30 November 2010-Back to Brrrrrrilliant Britain!

What happend to the very pleassant 25'C experienced in Gran Canaria?!!! Landed at Gawick after a delayed flight to be faced with heavy snow and freezing temperatures! Staff and students had to be informed that because of the adverse weather conditions a decision would be made about whether or not to cancel classes - staff and students alike were kept updated via the college website. During the course of the day the snow got thicker and thicker and it seemed very unlikely that we would be able to have students safely travelling to our outreach centres. During the next few days we kept a watchful eye on the weather and updated the notice on the website. The safety of our learners comes first in everything that we do. I was pleased to see so many colleagues making the effort to get to work despite the weather - some walking over 6 miles! We also had many who could not get to work who called in to say they would work from home. Excellent to see such high spirits and dedication on the part of the staff.

I visited Caroline Salters' class which is based in a local resource centre - the course supports students with mental health difficulties working to improve their basis computer skills in a small group. On arrival at the centre, it was amazing to see that Caroline had her students waiting outside the centre ready to learn and keen to show me how they have learnt to use the computer to research their favourite topics and improving their writing and reading skills at the same time. One of the students, John, is a musician and he told me his story about playing his music in Japan and how skillfully he had learnt to play his guitar, which he can play with either his left or right hand. Margaret, another student, said she had enjoyed doing research on the Origins of Christmas online and despite a nasty fall she had endured earlier in the term, she was keen to type up her report to put in her portfolio.

That evening we decided to cancel all classes - many colleagues were stranded for hours when trying to travel home. A long day for many. Let's hope as a country we get to a point that we can be better prepared! Haven't I heard that somewhere before?

Saboohi Famili - Principal