ISSUE 24 - 20 August 2007

NOT THE LANGSIDE BLOG

( or it is at langsidecollege.blogspot.com )



Welcome back
Summer is over. What summer you may ask? Whatever the weather, the hope is staff had a restful break and return to the rigours of delivering our curriculum refreshed and ready for what will be a very important academic year for the College. In 2007/08 the new build should commence and that will present a challenge to all staff and students as we progressively demolish and rebuild the new Langside College (see update below) This is also the year that we have a HMIe Review in February 2008. The College have always taken the view that the review process is to be welcomed and we look forward to the element of ‘free consultancy’ that comes from a close scrutiny of our work and processes.
As ever annual events such as our Awards Evening and Graduation Ceremony are headline events and we look forward to both as an opportunity to celebrate the success of our students.
This is also the year in which the radical changes to the College Strategic Plan will be enacted in terms of protocol and process. It is intended that, as promised, regular updates will be given (including attendance by SMT members at Faculty/Unit/Section meetings) so that all staff may monitor the process and influence the operational delivery of the strategy.
During August to December the 60th Anniversary Committee will again organise events to mark the Diamond Anniversary. The 60th Anniversary Celebration Lunch held at Hampden Park in June was very well attended by staff and Board members. This event was intended as a headline event for the anniversary year and was the culmination of a great deal of work by the 60th Anniversary Birthday Bash Committee. The comments received from all areas of staff would suggest their efforts were appreciated and the time, place and general organisation of the event was enjoyed by all who attended. A special word of thanks to the Committee.

New Estate
The summer has been extremely busy as both tenders for the new build were received and they had to be checked and validated by the project sponsor and the College professional team. Part of this scrutiny involved interviews and meetings with both contractors to ensure they were compliant with the specification issued within the College tender documents. This process (still ongoing) has been intricate and exhausting! Our target is to have the final cost plan ready for the Funding Council to present to the September meeting of the Capital Investment Committee of the Council (CIC). It is still ‘in the balance’ if we can meet this deadline but we are giving it our best shot. If we can make the September meeting and get final approval we should be able to appoint the contractor and start on site in January 2008, with completion of the first phase of the new build in March/April 2009. If we have to delay until the December CIC meeting the schedule would have a site start in March 2008 with completion June 2009.

It’s All change in MST
August sees a number of staffing changes in Maths, Science and Technology. In the Beauty Therapy section Dawn Paterson has moved north to take up a full-time teaching position at Moray College, and Julie Wales returns to her Senior Lecturer post after the birth of her daughter Xanthe. Jane Buet also moves north from Wigan and Leigh College to join the floristry section at the Rutherglen Campus.

Congratulations to….
Paul Ferguson and his wife Jackie on the birth of their daughter Rebecca, a welcome little sister for Alastair and Jennifer.

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This is edition 24 of the Blog which was first published in December 2006. Comments from staff have suggested that the Blog has been a welcome addition to the communication process within the College. I know you appreciate the lifeblood of the Blog is the information, ideas etc that staff contribute therefore if you have any ideas, thoughts, scribbles for the Blog – please contact Robert Paterson or the Secretariat
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