Opening of the Common Room

Bit of a wee break since the last post, as I have been very busy focusing on assignment work and enjoying some of the different things that the college has had to offer J.

It’s been a busy week all around for everyone at the college. First of all the college official opened Social Space for students to come, eat food, mess about, game and generally relax. This new social space is open every Tuesday and Thursday 12 till 2 and I have really enjoyed seeing the students come in and enjoy themselves.

Opening Tuesday  saw Street Fighter being taken to the big screen (well the biggest we could find) with myself and others finding just how badly we could beat each other up by spamming buttons, have to admit , I got beat up pretty badly L  I got my own back when WII Tennis got brought out :D

Thursday saw a much quieter and relaxed day with students starting the FIFA tournament (which is open to all students in college) while other decided to sit back and draw. I had to leave early on that day but rumours have it that students even ended up playing Just Dance by the end of the day.

Our fun filled week ended on Friday when the college came out in force to raise money for Sports Relief as we all ran, walked or crawled for charity. Many of the staff and students decided dress up for the event.  There is still a bit of debate amongst the staff and students about who crossed the line first ;)

Check back after Easter to see what fantastic events we have planned & for more Social Space fun(the Students' Common Room)

From Thomas Black

Level 3 IT Student

Trip to Teeside Uni

It has been an interesting week, as me and students from Health and Social and Public Services were invited to Teesside University for the day. An amazing opportunity that we gladly took with both hands.

No waiting about, as soon as we got there we were ushered into one of the large lecture theatres where we listened to different presentations from different staff that work at Teesside. The first presentation was mostly information we had all heard before but with little quirky things about uni life that were mixed into the presentation still made this interesting. Next was a presentation on finance and the different types of support that we can receive once at uni. I personally have heard a lot of different rumours about the cost of going to university and this really helped put my mind at rest. Lastly, we had a graduate from the university speak to us about what uni is like from a student’s point of view. This was very informative for me personally and gave me a good idea of what to expect when/if I do go to university. Most importantly we learn to be careful with bananas :D

After a quick lunch it was time to split up and have our taster sessions. Myself and the rest of the IT students went for a crash course in Game Design. I’m going to be honest, Game Design wasn’t my first choice of subjects, personally I’m a very logical and unimaginative person so I was very surprised when I ended the day and loved the session I had taken part in.

It was a very relaxed session where we learned about some of the different aspects of Game Design and how different types of people can fit into the industry. The session ended with us creating an “Escape the Room” game with random objects that we had selected. Some of these objects were;

A cryptex… (if you don’t know what this is get watching the Da Vinci Ccde)

A pirate ship

An axe

This was all based in Ancient Egypt and did I mention the 15 minute time limit we had to make this all make sense?

We just managed to finish this before we had to meet up with everyone else again and head home.

Overall a very enjoyable day and not at all what I was expecting from a trip to a university.

I can’t wait to go back.

Thomas Black 

What's Happening?

Guess who? It’s me again. A week of me blogging whilst the students are busy working on their college work. The past few weeks have been quite busy within college from “Safer Internet Day”, Valentine’s Day and now we are looking forward to Sport Relief in March.

Safer Internet Day was held on 9^th February nationally and saw people up and down the country learning and trying to gain a wider understanding of how the internet can be dangerous. Students gathered in Conference 5 to watch the harrowing tale of Breck Bednar. Breck Bednar was a 14 year old boy who was murdered after he was groomed online by a gamer he had met online. The documentary showed the harsh true facts of what can happen on the internet. Also within college there was a set of boards displaying posters, which highlight the dangers and give advice of how to remain safe whilst on the internet. E-Safety is an ongoing issue which can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or race.

Also during that week the Ambassadors were hard at work selling chocolate gifts for Valentine’s Day, which I then delivered around college (I felt like a real life Cupid haha). I was so impressed with the amount of people who joined in with the fun and bought their special someone a special treat. I would like to say a massive thank you to the Ambassadors who helped sell and distribute the Valentine’s gifts and to Tina Preston who worked alongside me creating the little bags of love.

Now onto events that are coming soon….

Sport Relief is taking place on Friday 18^th March, which helps charities around the UK and other countries make people’s lives a little bit better. From mental health, homelessness to funding health services in deprived countries. This year here at the college we are hosting a 1 mile fun run along Seaton Carew front. Everyone is invited to participate in this fun run/walk/skip/jump whatever you want just pay a £1 to sign up either at Student Services or your Form Tutor. Fancy dress is optional but there will be a prize for the best fancy dress and the fastest time for male and female.

ALSO COMING SOON… THE SOCIAL SPACE IS GOING TO BE REVEALED…

Watch this Space...

First Student Blog

This week there are few new things happening around your college…

It is the run up to Valentine’s Day and love is in the air around us! The ambassadors will be selling chocolate hearts for you to give to the one who holds your heart! They will be sold next week at the cafeteria during dinner by our ambassadors at £1 a bag and they are also available at Erin’s desk in Student Services. They are also being delivered around the college on Friday 12^th February.

There is also an Instagram competition running for Safer Internet Day. This promotes our use of the internet and helps people stay safe while surfing the internet. Ambassadors will be taking teddies and hearts to classes for everyone to take pictures with! Make sure you put your photos on twitter or Instagram and #ShareaHeart and #FELife.

In March there will be a fancy dress walk-a-thon, skip-a-thon, jump-a-thon don’t wear a thong fun run to raise money for Sport Relief. Sport and Public Services students will be marshalling the fun run and hopefully lots of people get involved! Start signing up now J  It starts at Navigation Point and there will be a layout that lasts a mile! Hope to see people involved!

Games Club! The Games Club is being set up and will be sorted out soon! We are open to offers on game but so far it will include a range of consoles from the Xbox 360 to the Nintendo Wii! There may even be retro gaming involved – the Gamecube and the original Xbox may make an appearance! Any games that people may be interested in can be requested to Erin or any of the ambassadors and we will try our best!

I think I’ve covered everything from our latest meeting so now onto basic college life…

Okay so I’m a 17 year old girl, and my genre of music is based around pop-punk and rock music. I’m mentioning this because last night I went to a Bowling for Soup gig in Leeds, believe me it was amazing! They closed with 1985 and then everyone was shouting for an encore so they officially ended on Girl All the Bad Guys Want. During the set they ‘rocked too hard’ and blew two amp leads so they had to stop twice during the set. Today is Thursday and let me tell you my throat hurts from singing so much! Being in Hartlepool FE gives me the opportunity to see bands like this because I can balance my social life and things I enjoy doing with my college life easily. I also have a weekend job in a takeaway and my college life doesn’t affect my ability to do these things and be able to provide for myself.

I am in college three days a week and I have made some good friends here who I feel will be with me later in life as we are all really close. Overall I love being in Hartlepool College of Further Education and I wouldn’t change it or my time here for anything.

Happy New Year

It’s been a few weeks since I have blogged – sorry about this I had serious writer’s block.

The past few weeks have been full of new beginnings from New Year to a new term here at the FE. Since being back here I have been trying to organise and come up with some new interesting ideas for events or activities that the students would like to see.

On Tuesday I met with my Ambassadors for the first meeting of 2016, which left me very excited! In the meeting we discussed several upcoming events that are going to be happening in the next few months including a student taking over my blog for the next few weeks!! During the meeting the Ambassadors were split into two groups and asked to come up with some ideas of what we can do in the next few months – well done to all of the Ambassadors who gave ideas as they were fab and can’t wait to unveil them to you… WATCH THIS SPACE…

Also this week I have been working to try and develop a “What’s On” guide for students, which will have several events advertised for inside and outside of college. These will hopefully be available from end of Feb so make sure you grab one when they’re unveiled!

From next week the blog will be taken over by students for a few weeks so I am excited to see the Ambassador’s version of this blog so make sure you keep reading J I wish the Ambassadors the best of luck with it and I will be popping up every now and again with a few posts but the students are taking over till March!!

In the coming few weeks I will be running a Instagram competition so make sure you look at the Twitter page @FELife15 or the Facebook page HCFE Events for more details and how to enter…

Check back next week for a list of upcoming events within the college…

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths” Walt Disney

Christmas Break

Hi all,

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas break and getting some well deserved rest.

2016 is nearly here and now is the time when everyone starts to make New Year's Resolutions...

I have decided that this year instead of writing a list of resolutions I am going to write a Bucket List for 2016 all the things I would like to do in 2016, which perhaps I haven't done before or I just haven't done much of it before:

1. Try something new
2. Go to a place I have never been before
3. Try a food I have never eaten before
4. Go a whole day without using any technology
5. Fundraise for charities
6. Get students more involved with activities within college

2016 could be your year what things can you think of that maybe you could try or just do more of this year? Comment below with your 2016 Bucket List ideas

Also I am intrigued to hear what types of cross college activities you would like to see in the new year, as I am eager to get back to the college and plan some more exciting events! If you could comment below any ideas you have that would be massively appreciated or come and see me when we're back on 4th January I am based in Student Services.

I wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope that 2016 brings you all the luck and happiness and everything you wish for :)

"A New Year is on the way and the possibilities are endless"

 

Text Santa Christmas Jumper Day

Yesterday the college held their “Text Santa” Christmas Jumper Day to help raise money for some amazing charities. People paid a £1 to wear their festive knits and join in the festive fun around college. Well done to everyone who took part and donated to the help of the charities.

Text Santa supports the amazing work of Macmillan Cancer Support, Make a Wish Foundation & Save the Children. All three charities work hard all year through to support people around the world who need it.

o   Macmillan Cancer Support helps the people and their families affected by cancer from giving them high quality information  about their cancer to providing support to everyone involved to ensure they feel fully supported during such a terrible time.

o   Make a Wish Foundation grants wishes to children fighting life threatening conditions. Whether it’s starring in their own films, walking with dinosaurs, going on an amazing holiday, meeting a celebrity hero, or having a life-changing bedroom makeover; the wishes are varied, personal and, most importantly, magical

o   Save the Children works in more than 120 countries providing support to children providing a variety of help. Save the Children help provide an education to children who were missing out previously, better access to health care for children, protection to children who are in danger, neglected or exploited and much more.

The TV show will take place tomorrow night featuring a variety of stars doing their bit to help raise money for such deserving charities. Visit http://www.textsanta.co.uk/ for more information on where your money is going.

As well as wearing our festive knits at college we held a “Design a Christmas Jumper” competition within college with a festive treat for the winners. A prize was given to the best jumper design from staff and best jumper design from a student. There were lots of amazing designs so well done to all who participated in the competition. The winner of the staff competition was Barry Bratt and the student winner was Sheridan Stainsby so well done to you both J

 

 

 

 

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is called New Year's Day.

 

 

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hoping 2016 brings you the best of luck !!!

 

 

HCFE Staff showing their support to the Text Santa Campaign



The Principal choosing the winners.. And the winners are......

Barry Bratt (left) and Sheridan Stainsby (right)