Kurvil cooks the policy makers' books

Congratulations to Kurvil Alleyne, an NVQ Level 3 Pastry student who has been selected as a member of the National Learner Panel for 2007/08.

Kurvil went through a rigorous selection process and will be joining 17 other successful applicants from across England to work alongside Government ministers and other key Further Education policymakers over the course of the year.

The National Learner Panel (NLP) is a high profile group whose role is to influence and steer the direction of DIUS (Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) post-16 policy by ensuring that the learner perspective is included in the policy-making process.

Kurvil's membership of this Panel is something that the College is extremely proud of and we wish him all the best over the coming year.

A Common place

(press the > arrow button above to play the video, and turn your speakers up!)

A load of students spend their 'down time' trying to find places to hang. The Cafeteria's an answer. The majestic front steps of the college are an answer. Even corridors and the reception area will do.

But, the real place to hang is the Student Common Room. It's part of the Lowery Building, next to engineering on the ground floor. And, guess what? Yep, those folk in the Creative Media Resources department have made a video about it. This walks you round what's in the common room so's you can then just turn up and hang there looking like you've been to the place hundreds of times!

Another brick in the wall

In the first of this term's trips, it was the turn of the BTEC National Certificate Public Services Uniformed Year 2 to go to the wall. The Berlin Wall.

Not only was the wall a focal point, but we were able look around the whole of Berlin itself.

We checked out Checkpoint Charlie, which, although now purely a tourist attraction, used to be the famous crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

The Public Services teaching team joined us 11 students as we researched more into the history of World War Two and looked at how a modern unified Germany was building its tourist and leisure industry.

Fashion, turn to the left, Fashion, turn to the right

(press the > arrow above to play the video, and turn your speakers up)

A highlight of the college year is the Annual Fashion Show. Some say 2007 was the best yet. The college's Creative Media Resources department were there with three professional cameras capturing the event, relaying it onto the big screen, and recording everything. They hope to bring a full video out soon.

Meanwhile, here's a quickfire collection of shots from the days on the catwalk for you to enjoy.

Introducing Student Services

(press the > arrow above to play the video, and turn your speakers up!)

If you're not sure what's what and who's who, the college's Creative Media Resources department have been putting together videos where different departments introduce themselves.

Here's a very useful one for starters, from the Student Services department, the first point of contact for all student information and guidance.

A warm welcome

The Blog polled a number of potential new students a few days ago during the first Enrolment week.

Remember - Enrolment continues this week, even though it's also Induction Week and a few courses have already started. (So, it's not too late to sign-up and join us!)

Anyway, we spoke to Akli who will be joining us as part of the ESOL New Start course. We wanted to know how he rated the Enrolment experience.

"Very good, Very quick," he told your Blog.

You can see him working with Adrian from Student Services in the Mallinson to prepare his ID card.

The Mallinson restaurant is only used during Enrolment week to help ease congestion for the large number of potential students coming into the college. From this week, everything will revert to being managed from within Student Services (right next to Reception).

Back in the main Student Services office we found Sopia signing up for an International Business course. She commented that her experience had been "Very Good." She also told us, "I've found everybody so helpful and the students handbook very informative."

Let's hope they have the best of success on their courses and enjoy their time here at the college.

How was Enrolment for you? We'd love to read your comments. Just click on the 'comments' link below and let us know...

Roll-up Roll-up and Enrol

Welcome back to the official student blog of Waltham Forest College. We are here blogging again for the new Academic Year of 2007 to 2008.

Although the college's Enrolment officially commenced on Saturday, staff have had the pleasure of meeting potential new students for a while, as they started coming in during the middle of last week.

Compared to previous years, the college has altered the layout with Course Tutors and information being dealt with in the hall, and then funding and other registration issues being dealt with in both the main Student Services office and also the Mallinson restaurant.

For newbies the college can seem a bit confusing, especially as the prestigious and historic steps in the front bring people into the Main Reception area on the second floor, not the ground floor! When you want to leave you have to remember to head for the second floor.

However, finding a room is quite easy with following tips from old timers:-

Firstly, rooms are numbered with three digits, like, for example, room 123. The first digit, in this case the '1', indicates the floor you need to be on, the first floor (It's '0' for the ground floor).

Then, it helps to know that rooms are numbered in such a way that if you walk down a corridor, as you pass the rooms on your left, they will always be going up in number. The rooms on your right will always be going down in number. Confused? No, honestly, it does make sense once you've sussed it. Just keep walking down the corridor counting the room numbers steadily going up (to your left) or going down (to your right) until you get to the room number you want.


Anyway, hopefully not too many potential students will be lost forever in the maze, and we can look forward to seeing them as fellow students from next week.

A prize evening for all

Wednesday evening saw a packed Mallinson Restaurant as the School of Service Industries put on the Hospitality and Tourism Prize Giving Evening.

Everything was organised very professionally, with 'meeting and greeting' in the reception area, and friends and relatives of those attending being shown the way to the Mallinson.

The event started with the presentations, and ended with canapes.

Here's the 'rolecall': (if we miss anybody out, apologies, let us know)

NVQ Catering Full Time - Chef of the Year 1

MARTIN DONNELLY

NVQ Catering Full Time - Chef of the Year 2

EURELL WATT

NVQ Part Time Catering Students' Award

ABIR HAMMOUD

Smithfield Student of the Year

CHRIS PHIPPS

Smithfield Most Improved Student

CHRIS HUSSEY

The Restaurant Association Merit Awards for Organisational Skills in Food Service & Food Preparation

LEON WILLIAMS & EURELL WATT

Ready, Steady Cook! Competition winners

MARTIN DONNELLY & MICHAEL POOLEY;

JACQUELINE CANE & JESSICA

KELLY;

LEON WILLIAMS & NATASHA HUCKFIELD-HOUGHTON

The OCN Pathway Awards Catering and T.H.L.

JACQUELINE CANE, HECTOR RODRIGUEZ & ACLIMA RUSMAULLY

Travel & Tourism Awards -BTEC 1st Dip.

DAVE ONAWELO

BTEC National T &T Yr 1

SANDRA ASAMOAH

BTEC National T & T Yr 2

SHERBANO JOOMUNNVQ

Best Work-based Student of the Year

MONICA CHARLES

BTEC National Public Services Students of the Year

Year 1 -

STEPHEN DARLOW

Year 2 -

NASEER ABBAS

BTEC 1st Diploma in Sport -

KULATEN SAID

BTEC National, Sports Development & Fitness Students of the Year

LISIMBA WELCH & THEOPHANIS GEORGIOU

HND Special Award for Peer Support -

MELEK OZDEMIR (pictured with her basket of fruit)

HND - Best Work Experience Student

GINA NDOMBE

HND - BEST GRADES - 2006

ANDREZA GONCALVES (pictured with her certificate)

Andreza told us, "I just wanted to let you know that I have applied to the Hilton Elevator General Manager programme and I've made it through all four stages! I was one of 6 chosen out of 3500 applicants! I will be starting in September with a 9 month placement in the UK and thereafter, a 9 month placement abroad. I am so excited."

Emergency in the corridor

Shock news reached the blog this week about an epidemic that we think was covered up! Or maybe the college is sitting on the news for now!

(We bring you the unembroidered truth as only a blog can.)

During the Easter holiday what looks like a triage centre had to be set up on the first floor of the main building.

The outbreak was so widespread that stretchers and treatment beds spilled out into the corridor to hold the poor patients in a depressingly familiar Accident and Emergency line waiting for treatment.

As far as the eye could see, waiting for a bit of loving care and attention, their used and abused legs in the air, there was an entire flock of very unwell chairs.

For some, the wheel had finally come off, for others the bottoms of students and staff had been just too much to bear.

It was a sight so shocking that these secretly taken pictures were smuggled out of the college and into the hands of your blog.

No official mention has been made anywhere of the condition of the chairs today, but the corridors were empty when all returned to normal after the Easter break.

If you have any information as to how the chairs might be today, then please let us know by adding your 'comment' below.

I say chaps, this really is Cricket

It's time for another healthy story here on your blog. This time it's cricket. Here you can see some of our players in the nets getting a good practice in.

But, the WFC Cricket team are still looking for players!!!!

Howzat?

Well, if you're interested in cricket and learning how not to get your leg before wicket, why not make your way down to the Peter May Sports Centre in Wadham Road. We're there on Wednesday evenings between 6pm and 7pm. It only costs £2 per session, just make sure you bring a white top, trainers and your ID badge. All other equipment is provided.

Here's a picture of the team that needs you! Come join us?

Therapy is child's play

Level 2 and 3 NVQ candidates in Children's Care Learning and Development met up with the full-time DDC Year 2 students at Uplands House for a special guest presenter.

Ros Kane is a child-centred play therapist. She is one of few British therapists who practises this type of therapy, and runs Carefree Kids. That's her own organisation in the Borough set-up to support children through child-centred therapy in schools. Carefree Kids has a converted playbus if the schools cannot provide a room for the children.

Ros has also written a book called To Have An Only Child. (ISBN 0-9548934-0-9). (The book will be available from the Library, 4th floor in the Main Building)

We had an introduction followed by a DVD presentation of a therapy session.

This included all the 8 steps and full guidelines.

After the presentation we had a question and answer session with volunteers from Carefree Kids. They were also on hand to support students and discuss things further.

Spot the ball?

Hey, look at the way the ball leaves the Wing Attack's hands (above)!

Or, more importantly, could we enter this picture on the left into a 'Spot the Ball' competition?

I mean, right, if we can see it why couldn't they, eh? Only kidding!

Anyway, it's a good opportunity to remind everybody about the WFC Netball Course. Would you like to have a go?

Anyone who is interested in coming along having fun and keeping fit please contact Mark Jarvis on 020 8501 8173 or Jenny on poolside (the Swimming Pool, ground floor main building) or call 020 8501 8300.

Or, why not just turn up? We're over the road at Holy Family School every Wednesday evening from 6:00pm until 7:30pm.

You will need to bring £2 per session and wear comfortable clothing/footwear.

Our team shines in tournament

Eight students represented WFC in the annual basketball tournament hosted by Enfield College.

Leading up to the event we had held trials at Forest Road YMCA and were, to be perfectly honest, rather disappointed with the turn out. Fortunately, of those who did attend, we had a rich mix of talent and were reasonably confident of making a good showing of ourselves.

The format for the tournament meant that the nine Colleges present were pooled into three groups of three. The league phase was played over 1 period of 10mins, rolling clock.

Our first game was against B6 Brookhouse who play out of Hackney. The early exchanges were, as expected, fraught with turnovers and missed opportunities as both sides tried to settle. B6 were first to get into their rhythm and took up a 9-2 lead on 5mins.

However we didn’t panic and with some good accurate passing from Michael and Andrius and some excellent aggressive defence from Mamomi (“Golde”), we cut into the deficit and with 1min of the game left trailed by 15-12.

Iain then picked up the ball on halfway and we all felt assured that we could keep our hopes alive, even though time was running out. But as he made a desperate attempt to drive towards the basketball he was alleged to have fouled the opposition centre and we turned the ball over with only 15secs remaining on the clock.

Playing a full court press, all players dug in, to deny Brookhouse time and space. Under this pressure their number 10 misplaced an easy lay-up and Seb Pardo rebounded the ball deep in his own half. Dribbling up to just in side halfway and, with the clock showing 1sec, Seb released a shot which flew straight into the basket for three miraculous points………..UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

After some celebration involving the majority of those present we went into 1min of overtime and managed to hold off Brookhouse, finally winning the game 17pts to 15pts. A very enjoyable and some would say memorable game.

Our second contest was against Carshalton College and it was clear from the “tip” that we had the upper hand on offence and defence. Michael used his physical attributes to dominate the boards and collect a nine point personal tally.

Javin, Malik and Jeffrey also had strong contributions and we ended the game victorious wining 17pts to 10pts.

Two from two and we were through to the semi finals against Sir George Monoux College.

The last four matches were scheduled for two 7min periods but as the tournament had overrun officials were forced to reduce game times down to a one period of eight minutes.

SGM had been the form side of the tournament showing fluid and well drilled patterns of play during their two qualifying games. We were not intimidated with what we had seen and started confidently matching scores early on. But as the game developed their experience showed and we ended up going down 20pts – 12pts.
A very promising start for WFC Basketball Team, well done lads.

The players:
Andrius and Iain (ESOL New Start), Javin and Malik (Intermediate Business + ICT), Jeffrey (Btec National Sports), Michael (Btec 1st Diploma Sport) and Captain Mamomi (Access to Buisness).

If you are interested in playing competitive basketball for the College please contact Mark Jarvis – Sports & Student Activities Manager: mjarvis@waltham.ac.uk
Tel: 020 8501 8173

Passing out as they pass out

It was a very hot and sticky day back in 2006 when the annual Graduation Ceremony took place. The evening started with a procession of the Principalship and her Curriculum staff along with the Mayor of Waltham Forest and the Corporation that runs the college. All were dressed in their academic robes.

They reached the stage and took their seats whilst the opening speeches were made.

Then each 'graduate' was called one by one to the stage in order to receive their certificates and a warm congratulation handshake from Carol Gibson, our Principal.

The whole ceremony was captured on video and has now been made available on DVD. (Copies can be purchased from the Library on the 4th floor of the Main building)

We've managed to get hold of a streaming version! It was filmed by two high quality video cameras that were also providing 'live' pictures to a large screen on the day. The DVD starts with highlights from the speeches, and then shows every single student walking up to the stage. It concludes with the tradition of those wearing mortarboard hats throwing them into the air.

The streaming version is lower quality than the DVD of course, but it captures the heat of the moment - and it certainly was a very hot evening as you'll see from the number of people fanning themselves.

Can we do you now?

Hi from the Hair and Beauty salon in the Forest Road building. We're constantly on the look-out for victims - sorry that should read, "clients" who want a free or reduced rate hair cut or treatment.

At certain times of the day volunteers are needed as models for us to practice on or to work on as part of exams and assessment.

Here in the foreground you can see Hannah and Jasmine.

Hannah from Level 2 Hairdressing says, "I have always been interested in hairdressing since my first ever trip to a hairdressers at the age of 12. I find the hairdressing industry is vast and opportunities are always at hand depending on how creative and dedicated one is."

Hannah continues, "The course I am currently taking is a 12 month course and I'm guaranteed a qualification at the end as long as I work hard. It is very convenient if you want to qualify quickly. And I am really enjoying my course too!"

Jasmine (pictured next to Hannah) is also spending 3 days a week on the Adult Intensive course and is proud to say that she came 4th in the recent Hair and Beauty Total Look competition for her model's 'Weather' look.

The Hair and Beauty Salon can be reached on 8501 8212 or you can pop in anytime to room 130.

Mysterious ray zaps students at airport

Could it be that what you are seeing is the final moments before students were zapped by a death ray?

Or is it before they were dematerialised by some transporter beam?

Nope.

It's just the BTEC First Diploma travel and tourism students wearing extremely flattering refective jackets.

We recently visited London City Airport, and were able to see airport and airline operations in action.

We had the opportunity to go both landside and air side (for which normal access is for departing and arriving air passengers only).

It was a very enjoyable and informative trip and one which lots of information could be gathered so as to complete many courseworks.

Want to edit this blog?

We're looking for students (none of those staff folk) to help run this blog.

Is that you or you and your mate?

If you have a little bit of time and fancy taking charge of what appears here, then get in touch.


You don't have to know how to put it together technically, but the blog needs people who are interested in deciding which articles should go on it.

You can get as involved as you like, helping out a bit, or helping out a lot. It's up to you.

Maybe you want to go round taking pictures and getting stories together for the blog. Maybe you want to just be an 'editor' of the stories that come in. Whatever.

We do need your help.

Why not chat to us about this? Text us or email us and we'll get back to you asap.

Welcome back: Happy St George's Day!

Some folk want today, St George's Day, to become a national holiday for all of us that live in England, just like other countries have their national day off! (And why do Scotland get an extra day over Christmas / New Year compared to us lot?)

Anyways. It's not a day off, but the first day of the last term of 2007 here at WFC.

Now, for a lot of us that means exams. Yeah exams happen all year round, but maybe this term is a bit heavier than others. But please, don't panic.

Now then. If there's anything you'd like to see recorded forever on your WFC Student Blog you need to make contact asap.

It doesn't need to be about exams, but about anything you are up to. Have a read through our archives and you'll see how anything and everything can make it here! It's up to you.

If you've got pictures, maybe on your mobile, then that's even better. All we need is a few facts about your good news, and we can write the story. Or, we'll print everything exactly as you write it. It's up to you.

We try not to include too much about the staff since this is supposed to be a Student Blog, but from time to time stories about them are good too. It's up to you.

Got stuff you want to pass on to 'your place for stuff about your place'?

Email us at blog@waltham.ac.uk or text us your pics to 07737 239 334

If you're not sure about how to pass things on to us, no problem, just make contact and we'll sort it. Importantly, if you've got no pictures, and you've got no time to write anything, still get in contact. We'll write stuff for you, and take some pictures if you want us to! All we need is 3 minutes of your time to get an idea of what your good news is. We'll then write it and put it straight on the blog.

Finally, and most importantly, we wish you loads of luck for this Summer term. Enjoy.

That's it: Happy Easter

We've come to the end of term. Hey, it's Easter!!

Don't forget that next term starts on

April 23rd,

which is when we'll be back with more blogging, hopefully three times a week.

If you have any stories you want included in this student blog just let us know anytime.

Look over there for ways to make contact - - - - - - ->

Meanwhile, a very Happy Easter.

Have a good break.

Later.

Entwined in Fashion

Waltham Forest College was last but not least at the Alternative Fashion Show in London's Spitalfields Market.

As the very last exhibitors we tried to give those who were braving the freezing cold winds a show to remember.

This is Katie just one of the ten models showing off the 'Entwined' collection created by the BTEC National Diploma fashion students.

Anyway, when we first got there we were put through our paces and at first were terrified (erm, as you can see below) but it all worked out brilliantly in the end.

Students were given a basic foundation shape from which they were asked to be as creative as possible.

The entwining of various metallic coloured fabrics resulted in visually beautiful evening dresses capturing varying shades of gold and silver, as you can see.

Phew!

Hair we go again

Scary or what?

But, here's a winning horror creation from Millicent.

It was a 'Total Look' that made this year's Hair and Beauty show the best ever.

Students from the Hair salon and the Beauty salon had to make stunning creations out of their models and get them to walk down a special catwalk.

As the models walked down, the students would stand at the back waiting.

Blinding lights and loud music accompanied the show which was split into different themes and had video cameras showing everything on a large screen.

Everybody's names were read out by the announcer as first the beauty and then the hair themes paraded.

The Restoration Period, the Weather, and of course Bridal all featured as well as Horror.

At the end there was a really long wait whilst the judges picked their winners, but we really enjoyed the evening completely.

Netball - One for you Ladies?

The guy holding his ball in both hands is Mark Jarvis. He's the Sports & Student Activities Manager.

He's standing next to Michelle Cox. She's a Business and ICT Lecturer, and knows a heck of a lot about Netball.

They are working in partnership with Netball England to organise a Netball course next term. The course is open to all ages and abilities and all those who show particular interest may well go forward to playing competitively for club/College.

Michelle has a wealth of experience in coaching netball locally and has offered her time to help increase opportunities for female students to “step in to sport”.

Could she help you?

For more information please contact Mark on 020 8501 8173 or email mjarvis@waltham.ac.uk

A new kind of high

It's Official.

Vision 12 students have their head in the clouds.

Geddit?

Ok, then, here's what we've been up to.

As part of our outdoor pursuits we have been going to an outdoor activity centre called Stubbers.

For six weeks we have been going there learning and practicing land-boarding.

We’ve learned different tricks, techniques and safety which we have all put into use to avoid death! Only kidding, it's not quite death, as it's safe but you have to do it right and not mess about or you can get hurt, trust.


So, today the Vision 12 students went out for the day land-boarding at an amazing track on the South Downs called Haredown.

It was a great day out with many injuries by the end of it (and no death - see, the training had come in useful).

Anyway, everybody had a good day on the long runs, jumps and ramps, and all we're wondering is if we can borrow some wheels off some buggies to make our own land-boards.

The Double-M team get the cream

You're looking at a winning dish! Well, the food sitting on the dishes was a winner. It was prepared and cooked by Martin and Michael, and it was placed as the number one meal above all others by the judges in the Final of the Ready Steady Cook competition. The competition focused on Healthy Eating Options.

Coming in second were Jessica and Jacqueline, whilst Leon and Natasha were third.

Once again it was great fun for everybody cooking against the clock, apart from the fact that those that were knocked out of the first round of the competition had to constantly come round and judge us for preparation and hygiene. We were marked down if we didn't respect the 'law of the kitchen', and they were watching us very closely.

Anyway, here are the lucky winners, and they'll be the first names on a trophy that will be added to year after year as the competition becomes an annual event, and will be attending a special evening prize giving ceremony with their family and friends.

Vision 12 girls give Vice Principal a red nose

(Click for larger picture)

Any rumours that these three had to bribe a Vice Principal to wear a silly nose are unfounded, honest. What you actually see in his right hand is just some of the money that they managed to raise for Red Nose Day.

Inspired by Vision 12’s Charity Week project, Ashley, Kelly and Rebecca from the programme, took it upon themselves to raise money for Comic Relief!

They donned their pyjamas for the day and took to the college collecting as much money as they could for this worthy cause.

By the end of the day through their superb efforts they managed to raise in excess of £170!

Ready Steady Cook (round one)

Hello from the mega-hot training kitchens down on the Ground Floor.

We're the 'Ready Steady Cook' team!

We've recipes fit for a king.

Well, with no king available we've had to try to please one of the Assistant Principals and Vice Principals alongside our Chefs.

It started by us working against the clock.

We had exactly one hour to produce from scratch a dish that would be judged on taste and presentation.

We were split into teams of two and straight away we started feeling the pressure.

There was a constant reminder from Chef as to just how long we had to go as the minutes ticked away.

We had to keep our heads and work together as a team in order to make sure we didn't finish too early (and let the food get cold) or too late (and leave the plates empty).

When the final whistle blew and Chef rather bluntly turned off the gas, we were thrown out of the kitchen!

It was at this point that the team of judges armed with clipboards took their forks and spoons from dish to dish, and did a lot of 'ums' and 'ahs'.

They had to decide what tasted good and what didn't.

(Here's a picture of one of them taking a mouthful - Dennis, one of our Assistant Principals - he doesn't look too scared, and we hope he didn't drop anything on his tie!)

In the end, we were all shuffled back into the kitchen to be told the results.

Chef called out:

Jackie and Jess (OCN)
Buyo and Oliver (OCN)
Leon and Natasha (Level 2)
Rebecca and Rhiannon (Level 1)
Karl and Eurell (Level 2)
Courtney and Kurvil (Level 2)
Michael and Martin (Level 1)

But is that the end of it? No. These teams have to cook-off against each other next week, to be judged by those whose dishes didn't get through this time. Ouch!

Well, we'll tell you how it concludes next week, here exclusively on the blog.

Working at this experience

When students spent a few hours of work experience within the college they discovered just how complex the inner workings of the college's Learning Support services are. Amina told us, "Today I have been showed how to work in Reprographics and the Media. And then I got to work in the library to help students, finding books, check IDs and how to search for books on their tracks."

But it was working in Media Resources that was the real eye-opener for Amina.

The small Media Resources team of incredibly handsome men and stunningly beautiful women has a confusingly wide range of responsibilities, and Amina was amazed that one moment they were sitting down trying to creatively edit video to produce DVDs, design posters, prepare music and lighting plans for an event in the main hall, whilst dubbing and preparing streaming video files for staff, and then suddenly the next minute they would be running to classrooms to assist worried tutors who needed help using the data projectors or other equipment.

She certainly marvelled at these college super-heroes when she realised that they also dealt with loaning out equipment on demand such as TVs, cameras, CD players, laptops and DVD players, as well as maintaining and teaching people how to use a radio studio, a video filming and photography stage and this very well put together completely unbiased student blog.

International Women's Day

We celebrated International Women's Day this year with a number of events across the college.

First up, on Wednesday the films shown as part of our regular weekly Enrichment Activity were Nikita and Jackie Brown, keeping 'Women on Screen'.

Then when it came to Thursday, International Women's Day there were a whole host of activities to check out.

There were separate displays all around the college. Some in the corridors were put together by ESOL, Early Years, and Health and Social Care, and there was a multi-media presentation in the Library.

All were highlighting the life stories of famous women from history.

The Women's Royal Signals Squadron were invited to talk about careers in the military service, including the T. A. - they even pitched a tent up in room 318, and brought extremely heavy looking equipment along for us to try on!

Meanwhile, it was half-price day in the Hair and Beauty Salon.

This meant students were working hard to provide manicures and conditioning treatments.

Everybody proudly wore their International Women's Day ribbons.

(Here, in the picture you can see one of us re-attaching a toe that had accidentally fallen off a client's foot)

During the afternoon, the Mallinsons was the base for the displaying of all the entries into the 'WFC Woman of the Moment' competition.

This competition was the one where you could take a photo of a female student and nominate them by writing a paragraph or two on anything they've achieved.

(Hey, that's a bit like what this lovely Student Blog is all about as well, innit! Don't forget to use us to celebrate your achievements, too.)

The winner of the WFC Woman of the Moment competition will get a prize of a dinner for two, and will be announced soon.

On a serious note, the police came in to assist students with their enquiries.

This was all about personal safety, and a female police officer was accompanied by a female police support officer ready to give advice and guidance.

We learnt that most of our safety on the street and in public places is down to common sense - including not being pre-occupied when texting or talking, or listening to mp3s so we can see and hear who's around us and be 'streetwise'.