Gastronomic Tour

A number of the staff managed to slip away from the college with a collection of NVQ Level 2 students.

They ended up on a foodie version of a pub crawl, in London's West End.

First stop was Le Gavroche restaurant at 44 Upper Brook Street.

Here they met Michael Roux the Head Chef / Owner and were given a talk regarding the Industry and a tour of the kitchens.

Next stop was the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London W2.

They kindly gave the students a tour of the hotel showing Banqueting Halls and kitchens.

It is the third largest banqueting hotel in London.

Their final stop was Galvins at 66 Baker Street, London.

Here they met the owner / Head Chef Jeff Galvin who proved it was the most up and coming restaurant in London.


It was an enjoyable day with students able to see various form of catering outlets from large to small.

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.

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.

Brought to Book

World Book Day was celebrated by the Uplands based students of the Children's Care Learning and Development NVQ Level 2 course (pictured above - click on the picture to see a bigger one!).

The day was dedicated to first discussing the different types of books that can be used - including braile and different textures for sensory exploration - and then demonstrating and practising how to read to children using a number of different methods.

We added our own hand made games and other activities all designed to encourage language and participation.

A hair raising experience

For Nikki studying her Hairdressing Level 2 NVQ, there is one day she can never forget.

It was the day that one of the fussiest and most self-conscious members of staff asked her to cut his hair.

"He hasn't been here before. He seems very worried." admitted Nikki before approaching the unnamed member of staff with her clippers.

Despite his high pitched screams echoing down the first floor corridor and constant demands to stop so that he could look at himself in the mirror, Nikki managed to get to within a metre of his head.

An hour of talking him down from his hyper-sensitive state finally gave Nikki the opportunity to get the job done. Exhausted, Nikki told us, "I think he was fine with the end result".

If you recognise the back of the head of this difficult customer and can put a name to him or can provide any other details, just add your comments here.