Staff enjoyed afternoon tea prepared by Catering and Hospitality students at the campus-based Sessions Restaurant.
Lincoln College Group Chief Executive Officer, Gary Headland, said:
“We tried something new this month by combining the monthly Teaching and Learning Awards and Long Service Awards with an event to welcome all new arrivals to the Lincoln College Group.
“The event was enjoyed by all and created a really great dynamic. As I said to those who attended, presenting the awards is my favourite activity of each month as I get not only to recognise and celebrate the success of people across the organisation but I get to engage directly with them in a relaxed setting and to hear their thoughts and ideas.
“I really enjoyed the couple of hours I had with them all; I congratulate again those who received an award and reiterate my very warm welcome to the new staff.
“We ran the event in our Sessions Restaurant, which is open to the Public, and enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tea that provided an opportunity for our students to demonstrate their catering skills, which they did superbly.”
The event saw Beauty Therapy Lecturer, June Graves, receive her Long Service Award
“I came here as a student at sixteen and spent two years studying hairdressing then another two years studying beauty and I never left!
“After my studies I went on to work part-time in a salon and started teacher training and some teaching alongside my work. Eventually I started teaching full-time.
“It’s crazy when I think about it, I have been based in the Gibney Building at Lincoln College for over thirty years!”
A huge well done to October’s Teaching and Learning Award winners!
The Teaching Learning and Assessment Awards celebrate the exceptional work of staff from across Lincoln, Gainsborough and Newark Colleges.
Each month staff - from all three campuses - are nominated for their efforts, teamwork and dedication that have such a positive impact on our students and their learning.
TLA Award winners receive a prize and certificate of recognition, and are congratulated on their achievements.
Jayne Turner, Supervisor, Enrolments Team
Jayne provides excellent customer service not only to the external customer but also when dealing with interdepartmental relationships. This was evidenced recently when Jayne went above and beyond to help a learner enrol on a full cost course. This learner had encountered various problems when trying to enrol previously due to issues with various elements of the barcode. However Jayne took the time to deal with issues until it was resolved and both the learner and her mother, who was paying for the course, left completely satisfied. Jayne remained calm, helpful and supportive throughout this enrolment.
Gavin Knox, Foundations Lecturer, BACE
Gavin has helped his team with new ideas for using ICT within lessons, from using IPads, making videos of learners for evidence, interactive quizzes, QR Codes, Padlet and many more. He is always willing to share ideas and help other staff that may not be as confident with new technologies.
Gavin also created the idea for the Foundations Cup sports event and used this idea to give his own group the opportunity to plan, organise, manage, referee and score an event that took place over several weeks, whereby all the individual groups of Foundation Study learners took part in sports including Football, Dodgeball, Boccia and Wheelchair sports, with the winners being awarded a cup. The event had sports that enabled all learners to take part and was a great enrichment activity for all, building team skills and promoting personal and social development. All the learners who took part in the event were inspired and motivated by Gavin and his learners.
Sara Allsopp, LSL Maths & Functional Skills, BACE
Sara was nominated by a learner who stated that ‘Last year I applied for exam conditions but unfortunately paperwork was not filed correctly however Sara helped in any way she could, going above and beyond. Sara was my Maths tutor and therefore did not have to help with this issue but she did everything she could including getting my seat moved so I would not have a panic attack.
Sara has again helped me this year as originally I did not want to come back to college and was looking for an Apprenticeship. However, Sara made contact with me and we exchanged several emails regarding my plans and what I was doing with my maths and English. I believe that Sara deserves this award as she goes above and beyond for all her students and I could not personally wish for a better maths tutor’.
Steven Horsfield, LSL Sport, SHEA
Steve, along with many others at the College, is on a journey to transform Education and Training delivery and inspire teachers to focus on 'learning'. Steve has been very quick to act with his team to shift the culture away from the appraisal of TLA through predominantly formal Lesson Observations to a culture of noticing what students are doing and saying; and ultimately wondering about what learning looks like in his area.
To do this Steve felt that 'educating' his staff and dispelling any myths about the volume and consistency of walkthroughs was vital. Steve quickly organised and accompanied his staff on paired learning walks so they too could be enlightened about the new focus of attention. Staff in his area have been really positive having had this experience and have a new-found confidence in the principles of what is being noticed. They have commented that the new focus is “refreshing”, “the way forward” and “how it should have been in the first place”. They are reassured that the focus is not on the teacher and teaching; not on making judgements; and not determined by a so called 'expert'. They've enjoyed, through Steve's guidance and time, focusing solely on the learners; making observations without judging; and self-regulating when they feel the urge to 'fix' the session themselves. They liked the idea of formulating questions to be asked about learning to 'seek understanding' through conversations with both students and staff. His staff have also enjoyed sharing in the experiences of colleagues both in the classroom and in practical scenarios; and the ability to be able to reflect on their own practice after noticing things about students in sessions other than their own.
The fact that Steve has acted so quickly after his own journey through the relevant training has had a really positive impact on his team; and he's benefitting now through hearing learner-centred and learning-focused conversations amongst his team. Steve is not resting on his laurels though as he knows the real work is to come, and he's looking forward to the Academic Training Days in order to really facilitate the conversations about what learning looks like in his area; and indeed what his team want learning to look like in the future.
This citation is a testimony to Steve's day-to-day efforts and his mind-set as given his LSL-areas performance in 15-16 it would be very easy for him and his team to become complacent and think that everything to do with Learning and Teaching was OK. His area achieved a whopping 93.8% Achievement rate across 259 students which was 6.3% above National Average.
