Pennard Community Council have identified the Community Hub on the Playing Field idea as a priority for the community. As a result, they are applying for a grant for a feasibility study and outline business plan. Match funding has been allocated from the £5000 pot for this year for ideas that come directly from the community such as this one!
Keep sharing the idea and asking friends and neighbours to rate and debate it using the VocalEYes platform to strengthen the evidence needed to secure the funds.
Suggestions for amenities within the hub include new changing and showering facilities, including a disabled changing room, a coffee shop, youth cafe, multi-use hall for groups who wish to use inside and outside space and low-cost shared office space.
It is planned that the building will be built to a very high environmental standard.

SPORTING EQUIPMENT has been a request for years at Cathays, and now we’ve finally had them. Cathays is proud for its pupil voice as we keep on updating with pupil requests. 
Cathays has put up goal posts with nets and basketball hoops. This is great as the school is promoting sport which is wha the school community wanted.
We strongly encourage you to keep us posted with changes and wishes for our community. Keep on rating and posting. VC

Thank you to the student who submitted the idea for the Students' Association to put on social monthly mixers as a way of getting to know other students in the college. 

We're working together with Strathclyde Students' Union to organise events specifically for City of Glasgow College students. We've already hosted a 'Welcome to College' night which took place during freshers' week. We're excited to announce we have another night coming up on the 8th December - our end of term Christmas night! 

If you're interested in coming along to this night, you can find more details on our Facebook events page here - https://bit.ly/2QmenRs 

We hope to see you all there. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/29/wind-and-solar-made-more-electricity-than-nuclear-f...

http://www.cndcymru.org/hinkley-mud-campaign

Your Students' Association have been working in partnership with Baxter Storey over the past few months, providing them with your feedback and ideas! We received over 200 ratings for ideas relating to more vegan, vegetarian and food intolerance options. 

Baxter Storey have now introduced more food options and products for students with specific dietary requirements. Please ask a member of the Catering staff for what options are available and they'll be able to point them out to you.

If there are any other food options or products you would like on the menu, please email: amiller@baxterstorey.com

Food featured in the video: Pesto roasted vegetable baguette topped with buffalo mozzarella. Sea salt, thyme and black pepper roasted vegetable baguette with a duo of roast vineyard cherry tomatoes and mustard slaw. Full range of Grab 'n' Go vegetarian sandwiches, pasta pots, jacket potatoes and fillings. New vegan lines coming soon! 

Glynncollen primary school ended the academic year with a flourish! Having prioritised ‘reducing plastics’ in the school they orchestrated their campaign to change the way free milk is provided to the Foundation Phase in their school. Their simple plan was to ask the local authority to consider other ways of supplying the milk. Currently the milk is delivered in 150ml bottles. The young people want this to be changed to 2 litre bottles and for the milk to be dispensed into stainless steel bottles.

They wrote to the politicians in their local ward, local authority and Welsh Assembly. The Environment Minister, Hannah Blythyn, AM wrote to the children to congratulate them on their campaign and provided lots of advice on how they could continue their journey towards plastic-free.

The children themselves decided to raise money to buy the stainless steel bottles and will hold a sponsored walk in September to raise the money.

Read more

One of the challenges for schools wishing to put Pupil Voice into action is whether or not participation is authentic or merely tokenistic. In this blog we look at how children in Year 6 in Glyncollen Primary School took their highly rated ideas forward to research and action.

We went to see them near the end of term to find out about the journey they had been on. Our purpose was to capture their story to investigate plastic use in their school and to help the young people show how a commitment to participatory democracy had empowered them to be activists in their own communities.

Read more and watch this fantastic video..

Single Sign On (SSO) access via SharePoint within Office365 is now available. For installation details click here

NPTC Group of Colleges would like to make students aware that there is now a free ATM cash machine in the refurbished A/B Block, located next to the main reception area.

Please remember we consider all of your suggestions and ideas and will also be considering placing additional machines on other campuses if there is demand and high usage.

On the back of the Cardiff Grand Council Event, we've put together this guide for 10 Steps to Success in your school. 
http://academy.vocaleyes.org/tutorials/10-steps-to-success-for-schools/

Do let us know what you think and if it needs improving feel free to contact us on schools@vocaleyes.org

A big thank you to the student who submitted the idea "Menu selection and prices to be displayed more clearly." 

Baxter Storey have now installed new overhead signage in the refectory at City Campus! If there are still areas you wish to have more signage then please contact: amiller@baxterstorey.com

Thanks to everyone that has submitted ideas, voted or commented on the topic 'What can City of Glasgow College do to ensure your learning experience is excellent and innovative?' We are currently taking ideas through to the City Partnership Forum and will update you in the upcoming weeks on the outcomes.

Cycle Store / Bike Racks
Thanks for your idea 'Bike Racks'. There is a Cycle Store located on the Ground Floor at City Campus which accommodates 315 bikes. If you study at Riverside Campus, there are 200 external bike racks. Please contact reception if you are not sure where these are located.

We have had great success in Pennard Ward and have planted a beautiful Silver Birch to commemorate 50 years since the passing of Vernon Watkins and 50 years since Pennard Primary School and Library were opened.

Local company, Gower Unearthed, work tirelessly raising awareness of Gower myths, legends and history. They have been awarded funding to bring Vernon Watkins and his work to life for the 50th anniversary and have run some great initiatives across Swansea and Gower.

I met with Charlotte and Helen of Gower Unearthed to discuss the Swansea Rural Community Voice Project and how it could work for them. We discussed their current and future projects and during our conversations, one of us suggested that planting a tree for Vernon would be a lovely way to mark this special anniversary.

 Without further discussions, the idea was uploaded to VocalEyes into Pennard Ward, was rated and debated by Pennard residents and by the end of the month was top of the list of priorities for the ward.

 It was during this time, we spoke to residents about the idea  of planting a tree and discovered the Primary School and Library were both also celebrating a 50th anniversary. With all the crossover links between Vernon’s poetry, children, learning, books and literacy, the idea morphed into a joint celebration.

 

We approached the Primary school to find out what they thought about a tree to celebrate their special anniversary, also recognizing the Library and Vernon Watkins, and were delighted by the response.

Charlotte and Helen both wanted to help the school give the children a better understanding of Vernon Watkins and so organized sessions at the school; including poetry walks and sessions writing poetry taking inspiration from nature and the Pennard area.

 The children have also worked with a local artist to produce a “Poetry-Tree” to showcase their work. This will form part of a display to be showcased around Swansea as a finale to the Vernon Watkins Project.

The tree will be accompanied by a memorial stone and information board in the coming months. These will be a fitting memorial to Pennard’s most famous poet which we hope will eventually form part of a Vernon Watkins Trail within the ward, encouraging residents to learn more about Vernon and encouraging visitors from further afield who want to find out more. 

The stone and board will be funded by donations from a collaboration of different organizations including The Gower Landscape Partnership, The Gower Society, Pennard Community Council, VocalEyes and fundraising from the local community. This is an example of genuine community collaboration, individuals and organizations working together to achieve a priority idea that had come from the residents within the community.

This story has been shared by the South Wales Evening Post and is available on the Welsh Government website: http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/farmingandcountryside/cap/wales-rural-network/news/59...

Looking forward to helping Pennard residents achieve many more of their priorities in the coming months!

 

Great news for Swansea Bay, the crowdfunding bid #bikes4swansea for the Santander Cycles University Challenge was successful, with Swansea raising the highest amount of promised funds for the scheme! 


That means lots of new bikes will be appearing soon, starting with docking stations along the bay linking the two university campuses with the city centre. The amount raised was way above the goal, £100,210 (£53,178 target) which is brilliant news because...

"To win the competition we need[ed] to raise more than our target. 50% of any funds raised over and above the target will be used to make further capital investments – more bikes and docking stations – which could include more locations. The other 50% will pay for the additional running costs that will come as a result of the extra investment."

Source: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bikes4swansea

This is brilliant news for Swansea, well done Abertawe! We're looking forward to seeing more people out and about on the bikes, experiencing the joys and freedom of cycling!