News

Continuing controversy over College scheme

Published

8 years ago

February 2, 2016

Artist’s impression: The new sixth form centre

PROPOSALS for a new £6.6m A-Level Centre were unveiled at Pembrokeshire College, Haverfordwest, on Monday (Jan 18).

A press release from the College describes the plan as a ‘cutting edge centre which will allow the college’s A-Level students and students from Ysgol Bro Gwaun and Ysgol Dewi Sant to attend the college for sixth form education from September 2017, subject to ministerial approval’.

The plans for the centre promise “exceptional sixth form facilities” including new science laboratories, vibrant classrooms, flexible delivery space, high quality sports facilities and state-of-the-art learning technology.

Pembrokeshire College’s principle, Sharron Lusher said: “By investing in an A-level Centre, we are investing in the futures of the young people of Pembrokeshire and showing our commitment to providing the best educational opportunities possible, both now and in the future,”

‘EXCITING TIMES’

The development is planned to be a two-storey new building on the campus, which will be linked to the existing college. The vocational areas are also being remodelled, and with the location of the centre A-level learners will be able to have access to vocational qualifications.

Last year the college reported the A-level enrolments increasing to 150, over double the previous year, with the proposed merger with Fishguard and St Davids sixth forms an additional 100 students are expected for 2017 with the figure increasing the following year to 170.

This will see Pembrokeshire College become the largest provider of A-level qualifications in the county. It will be run by an A-level committee, which will consist of school, college and local authority representation.

“This is an extremely exciting time for both Pembrokeshire and Pembrokeshire College,” said Mrs Lusher.

“The A-level Centre will provide a dynamic environment that will allow us to prepare our young people for the workplace or higher education. With almost 200 learners progressing to university last year, the centre will become a valuable resource in helping even more learners to progress to some of the UK’s top universities.”

COLLEGE DOESN’T HAVE THE CASH

The College anticipates the £6.6m will be funded partly through Welsh Government 21st Century School funding and partly by itself. In practice this potentially means that the local authority will be stumping up half the development costs, as the College does not have the money to complete the project unaided.

Considering alternatives: School governor Paul Lucas

The Herald has been told by a member of College staff that the College’s intention to begin works in June 2016, and that internal works will begin at that time.

The plans include a sports centre and new science labs.

There will be a new reception area, increasing the Hair & Beauty department and drama facilities.

Our source told us that existing members of staff expect classrooms to be ‘tarted up’. Quite how the College intends to address what are understood to be significant concerns by potential students about the level of tutor support has not been specified.

In addition, owing to the lack of expert teachers at the College to teach the full-range of A Level subjects, there are also concerns at the concentration on too narrow a curriculum, unless the College and Council are somehow able to co-ordinate all teaching provision across every Pembrokeshire secondary school and compel teachers to teach A Level classes at the College.

At no stage has the authority specified how it intends to resolve timetabling, staffing, and pay issues, despite now being more than five years into the 21st Century Schools programme.

NO END IN SIGHT FOR HAVERFORDWEST

The Herald has been told by a separate source at Pembrokeshire College that the organisation’s underlying strategy is to create a centre to entice pupils away from schools whose governing bodies, parents, and stakeholders resist the blandishments of the College and the pressure from the Council. Meanwhile The Herald has established that a combined sixth form of Tasker-Milward and Sir Thomas Picton schools would more than meet the minimum requirement for student numbers for a viable sixth form.

Were the College to make its own application for 21st Century Funding, it would be compelled to carry its own consultations with affected parties instead of having the local authority fight those battles on its behalf.

Planning consent has not yet been sought for the development, which also has to be approved by the Welsh Government before works can begin and public money allocated it. The Herald understands there is a significant risk that the grand scheme will not be approved by the Welsh Government as long as the issue of Haverfordwest Schools’ futures remains undetermined.

Such a prospect places added pressure on Pembrokeshire County Council to force through its own wishes for the reorganisation of sixth form education regardless of opposition or potential legal challenge.

The Herald has been told that legal action is more probable than not, as the Council seems prepared to ‘play chicken’ to get its own way. Council Chief Ian Westley is particularly keen to avoid a potentially prolonged legal dispute regarding post-16 education in the town, particularly given the potential for embarrassment to the authority thanks to its blundering, duplicitous, and heavy-handed approach to the consultation process – a hangover from a previous executive regime.

SCHOOL GOVERNOR RESPONDS

Paul Lucas, Chair of the Joint Governing Body of Tasker-Milward and Sir Thomas Picton Schools said: “In Haverfordwest the Tasker Milward Governors are still looking for a single new 11 to 19 secondary school with equally good facilities to embrace a wide academic curriculum including a full range of sporting and community amenities.

The vast majority of parents and pupils have already made their views clear to the governors in that a sixth form within a school is an inherent and influential part of that school. If the sixth form is removed from the school this will, in our view, cause irreparable damage to what is left of that school, and this aspect is particularly important in our Pembrokeshire community.

“The school staff have supported this view in the past and from the information provided to me to date I have no reason to believe that this has changed in any way.”

Farming

Animal health and welfare workshops help family farm shape future business

Published

2 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

AN eagerness to learn new skills and knowledge is helping mother and son Dianna and Iestyn Spary to continually improve their livestock farming enterprise and build a financially sustainable business fit for the future.

Technical expertise and good business sense are not qualities the Sparys lack since embarking on an impressive number of Farming Connect workshops, covering a range of animal health and welfare topics.

“It’s been an amazing opportunity, we have learned so much that we can apply within the day to day running of our farm and herd, and we can draw on that knowledge as we look at developing new enterprises and diversifications,’’ says Dianna.

She is the fifth generation of her family to farm at Goytre Farm at New Church West, Chepstow, Iestyn the sixth.

Together they farm 110 hectares, running a Hereford-cross beef suckler herd and also rearing beef cattle purchased as baby calves, including more recently British Blues, taking these through to slaughter.

Although they have been immersed in agriculture all their lives, they recognise that it is an industry that is constantly changing as new research and ideas are rolled out and applied.

This is where the Farming Connect workshops have been so incredibly valuable, says Dianna.

“You are never too old to learn, things are changing all the time. If we hadn’t got involved in attending the workshops, we would never have known about some of those new ways of doing things.’’

From learning how to maximise suckler cow productivity and protecting youngstock health to understanding diseases such as Johne’s and bovine TB, the animal health and welfare training workshops have been “enormously valuable’’, she adds.

The pair have tapped into Farming Connect accredited training courses covering areas such as calf management, health and housing, body condition scoring and safe use of veterinary medicines.

“You name it we have done it,’’ says Dianna.

They were announced the winners of the 2023 Farming Connect Animal Health and Welfare Award at the Lantra Cymru Awards in January.

The knowledge gained through Farming Connect workshops and training has helped inform changes in the business.

“We now monitor cattle weights more closely and have introduced different ways of feeding,’’ Dianna explains.

“We have also been revamping all the cattle sheds and have a couple of new ones that will be going up.

“We’ve also invested in calf jackets and if there are any drops in weights, we are more responsive with feed intakes, little things like that.’’

Iestyn has also benefited from a number of sheep-related topics offered through the animal health workshops.

Through the Farming Connect Advisory Service, they have received specialist veterinary advice on their Herd Health Plan with a focus on incoming stock and biosecurity. They have also had guidance on soil health through the soil clinic.

The Sparys largely use traditional farming methods at Goytre Farm where they have several hay meadows.

All feed is produced on-farm. “By doing everything in-house we know exactly what we are feeding and that’s important to us,’’ says Dianna.

That distinctiveness, which sets them apart from some of the more mainstream farming systems, has given them the confidence to consider establishing a diversification into meat box sales, what Dianna describes as a ‘farm to fork’ approach.

Working with a local butcher who has an abattoir licence, they hope to do everything on-site, from slaughter through to hanging the carcass for 28 days, and then selling cuts direct to the consumer.

“We have also spoken to a chef who is going to produce some recipe cards for us to include in the boxes along with a bit of history of where the meat has come from,’’ says Dianna.

Another future project could be converting stone barns in the farmyard to holiday accommodation.

To help focus their minds on their plans, the Sparys will get guidance at a Farming Connect diversification surgery; they have also signed up for a ‘planning a diversification’ training course and will attend a ‘Dos and Don’ts of Diversification’ event in the coming weeks.

For Iestyn, another form of diversification, into agricultural contracting, has provided a secondary income stream.

His customer base is largely farms with smaller acreages with crops that require harvesting or spraying.

Farming Connect has helped with this process too as Iestyn has gained his Level 2 Award in the Safe Use of Pesticides (PA1) and Safe Application of Pesticides Using Vehicle mounted Boom Sprayer Equipment (PA2).

He also offers field maintenance and fencing and works on a neighbouring farm during the lambing season.

This is where Farming Connect has again helped; through the animal health workshops, he has covered modules advising on the prevention of lambing losses and lameness, improving lamb performance post-weaning and parasite controls.

Dianna says the opportunities available through Farming Connect have really helped to drive the family farming business forward.

“We have a good relationship with our local Farming Connect development officer Lisa Powell, she has been brilliant in giving us advice on which courses and workshops are right for us and signing us up for those,’’ she says.

All your achievements, training and knowledge transfer activities are saved within your personal, online Storfa Sgiliau account, the unique, online professional development tool, available for you to view and download at any time from your BOSS (Business Online Support Service) account.

Education

Lib Dem leader meets student union after scrapping of teacher training

Published

5 hours ago

April 29, 2024

Tom Sinclair

Last week, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds visited Aberystwyth University to meet students following the announcement that the University will be scrapping their Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) program.

The announcement comes after the publication of an Estyn inspection report last year, which found that the institution had “been too slow” when it came to prioritising student support.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have now called for the University to produce and implement an action plan that will enable the reintroduction of this course at the earliest opportunity, as well as for the Uni to rectify any similar shortcomings in other training programs.

Commenting, the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds MS said:

“Aberystwyth university has long been seen as a cornerstone of education here in Wales, and its role in shaping the future of Welsh-medium education is pivotal.

However, the decision by the Education Workforce Council to withdraw accreditation for their teacher training program now puts this at risk.

The report published by Estyn rightfully identified several flaws in the Uni’s approach to supporting student teachers, along with requiring the University to make significant improvement.

The decision of the EWC suggest that these improvements have not been made.

We are now calling on the University to get their act together, fix the shortcomings in this program and begin plans to reintroduce the course as soon as possible.

Commenting, a spokesperson for the Welsh Young Liberals said: “There was an overwhelming lack of support, especially for Disabled Students, which has been consistent since 2020.

Previous lecturers were always late, and assignments were marked late and inconsistently.

As a joint honours student my timetable is very erratic, and this has an adverse effect on my wellbeing.

This does not however, mean that the course should be cut, Aberystwyth university should be looking to improve the course and help deliver the next generation of teachers.”

Commenting, the Welsh Liberal Democrat PPC for Ceredigion Mark Williams said: “The reputation of Aberystwyth University as a well-respected centre of education is rightfully a source of pride for many residents here in Ceredigion.

This is why it is so dis-heartening to hear that the Uni have failed to take the recommendations in the 2023 Estyn report seriously, leading them into the embarrassing position of losing their accreditation which risks delivering a severe blow to the future of Welsh-medium education.

The lack of foresight from the Uni in this regard is deeply worrying and I hope that, for the sake of both the students and the wider community, they take all the steps needed to restart the course at the earliest opportunity.”