Business students visit London ahead of 2015 general election

As part of the college’s mission to increase political awareness a group of 50 students from across college visited Westminster Palace. This was kindly arranged by Paul Farrelly the MP from Newcastle under Lyme and partly funded by the Government scheme to engage 16-18 year old first time voters. 

The Business students caught the train to London and after a very busy Tube journey and a short walk taking in the London Eye and Westminster Bridge. We arrived at Westminster Palace for our tour, so after the obligatory security checks, we met our tour guide (Colin) in Westminster Hall. 

 

The tour then consisted of us moving from room to room with Colin providing historical facts along the way.  Highlights of the tour included the House of Lords, House of Commons (the interior of which was donated from different countries of the Commonwealth) and one of the original 4 copies of the Magna Carta. 

 

After being filled to the brim with fascinating facts (did you know that there is a fully functional post office in the palace of Westminster that anyone can use?) we all went for lunch to fill up in another way.

After meeting in Parliament Square, at the foot of Gandhi’s statue we made our way to Kensington for some serious window shopping in Harrods and a visit to the Chocolate Café on the second floor. Followed by a train journey home with many tired but politically motivated students.

Dan Turner, Vocational Business lecture, said “It was great to see students from many vocational areas across college so enthused and engaged by our political history and processes. I am sure every one of them will take much more interest in the debates leading up to the 7^th May and are looking forward to casting their vote”.

Students to quiz parties in Question Time event.

 

Friday 27 March saw political party representatives from Conservative, UKIP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and the Green Party quizzed by young people on their parties’ visions for the future.

The vocational business team organised the event in a Question Time format which will allowed them to engage with politicians and get the answers to questions surrounding local politics. This event was organised to engage students with politics and to understand the importance of using their vote.

 

Student Kieran Rosenau-White said: “The event aimed to highlight the importance of voting, even if some students won’t be eligible for this general election. Forming a point of view and understanding policies that will affect themselves or their families will help them to better understand in the future.”

 

NULC students are being encouraged to learn about the main political parties’ policies and plans should they win the election and form their own views on who they’d like to see in power. Around 2,900 NULC students will be eligible to vote by 7 May. During the last general election only 44 per cent of 18-24 year olds voted, meaning that over half are not helping to influence who helps to run the country.

 

 

 

Said Kieran: “Young people can sometimes feel like their opinion isn’t valid, but with less than half of 18-24 year olds voting in the last election, it shows that their views can really make a difference and their vote really does count.”

 

A follow up event has also been arranged where Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Paul Farrelly will be talking to students about his party’s policies and how they could implement these after the next election which includes education, costs of living and many more issues which will effect students at NULC.

 

NULC offers vocational courses across a number of subject areas and 36 different A/AS levels including Government and Politics. If you would like to find out more about our range of courses at NULC, visit: http://www.nulc.ac.uk

 

 

Students develop new business proposals

Business Enterprise and Entrepreneurship students from Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) have been rewarded for successfully developing proposals for new businesses as part of their studies.

The ‘Dragons’ Lair’ event, held on Tuesday 13 May at the College’s £60 million Knutton Lane campus saw seventeen students submit their business proposals to a number of local professionals who judged each proposal presented. The judges who freely gave their time, advice and expertise were:

Lesley Bateman, HR Manager at Altecnic Ltd.
Sonia Clewlow, Managing Director at Purple Cow Training.
Sheila Weightman – Breast Cancer Campaign
Vicki Allen – B-Hygienic
Margaret Jones – Home Retail Group

The winner will be chosen by the judging panel and will be presented with £100 to help kick start their business idea, funded by Altecnic Ltd who sponsored the event.

Janet Heath, Lecturer in Business and Enterprise at NULC said: “The students who participated excelled, showing exceptional creativity and business acumen. We’re all very proud of the students and I’m sure they’ll become successful entrepreneurs in the future.”

For more details about our Business courses at the College, click here.

College hosts an event for business interests

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) is holding an open event on 5th March to promote business courses and increase awareness of women in business.
The College doors are open to anyone who is interested but the organisers – all students – are keen to attract year 10/11s in March to help them understand what business courses offer and give them an insight into women in business in the run-up to International Women’s Day on Saturday 8th March.


The event on Wednesday 5th March 2014, from 9am to 3.15pm at the Knutton Lane campus will feature guest speakers from the local business world. They include Kerry Bonfiglio-Bains of Appointments Personnel a local recruitment specialist; Susan Foreman, Dean of business school and a professor of marketing at Staffordshire University and Hannah Ault PR and Marketing Manager for successful local business Emma Bridgewater Pottery.

Visitors will be able to listen to the guest speakers freely but they will also be able to take part in activities throughout the day. These activities will include the marshmallow challenge which allows team work to develop and also the entrepreneur challenge which will allow everyone to get involved in a project.

Students on the current business course will be running the event and guiding all the visitors throughout the day. A booklet will be provided for those who attend.

‘We are doing this because we want everyone to know what goes on at Newcastle-under-Lyme College and we also want to invite people that don’t know what we do so they can get new information and get to know the business world a little more,’ said Gemma Collyer, Level 3 extended Diploma business studies, year 2.

The event will be sponsored by BS Marson & Sons Ltd, which are a new/used fiat main dealer in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

In the Pink

Newcastle-Under-Lyme College students have raised over £300 by Painting the Town Pink in support of Breast Cancer Campaign.

The Level 2 Diploma in Understanding Enterprise and Entrepreneurship learners ran a market stall in Newcastle town centre selling donated goods in an “Apprentice-style” team challenge.

 

Said Jan Heath, as Lecturer in Business and Enterprise: ”To raise over £300 was a real achievement on a day when town was lashed in rain and almost deserted. We’re grateful for the support of Sheila Weightman, Breast Cancer Campaign’s coordinator, Andy McGill form Newcastle Borough Council and all the local businesses and College departments who helped or donated good.”

The activity formed part of the students’ assessment in working as a team and will be followed by three more team challenges, culminating in a Dragon’s Lair final.

Students join forces in 'Art for Good' sale

Newcastle-under-LymeCollege (NULC) students studying BTEC Level 3 Business have joined forces with a selection of the college’s promising art students to put their work on public sale.

Students have been split into several teams and each team will be representing one artist.  The artists have given their team an inspiring talk about their art work and some insight into the time and effort that goes into each individual piece. 

Each team will compete against each other in selling the art work to raise as much money as possible for the Breast Cancer Campaign Charity. 

The ‘Art for Good’ sale will take place at the Roebuck Centre on Monday 25 March, Tuesday 26 March and Wednesday 27 March between 10am and 2pm.  Each piece of art work is individual and prices start from just £5. 

Commenting on the artist’s work, Deborah Hilditch, Curriculum Manager Art and Creative Studies, said: “The sale celebrates the breadth and wealth of art and design undertaken by students on a variety of creative courses at the College.”

She continued: “Art work is individual to each artist and has been produced as part of a variety of Level 2 and Level 3 courses.  The work explores a wide range of themes and incorporates a variety of materials and processes.”

Becky Sargeant, Curriculum Leader of Business said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for art and business students to work together to support each other and raise money for a fantastic cause.”

Anyone interested in purchasing a piece of artwork should visit the Roebuck Centre on Monday 25 March – Wednesday 27 March between 10am and 2pm.

NULC offers a wide range of creative and business courses at various levels.  For further information visit www.nulc.ac.uk, contact the Information Point on 01782 254254 or email info@nulc.ac.uk. 

Students paint the town pink!

Students studying BTEC Level 2 and 3 in Business got off to a great start to the academic year, with a guest speaker from Breast Cancer UK, launching the ‘Paint the Town Pink’ project.

The aim of the ‘Paint the Town Pink’ project is to raise money for breast cancer as well as giving the learners a real life project to work on, demonstrating many skills including finance and marketing.

Sheila Weightman, from Breast Cancer UK, gave the learners an inspiring talk, after which learners were asked to decide on a charity event that they could carry out to raise money and awareness of the charity. The learners came up with some very innovative ideas and one idea was picked by the business lecturers for the learners to complete.

The learners will be aiming to sell as much ribbon as possible to ensure that they can wrap a massive bow around the college, during breast cancer awareness week from the 22 to 26 October. Both the learners and teaching staff are very excited about this challenge as it will teach valuable business skills and raise awareness and money for a very worthwhile cause.

To find out more about studying Business at NULC click here or contact the Information Point on 01782 254254 or email info@nulc.ac.uk.