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Charity Coffee Morning a Resounding Success
The team behind the BG Futures Business and Enterprise Centre at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) recently participated in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning, Macmillan Cancer Support’s biggest fundraising event. The event brought staff, students and BG Futures businesses together to bake cakes, drink coffee and, most importantly, raise funds for Macmillan. With everyone’s support £240 was raised in total, going a small way to helping everyone living with cancer to live life as fully as they can. Becky Goodman, Enterprise Development Manager was delighted to see the university community come together in support of the charity: “It was great to see so many staff, students and BG Futures tenants come together to raise funds for such a great cause” The BG Futures team would like to extend their thanks to all that supported their event and invite them to join BG Futures at their next event on the 13th of December where they will be raising funds for ‘Save the Children’ by encouraging everyone to donate £2 to wear their favourite Christmas jumper. You can find more information on all the fundraising activities being carried out by members of the BGU community on our news page. For more information on all these events and how you can get involved contact the BG Futures team at enterprise@bishopg.ac.uk. -
Future Art Teachers Unearth Historic Gems
PGCE Secondary Art and Design trainees from Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) spent a day in Yorkshire visiting The National Arts Education Archive, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth Wakefield. There were many highlights for the students to enjoy but perhaps the most revealing came during an exploration of the archives with the arts educator Tony Chisholm. Tony introduced the group to examples of pupils’ art works dating from the 1940s to recent times and unpacked exciting and thought provoking examples of artworks created by secondary school children in particular. The quality and scope of the art was certainly an eye opener for the PGCE students and provided plenty of food for thought for their future careers. The remaining part of the day included an exploration of the current exhibitions at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and The Hepworth including Giuseppe Penone and Lee Miller. Field trips to these sites are an annual event on the programme which have also included trips to Tate Modern and the Courtauld Institute of Art in previous years. BGU have been training high quality teachers for over 150 years so when it comes to education there is nowhere better to study. You can find more information on the wide range of innovative PGCE courses offered by BGU on our website. Or contact our Enquiries Team to find out how to begin your journey into teaching. -
BGU Officially Welcome New Students at Annual Matriculation Ceremony
Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) formally welcomed nearly 600 students at the annual Matriculation Ceremony on Tuesday 9 October. Now in its fourth year the welcoming ceremony has become an established and popular part of the academic calendar. All newly enrolled students are invited to the ceremony, held in the grand surroundings of Lincoln Cathedral, which gives both undergraduate and postgraduate students the chance to meet University staff and each other. This year’s ceremony began at 3pm with a procession of over 100 BGU members of staff before the new students were officially welcomed to the University by the University’s Chancellor, Dame Judith Jonas-Mayhew, the Vice-Chancellor, the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, the President of the Students’ Union, Craig Ferguson and the The Dean of Lincoln, The Very Revd Christine Wilson. As a symbol of their belonging in BGU, all students were given a specially designed gold badge. The Vice-Chancellor explained why the event has become such an important part of the student journey at BGU: “The Matriculation Ceremony marks our students’ formal entry into the University. In addition to offering a friendly welcome to all those who are starting their studies here this year, it ensures they know they are now part of the BGU and academic community, of which every student is an integral member. It is emphasised that we are all there to guide and support the students throughout their time with us.” The ceremony closed with a performance from the BGU choir followed by speeches from Samuel Wernham, second year Drama student, and Emma Stanbridge, BGU graduate and MA English Literature student. New undergraduate students Amelia Revill, Education Studies and English, Charlotte Jezard, Education Studies, and Francesca Baugh, Primary Education with QTS, described after the ceremony how, thanks to the event, BGU was already feeling like home: “This afternoon has been really welcoming and enjoyable. It’s really nice to see all the students and academics coming together to meet each other, we’ve enjoyed our time at BGU so far but this has definitely made us all feel even more at home here” If you would like to become a part of the BGU community visit our website to find out about all the exciting courses available to you or contact our Enquiries Team today. You can watch this year’s ceremony and find a photo album on our Facebook page. -
BGU to Sponsor Kuwaiti Academic
The School of Teacher Development at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) is sponsoring an academic from the National University of Kuwait to help them undertake a trip to the United Kingdom. Dr Suaad Alshebou, a former doctoral student of BGU’s Professor Chris Atkin, will be visiting Lincoln to engage with the academic life at BGU. As part of her visit Suaad will be giving a public lecture at BGU on ‘Non-traditional students in traditional universities: motives and barriers of female adult learners in Kuwait’ Through her work at the College of Basic Education, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training Associate Professor Dr Alshebou conducts research in Higher Education, Comparative Education and Adult Education. Her current project is 'Non-traditional learners in traditional colleges. A feminist perspective’. Professor Atkin described his excitement at the fresh perspectives Dr Alshebou’s visit would offer: “It’s a real honour to be hosting Dr Alshebou during her time in the UK and I look forward to her contribution to academic life at BGU The public lecture being hosted by BGU on the 6th December will provide an opportunity to learn something of the challenges and rewards faced by non-traditional Kuwaiti adult women learners engaging with traditional universities. Dr Alshebou will be in the UK for the remainder of this academic year and will bring a valuable comparative perspective to academic life at BGU.” Dr Alshebou’s lecture will take place on Thursday 6 December at 2:00pm in CSH 02 on the BGU campus and will be introduced by the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, Vice Chancellor of BGU, in his capacity as Chair of the Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL). It is open to all current and former BGU staff and students as well as members of the public. For further details please contact Professor Chris Atkin via chris.atkin@bishopg.ac.uk BGU regularly to play host to visiting speakers from around the world providing students, staff and visitors with unique learning opportunities. To find out how you can experience these visit our website. -
Working Together to Find the Missing MFL Links
By James Foster I am currently doing a PGCE in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) at BGU and as part of my British Council ITT Scholarship I was invited to the House of Commons to attend an All Party Parliamentary Meeting on MFL. The meeting was chaired by Tonia Antoniazzi MP and involved speakers from Cardiff University and leaders of Welsh university/school collaborative initiatives, the practitioners delivering them and students benefiting from them. Present also were representatives from Routes into Languages Cymru, the MFL Student Mentoring Project and a variety of UK universities. Part of the meeting’s aim was to talk about the MFL Student Mentoring Project in Wales which is a 5-year long project with the aim of increasing GCSE uptake in MFL. One shocking statistic presented at the meeting was that last year only 64 pupils in the whole of Wales took German A-level, reflecting the current state of MFL in the rest of the United Kingdom. Another interesting topic later in the meeting came from a representative from Anglia Ruskin University who is currently promoting the theme of linguistics as a GCSE topic, something which I personally would be very interested in seeing. Could this be one of the missing links in the struggle to promote MFL as a subject? In my opinion MFL has many cross-curricular links and linguistics would provide a link with the sciences, however for me the decline in foreign exchange visits poses a bigger threat. Exchange visits offer pupils the opportunity to apply what they are learning and see the relevance but in the past few years these have declined The meeting finished with open questioning by anyone present at the meeting and after being adjourned was followed by a networking session in the Committee Room. Thank you to the British Council for inviting me to go as part of their ITT scholarship and to BGU for letting me have the day off placement to go! If you are interested in a career that offers you the opportunity to shape future generations then our wide range of PGCE courses are for you. With over 150 years’ experience in training and crafting expert educators there is nowhere better than BGU. For more information visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team. Are you a current or former BGU student? Have you done something you think should be shouted about? Then contact our PR Team to share your achievements. -
Forging the Future of Religious Education
Over the weekend of 13-14 October Mark Plater, subject leader for PGCE Secondary Religious Education at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), joined more than 150 Religious Education professionals from across the UK for a National Religious Education conference. The event was the first such national gathering of RE professionals since the recent publication of the RE Council's Commission on RE report, Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. The report proposed radical changes to the legal provisions for RE along with a new vision for how the subject should be taught. With a diverse collection of attendees representing all of the major national school Religious Education organisations and bodies – including teachers, lecturers and inspectors – the conference provided an opportunity to consider the future of the subject along with the proposals being put forward by the Commission. As a platform for the celebration of the best elements of RE in the country the event was an inspiration for Mark: "Not only was it encouraging to see key RE people and organisations coming together in this way, but everything about the conference was excellent: the speakers, the workshops, the venue and the wonderful group of people present. I have great hope for the future of our subject if it is being led by such people." If you’re interested in a future exploring and discussing religion then our Theology courses and RE teaching pathways could be for you. Visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today for more information. -
Students Craft Tall Tales and Wondrous Environments to Create a Unique Learning Opportunity
Last week first year BA Primary Education with QTS students at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) offered a unique educational experience, including the creation of wondrous learning environments, to 100 local school children. The day-long event formed part of a larger Story Telling Project being undertaken by the BGU students. Each had previously been paired with a local primary school pupil for whom they wrote a short monster story. These stories then formed the foundation of the day’s activities. The morning saw the BGU students taking the pupils to Lincoln Cathedral where they aided them in becoming “Monster Detectives”, searching for the famous Lincoln Imp across the Cathedral. They then moved to BGU where the students had created a fantastic world of colourful and imaginative learning spaces for the pupils. Each of the learning environments offered a space for the students to share their monster stories and guide the children through innovative learning activities they had planned. The creation of these spaces, along with the rest of the Story Telling Project, is designed to craft the students’ teaching skills helping them learn how to organise activities that engage with and motivate children. For this reason, as Emma Rogers (Senior Lecturer in Primary at BGU) explains, the Project is an important part of the BA Primary course: “This project marks their first steps to becoming teachers. Through it they’re able to gain experience of both the logistics of running learning activities for children as well as the human skills required. Because their stories and environments are based on the specific children they’ve been paired with they gain experience building relationships with their pupils and crafting their efforts to get the best out them.” Molly Harrison, one of the BA Primary Ed with QTS students involved, was full of praise for what the Project offered her and her course mates: “The project is a fantastic opportunity to learn how to read the responses of pupils to the activities we’re setting for them. Every child is different, what this project is teaching us is how to adapt our efforts to support a variety of pupils to ensure they get the most out of education.” For Andy Dickinson, also a Senior Lecturer in Primary at BGU, the Project is not just a vital learning opportunity for trainee teachers but also an invaluable experience for the pupils it supports: “The Story Telling Project is a chance to work 1:1 with pupils, learning how to engage with and inspire them. Story telling is such an incredibly important tool to help children learn. For some of these children, the books our students have created might be the only ones they ever get so this project is vital.” The Story Telling Project is just one of an array of innovative learning activities carried out by the School of Teacher Development at BGU. If you’d like more information on how to begin your adventure in the world of Primary Education, visit our website or contact our Enquiries Team today. -
Local Heritage Sites in Line for Sandford Award
Lincolnshire’s International Bomber Command Centre and Belton House are among 49 heritage sites across the British Isles set to receive the prestigious Sandford Award. -
BG Futures Tenant Case Study - Reflective Therapies Ltd.
By Cassie Rainey, BG Futures Administrator BG Futures is Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) is Bishop Grosseteste University’s (BGU) purpose built business incubation centre. The centre provides office space, facilities and business expertise to people wishing to start up their own businesses. This month we sat down with one of our tenants, James O’Shea, a UKCP registered psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and talked to him about his business Reflective Therapies Ltd. as well as his experiences as an entrepreneur. James worked in the NHS for 30 years and for the last 11 as a Senior Adult Psychotherapist at the Lincoln Dynamic Psychotherapy Centre. After he was made redundant from this role in 2016, James took the exciting (and frightening) leap to becoming a business owner. He now operates through Reflective Therapies Ltd. offering individual, couples and group Psychotherapy to adults. Additionally, James had the opportunity to teach 3rd year Psychology undergraduates as an Associate Lecturer at The University of Lincoln for two years; expanding his skill set into academia. At first James found it difficult to assimilate to self-employed life, particularly when trying to understand jargon business terms and fully adapting a business owner mind-set. He did however refine his knowledge through great support in the business community, as well as that offered by BG Futures. Although he had met with adversity, the benefits of being self-employed were clear to James; receiving word-of-mouth recommendations from clients gave him the opportunity to build a strong client base, as well as providing a needed boost to the start of his self-employed journey that continues through to today. Looking back on his experiences over the last two years James’ advice was budding entrepreneurs to take the plunge: “I would encourage anybody to not be scared to try starting their own business. Reflective Therapies Ltd. has been given the chance to grow and thrive thanks to the platform BG Futures has given the business; through great opportunities and helpful staff, passionate about business growth.” For Becky Goodman, Enterprise Development Manager at BG Futures, following James’ journey has been incredibly rewarding: “It’s great to see businesses such as James’ flourish during their time with us at BG Futures Business and Enterprise Centre. James’ work is vital in assisting individuals to move forward in life and we are pleased to have been able to offer him an environment in which has supported his success." If you’d like to know more about James and Reflective Therapies Ltd. you can visit his website or if you’re keen to follow in his footsteps and begin your own business contact the BG Futures team today. -
BGU Teenage Market Celebrates its Second Anniversary
The Lincoln Teenage Market, organised by BG Futures at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), once again took over part of Lincoln’s City Centre offering young entrepreneurs the opportunity to take their first steps in the business world this month. This particular event marked two important milestones. Not only was it the Lincoln Teenage Market’s two year anniversary, it was the tenth Teenage Market that organisers Nikki Smith, BG Futures Careers, Employability and Enterprise Advisor and Diane Haines Compliance Officer, have been involved with. For Nikki, the continued success and growth of the market has been incredibly rewarding: “It has been and is a real pleasure to work alongside my BGU colleagues and the wider community to develop the Lincoln Teenage Market. "Our traders and performers now range from ages 10 -29 years of age, and the excellent quality of their products and performances is inspiring to see. Alongside this we have seen a significant rise in BGU student engagement with the market; further reinforcing themselves as talented, enterprising, community driven individuals. "Above all it is very rewarding to see how their self-confidence has grown and continues to grow with every market.” The Market aims to create enterprising opportunities for both BGU students and the wider local community; offering the City’s future traders and business owners the chance to trial their entrepreneurial ideas in a physical retail space. Stallholders included entrepreneurs from the BGU Business (Team Entrepreneurship) course, in addition to students from Linkage and Lincoln College who exhibited their work as part of their coursework. The BG Futures Careers, Employability and Enterprise team are keen to work with the local community to continue to develop opportunities for all across the county. Alongside the colourful and creative stalls, visitors to the market were also treated to an energetic performance by the BGSU Dance Society who were commended by Becky Goodman, Enterprise Development Manager, for their high energy, support for the market, and flair for public performance. The next Lincoln Teenage Market will be taking place on 1 December in the Lincoln City Square Co-op and it will be swiftly followed by another at the BGU Christmas Extravaganza on 2 December. If you would like to find out more information or perhaps get involved as a trader or performer at the next event, please contact the Teenage Market team at: teenagemarket@bishopg.ac.uk. Should you wish to talk to a member of the team about any other enterprise query then please email enterprise@bishopg.ac.uk. You can also follow Lincoln Teenage Market on Facebook.
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