New Video Player LIVE on ARES Homepage

We are proud to annouce that the launch of our new video player is live on the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences homepage (www.ntu.ac.uk/ares)

Have a look at our 'we need forward thinking scientsits' video and let us know what you think at are.feedback@ntu.ac.uk.

Veterinary Clinical Coach Standardisation Workshop

Alison Simpson, Internal Verifier for the Foundation Degree in Veterinary Nursing at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences.  The event is aimed at veterinary industry professionals who have a relationship with the University through our placements programme, which is part of the Veterinary Nursing course.

The workshops cover a practical skill tasks, todays task is injection techniques ran by Valerie McPherson. The group will then have a chance to complete sections in their nursing progression update, finishing with an open forum session on current issues.

For more information about the Veterinary Clinical Coach Standardisation Workshops contact Alison Simpson or 0115 8485203.

Alison demonstrating injection techniques.

Lincolnshire Show 2012

Staff at Brackenhurst is getting ready for #LincsShow today. Our stand is at DZ09, come along and introduce yourself.

We have information on all the courses you can do at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences including our Further Education courses in Agriculture, Animal Management, Horse Management, Horticulture and Countryside Management.

If you have liked what you have seen at #LincsShow and want to know more why not book onto an Open Day by visiting www.ntu.ac.uk/ares.

Biomass Boiler Work Starts Today...

Work has started today (Monday 18 June 2012) on the installation of the new Biomass Boiler on campus, we'll keep you posted on the progress of the development. The boiler will provide heating for the student village, academic offices and the new library development.

Work started on the boiler, 18 June 2012.

Positive Feedback on Facebook!

Visitors to our Open Days are using Facebook to congratulate us on the quality of our events.

One comment was particularly positive saying “The open day was amazing. Everybody was really friendly and the facilities are top quality. Still can't believe the size of the rooms. Look forward to applying for vet nursing end of this year and hopefully coming if I get a place”

We love to hear your Open Day feedback, either write on our Facebook wall or email are.feedback@ntu.ac.uk.

Staff recognised for their hard work and dedication

Eleven staff from NTU including Julia Davies from the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences have been recognised for their hard work and dedication in the University’s first ever ‘Outstanding Teaching Awards’. A packed ceremony, held in the University’s Arkwright Building, saw the culmination of weeks of voting bringing the year to a close with a celebration of academic success.

Students voted in their hundreds for the tutors, lecturers and support staff who they felt had made the most positive impact on their learning this academic year. The criteria for the nominations included prompt and relevant feedback; expert knowledge; and a stimulating, enthusiastic and consistently challenging environment.

Over 60 staff were nominated in the Students' Union run initiative, with eleven winners eventually emerging.

Brackenhurst wins Jubilee Cricket Match

On Wednesday 30 May a Brackenhurst Cricket XI visited Norwood Park at the invitation of Sir John Starkey to play a Jubilee celebration match, as part of the long-standing links between Brackenhurst and Norwood.

Captained by final-year student Liam Roberts, the Brackenhurst team featured eight students and three staff members. Despite a short burst of heavy rain, all 44 overs were bowled, the Brackenhurst team winning by a comfortable 80-run margin.

The student players acquitted themselves very well, being complimented for both their cricketing skills and their conduct as ambassadors for the School of ARES and the University. The three staff players (Stephen Jackson, Bill Turner and John Clarkson), despite having a collective age almost as great as all eight student players combined, rolled back the years to make important contributions with both bat and ball.

Team:

Nicholas Brown, Dave Clark, John Clarkson, Owen Harlow, Stephen Jackson, Richard Paul, Liam Roberts (c), Dave Siggins, George Skinner, Bill Turner, Peter Wilson.

Food Events @ Brackenhurst

Insider Magazine, Hospitality Round Table Event.

Insider Magazine hosted an industry relevant event at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences. The hospitality event was well attended with delegates discussing issues which challenge the hospitality industry today, including the changing nature of cash flow and the effects of localism has worked with the hospitality sector.

The event was attended by industry professionals from a range of businesses in the East Midlands; including Park Plaza Hotel, Shelton Imports and the National Skills and Drink Academy.

                                Insider Breakfast Event, Monday 11 June 2012

National Skills Academy, Fresh Produce and Regional & Rural

Industry Action Group.

Guests from across the country attended an Industry Action Group at the Brackenhurst campus on Tuesday. This event organised by the National Skills Academy was designed to aspire the fresh produce and regional & rural group to ‘grow its own talent’.  The event was attended by businesses including Booths, Munoz, Greenvale, Manor Fresh and Bourne Prepared Produce. The group discusses issues facing the fresh produce sector today, including the impact of voucher culture and the changing trends of value and premium products.

Fi Thompson, Business Development Officer gave a presentation entitled ‘grow your own talent’ to the group outlining the story of one of our students on the recently established Foundation Degree in Food Science and Technology. For more information about our range of Food Science courses, visit www.ntu.ac.uk/food. 

Derby College Visit

Students on BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Animal Management from Broomfield Hall, Derby College visited Brackenhurst yesterday for a Higher Education taster day. Visiting fellow Jeremy Kemp-Symonds gave a Veterinary Nursing Lecture on Oncology and technical staff gave demonstrations on enrichment and tours of the facilities at Brackenhurst.

The students gave really positive feedback about the campus, facilities and student ambassadors at the event, and most of them are considering entering Higher Education.

For more information about the Schools, Community and College Liaison team

Further Education and Professional Courses Awards

Our Further Education and Professional Students received their awards in the tranquil setting of Southwell Minister, last Friday. The event was a fitting tribute to the dedication and care students have taken with their studies while at Brackenhurst. Many of the students at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences excel across their programmes; below is a list of our prize winners this year.

                         FE and Professional Awards, 2012


Emma-Lauren Green, The Equine Trophy

Lucas Sivers, The Richardson Cup

Ashley Wright, The MJ and JA Saxby Trophy

Rachel Brennan, The NFU Trophy

Kate Dumbleton,The Peter O’Dell Trophy

Michelle Mettam, The Singleton Bowl

Julie Davies, The Kelham Cup

Laura Mackey, The Schering Bowl

Joe Thompson, The Lawton Prize

Lynn Preece, The Institute of Horticulture Prize

Jodie Bentley, The A and V Squires Challenge Cup

Liam Higgins, The Alph Moch Sheild

Tony Smith, The Alderman Crocker Cup

Bronwyn Ward, The Sir Stewart Goodwin Shield

Dave Gooden, The Hinsley Prize

Rebecca Northern, The Hince Bowl

Congratulations to all our students on their prizes, the photographs from the event will soon be on our Facebook page.

The Big Bang 2012

Staff and Students from the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences where at The Big Bang 2012 at the NEC in Birmingham. 44,000 school children visited the fair from around the East and West Midlands. We ran a Food Mile Challenge, which lots of children, teachers and parents took part in.

For more information about Schools and College Outreach, contact Janet Northover.

FOODEX'12

The Food Team from the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences were recently at FOODEX'12 at the NEC in Birminhgam. Visit the NTU Fusion website to see our new look food provision.

If you have any questions about NTU Fusion you can contact Fi Thompson or call 0115 8485238.

Post App Open Day for Environment and Geography

Very successful event today with applicants attending from Northumberland to Cornwall.  We also promoted the environmental focus of the university as a whole - helped by Rachel Staten, a second year BSc Hons Physical Geography student who is working with our Environment Team on placement.  Her role as an Environment Engagement Assistant involves delivering sustainability projects across the university.

UTC application continues to progress

I attended a seminar hosted by the Baker Dearing Trust in London with Mike Hamlin, Senior Education Adviser at the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust. The seminar covered in detail the process of establishing a UTC and was very useful background for our forthcoming interview in Sheffield at the Department for Education. The final outcome of this round of UTC bids will be announced by the Department at the end of May....this time we are hopeful that the Government will see the value of our focus on greenskills and landbased industries.

Spring has definitely arrived at Home Farm!

The farm baliff Neil Hodgson and agricultural staff led by Dominic Heneghan, Agriculture Programme Leader are busy supporting students getting experience with lambing and calving at Home Farm for the next few weeks...

Also down on the farm we are considering new cattle housing for our Lincoln Red herd. One of the ideas is a roundhouse from Simpson & Allinson in Yorkshire - in my experience a perfect cattle and student friendly facility! (http://www.roundhouseltd.co.uk/)

International Students Awards Evening 2012

A very enjoyable event which celebrated scholarships for students from 27 countries studying across the University. It was great to see Melissa Stephenson from ARES collect her award. Melissa is studying on the MSc Equine Health and Welfare and is at the project planning stage for the final part of her Masters.  She came to study at Brackenhurst from the United States as there are very few Masters level equine courses in her home country.

FdSc Sport Horse Management & Coaching Students in the Bramley Newspaper

Students are hosting a charity show jump on Saturday 3 March in aid of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance. The event is part of the FdSc Sport Horse Management and Coaching course. For more information contact Laura Bentley on laura.bentley2012@my.ntu.ac.uk.

Inaugural Lecture by Visiting Professor Doug Wilson

"Living on the Edge" was the title Doug chose to discuss with his audience at his  inaugural lecture last night at Brackenhurst.  Doug described how the 1972 book "The Limits to Growth" by Meadows et al. was an early influence on him and he explored how - since this publication and its successors - we had continued to exploit the earth's resources and live beyond its long-term capacity.

The quality of questions was an indicator of the depth of the audience's interest in this area and today Doug developed these ideas further with our geography and environmental science students.

Get involved with community volunteering through NTU!

Janet Northover - our Schools, Colleges and Outreach Officer, presented at the recent student forum to encourage students to take up one of the numerous opportunties to volunteer through NTU's community projects.  Many of these are funded so students gain valuable work experience and get paid for their input.
After the forum Janet had lots of interest from students so hopefully this will follow through to more volunteers.  We particularly need some Brackenhurst students in the main University Ambassador team!

Full details at http://ntu.ac.uk/business_professions/our_students/student_volunteering/index.html

The Forum also discussed lots of issues relevant to the students' academic experience and it was good to hear that everyone was happy with the speed and type of feedback received last term on their assignments.
There will be a fuller update on further IT improvements shortly...

Oxford Farming Conference 2012

The Oxford Farming Conference is something of an institution which each year tries to address a significant issue facing agriculture.  The theme for the 2012 conference was "Who holds the power in global agriculture" and the Power in Agriculture report produced for the conference makes fascinating reading.  (http://www.ofc.org.uk/papers ). Dr. Alan Renwick SAC's Head of Land Economy and Environment Research Group, lead author, gave a very fascinating summary of findings - it was interesting to hear for example how few companies are now involved in the production and distribution of key inputs such as fertiliser and seed across the world - does this make global agriculture vulnerable? 

Other speakers ranged from representatives of Transnational Companies - the so called TNCs - to small businesses developing niche products. Caroline Spelman Defra Minister entitled her talk "Big Chances for a Small Island" and was applauded by some of the livestock farmers in the room for her stance on the badger cull but there was very little else of note in her speech which mainly focused on the challenges of CAP reform without giving many definitive examples of the UK's stance.  The RSPB's Director of Conservation Martin Harper gave a strong account of why the declines shown by the Farmland Bird Index are particularly relevant in the light of potential intensification - but I felt that the farmers were left feeling that there was little new information to inform their land management.