer. Rosemary Langley, an 80 year old lady, came to me after the event with and complimented me on one of our IT tutors, Derek Marshall, who had taught her IT from scratch. She is keen to come back to the college despite having had some health issues last year and was impressed to hear that we have now developed a much more improved TryIT centre. Yet another example of what SCOLA is all about.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

23 Sep 2010- Meeting and Greeting new Students

This week I had the pleasure of meeting learners in some of our outreach centres. One in particular stands out - this was at Carshalton Boys School . Arriving just after 6.30pm I found the centre staff, Angela Basusi and Debbie Roberts, setting up and getting organised. Greeting students, guiding them to their classes, organising tutors and giving them the necessary paperwork and register all worked very smoothly. I specifically enjoyed the ritual "crossing the fingers" when Angela plugged in the laptop and all in attendance clinched their fingers in a prayer that all would be well! A sigh of relief was heard when everything worked and then it was time for me to say goodbye and leave them to prepare the tea for the upcoming break. Walking away to the car smiling to myself, I knew that SCOLA should be proud to have such good humoured and dedicated staff at the front line and that their main concern is to provide good customer service to our clients. I have been very impressed by what I have seen at our many centres from the begining of the term and immensely priviledged to lead our college. Well done to all!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

Exciting New Seminars!

As part of the Lecture Series@SCOLA, we will be holding 2 exciting seminars in October at our North Cheam centre.


Effective Parenting: Dealing with Challenging Behaviour.

Monday 11th October, 7pm-9pm at SCOLA North Cheam, £10 per place

A talk by Clinical Psychologist Dr Angel Adams.

The workshop will offer strategies for:

• Dealing with challenging behaviours
• Promoting positive
• Enhancing your child’s self-esteem
• 5 top parenting tips to help children handle anger and anxiety

Genealogy: Who Do You Think They Are?

Thursday 14th October, 7pm-9pm at SCOLA North Cheam, £10 per place.

Learn how to catch up with your past and trace your ancestors.

To enrol, see www.scola.ac.uk or contact the enrolment centre on 0208 770 5566.

17 September 2010 - Horace (2) - Finding SCOLA

Horace sat under the garden shed looking at the rain. He was undeterred. The rain was not heavy. It was actually quite musical bouncing off the garden sieve left hanging on the nail and the odd tin can. He thought about composing a tune to its accompaniment but then decided, "No! That would be a displacement activity." He'd read about them in the magazine someone had wrapped the tulip bulbs in. They were the things that you did when you wanted to do something else but didn't really want to do it and so you found lots of other things to do instead until you really had to get on with it, or you found something else to do, or you went off and made a cup of tea and forgot what it was you were doing in the first place! But of course, that never happens to you does it?

Today Horace was going to the SCOLA Information, Advice & Guidance Centre to see what course they thought he should study. "There must be really clever people there if they can give information and guidance," he thought. "All those different people coming in with their questions, and they know all the answers! Fantastic! That sounds like a really useful job." Horace had sometimes dreamed of being really useful. Most of the time he was content to be a two year old hedgehog finding his way in the world. But sometimes, the thought of people looking to him for advice; waiting with bated breath to see what he had to say....why, he might even decide to be a teacher one day. But not just yet.

The rain eased a little. It was what they called in Ireland a "Soft day." That meant you could just about see the wall at the end of the garden and would be soaked in ten minutes but that it wasn't really very cold with it. Just wet! He hunched his shoulders and set out.

He carefully avoided all the passing cars on his way. He'd heard about the dangers from them although he hadn't conducted a full risk assessment for his journey. When he reached the bottom of Sutton High Street he felt a little uncomfortable. It seemed a bit rough, especially near MacDonald's. But then the rich smells from the French Farmer's Market drew him on. The cheeses and the cakes and the biscuits were temptation incarnate. But he was a hedgehog with a purpose. He was not to be diverted.

When he asked people for directions they all seemed to have heard of SCOLA, but when he got as far as Waterstones on the corner he couldn't see any signs. "Hmm!" he thought, "I'll have to have a word about this. How is a poor hedgehog who is only two supposed to find Advice and Guidance if he doesn't know where to look?" That seemed almost a circular question but before he got stuck in trying to solve it a kindly old lady saw him revolving in confusion and pointed the way.

He set off, past the men with their mechanical diggers, past the pubs and the men standing in the doorways waiting for the rain to stop so that they could go and smoke their cigarettes. And there it was! In the distance! He saw the banner - 'Do something brilliant this year' 'Enrol at SCOLA.' The words, 'SCOLA', 'brilliant' and 'Enrol' shone out at him. He saw the blue sky and the signposts, and the birds circling! He had arrived! He was going to do something billiant!

Jan Koene - Author

Wallington Open Day - Sat 11th September 2010

The Open Day at Wallington centre on Saturday was a huge success!

Leaflet drops, marketing in Wallington and visitors to the Farmers market all contributed to a busy morning, with prospectuses flying out the doors and happy students leaving after free ITEC treatments. The treatments on offer included manicures, reflexology and indian head massages.

Curriculum manager Kevan Samwells multi-tasked, giving free on-site massages as well as tutoring the free pilates taster courses we had on offer!

There were art and floristry demonstrations and wonderful displays of photography, pottery, stained glass and an array of beautiful quilts. Curriculum managers Caroline O'Reilly and Angela Williams were on hand to discuss languages and art, and the Drop in IT, advice and SFL support proved to be very popular too.

Many people did not know that we had our centre in Wallington and so the Open Day provided an opportunity for them to look around, ask questions and enrol!. Numerous enrolments were taken and a huge amount of queries were dealt with.

The Open Day was a success due to the hard work of Laurie Nicholls, her team and caretakers and also huge thanks go to Kevan Samwells, Jacqui McElwee, Angela Williams, Amanda Paul, Caroline O'Reilly, Frances Steinke, Jo Richardson, Kelly Cotton, Derek Marshall, David Talbot, the ITEC students and Debbie Sykes for their continued support and help that day.

Also thanks to Rob Springgay and Jan Koene who created all the promotional material, working to tight deadlines as ever!

There will be another Open Day in North Cheam on Saturday 30th October so watch the web for details!!

Kasumi Witty

Learner & Client Services Manager

14 September 2010 - SCOLA praised!

How wonderful it was to receive a letter from a student thanking Jenny Sims - Strategic Director, Employment, Vocational & Work Skills; Fi Harvie - Tutor, NVQ3 Teaching Assistants and SCOLA in general for giving her the opportunity to attend the NVQ3 Teaching Assistants course which has enabled her to continue within the teaching assistant role that she performs and loves.

She has praised Fi's help, support and guidance which she says has been 'second to none'!

Thank you for your kind words, Jane - we wish you all the best for the future.

Saboohi Famili - Principal

13 September 2010 - Back to school!

Last week saw many of our colleagues returning to college after a well deserved summer break. Some with suntans to the envy of others, some with great stories to tell of their adventures over the holiday period.

I was pleased to meet with many colleagues during the briefing sessions held this week for all staff. I welcomed the positive feedback from them which has encouraged me to continue with various plans knowing that I will have the support and unity we need to weather the storm we are to face. This academic year will be trying, but we are ready. Upwards and onwards!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

6 September 2010 - Stanley Park School

I had the pleasure of meeting with Alex Thomson, Deputy Headteacher, from Stanley Park School today. The school has been one of the pathfinder schools for the School of the Future Programme and has received support and funding to transform itself into one of the best schools in Sutton. Alex passionately shared with me their vision and plans for the future and explained how they have used the design and planning of the building to ensure it will have a direct impact on the way that the school is run. Innovative thinking, from designing of the space to state of the art technology that they have purchased, as well as staff development programmes that have been put together, all aid the school in reaching its ambition to be a community school of choice that provides a high quality learning experience that results in great success rates. It was encouraging meeting with an inspiring colleague. I wish the school, staff and students the very best of luck!

Saboohi Famili - Principal

7 September 2010 - The tales of Horace 1.

Horace the Hedgehog woke suddenly. The sun was streaming through his leafy shelter. Motes of dust and strands of cobweb could be seen drifting by, dancing in the morning breeze. But it wasn't the sun that had woken him. No, he definitely had something on his mind. You know how it is. If you go to sleep promising yourself to remember something in the morning you will probably wake up several times in the night thinking it is morning already and that you must get on with whatever it was. Then, the chances are that you will oversleep because you were awake so much in the night.

He stretched, easing his prickels and spine. "So," Horace muttered, "morning at last. What do I have to do today?" When the answer did not immediately suggest itself he decided to have a quick snack as a way of focussing. For a morning treat he had bought himself some waffles at the woodland supermarket, Alfrescos.

It was in the middle of buttering his waffles that it came to him. "Ah yes," he muttered. "SCOLA." To the uninitiated the word might have seemed a Buddhist mantra muttered often with the morning exercises to give focus to an otherwise empty day. But no, this was so much bigger. So all encompassing! It promised to transform his life. He was going to enrol on a course. But the troubling question was, "What course?" Last night he had had a flash of genius. He had studied the prospectus - so much to choose from - and then written each course that he wanted to study on a post-it note. These he had filed on his spines - the logical place. At least, it had seemed logical last night.

Imagine the scene if you will: a small hedgehog (he was only 2) gently rotating on a bed of leaves, his spines covered with yellow post-it notes, his teeth and paws struggling to remove them and place them in a logical order on the ground in front of him only to have to have the breeze periodically re-shuffle them or even remove them entirely.

He considered Shiatsu, but realised that realistically it would be difficult for someone to massage his spine to any good effect. He thought about Indian head massage, but then decided that he did not know any Indians to practice on.

By a process of hedgehog logic and elimination - that is, selecting the post-its that had not blown away, he decided to try clock repair and Pilates. These were two separate courses of course, but he had decided to treat himself.

He finished his waffles feeling quite pleased with himself. This year he was going to do something brilliant. He was going to change his life. He would enrol on a course of study. Being a canny hedgehog, he would use these two as a taster so that he could work out what he really wanted to do. Who knows, at a certain point he might even feel brave enough to undertake something more academic. He could learn a foreign language or improve his maths or English. A world of opportunity lay before him.

The tales of Horace will continue in a fortnight...

Jan Koene

4 September 2010 - SCOLA hits the High Street!

The opportunity to try out some circus skills drew in the crowds on Saturday, with children and adults alike trying their hand at diablos, Chinese ribbons, Poi and plate spinning.

James Waters, from PressPlay Productions, is most well-known for the SCOLA family days, but on Saturday he impressed passers by and made many stop, watch and join in too!

The day was a success with many people asking for information on courses and boxes of prespectuses had been given out by the end of the day.

Thanks go to Barbara, Jenny, Jan and Saboohi for their help - it was a great day, enjoyed by all.

Kasumi Witty - Learner & Client Services Manager

1 September 2010- A Century of Olympic Posters Exhibition

A heaving Europa Gallery hosted the launch of "A Century of Olympic Posters" - an excellent platform for the exhibition and the programme of events that accompanied it. The exhibition is on from 1 September to 31 October 2010.

This touring exhibition enables new audiences to see the Victoria & Albert Museum's collection in a new context. An official from the V & A said: "A Century of Olympic Posters" first opened in Beijing in January 2008 in the run up to the Beijing Olympic Games. Since then it has been travelling in China and Britain and it will be going on to Mumbai and Melbourne among other destinations. Lord Tope CBE said that they were delighted that more people will have the opportunity to see the exhibition in Sutton and it is great to have the exhibition on display in London- the 2012 olympic city.

The exhibition was opened by David Weir MBE, Paralympic Gold Medallist and Freeman of the London Borough of Sutton and includes a special exhibition from Lloyds TSB of works of art in tribute to him.

After the opening ceremony I enjoyed walking around the inspiring posters. They provided windows into the cultural concerns and international politics of their time- some of them gave a shiver of history as you walked past. What I enjoyed about the exhibition was the number of different stories it told. In one respect it was the story of the Games themselves. Tracing the development of Olympic posters is also a chance to take a look at one hundred years of poster design - revealing the evolution of graphic styles, approaches and printing technologies.

A facinating exhibition that is well worth a visit. Hope you can make the time to see it.

Saboohi Famili - Principal