Courses and Careers Day

Challenge of the Week

East Coast College has just announced that in order to encourage academic thought, a series of weekly Challenge questions will be published through the institutions Online Classroom (OCR)'with immediate effect.

According to ECC Director Mohamedarif Suleman, this exercise aligns well with the College philosophy of connecting learning with life but also extends to cover those areas of society who are not classified as students anymore, for one reason or another.  "As a forward-looking college, it is expected of us to be providing the building blocks for the necessary formation of a widely reading and deeply thinking society, and this project boldfaces our intentions on the same." said Suleman.

All one has to do is to send an email to mujeeb.kanji@eastcoastcollege.org and register as a guest with the OCR for free.  Thereafter, questions will be posted time and again.  The fastest response will be recorded as the winner of the week.  Of course, there are no prizes for this yet - but for now, it is for the sake of knowledge!

 Fatma Saleh - an exciting first-time attainment

Fatma Mohamediqbal Saleh of Arusha, a distant learner at East Coast College, has just received her FA1 - Recording Financial Transactions paper results from ACCA, and she has all the reason to be excited.

Compared to a global pass rate of 70% for this paper, Fatma has scored 78% through her commitment and hard work, which any distant learner knows, how important it can turn out to be.  Not only that but whereas only 50% of worldwide candidates pass an ACCA exam when they sit for the paper the first time, Fatma is surely on the better side of these statistics.

Her tutor Rumishael Peter, incidentally just a few days from celebrating one of his own life milestones - that of getting married, could visibly not hide his happiness at this marvellous piece of news.

The Director, management, staff and students congratulate both Fatma and Peter for their exciting first-time attainment, and hope there will be many more reasons to celebrate in the upcoming future.

BTECs – the big benefits

To decide if a BTEC is right for you, you’ll need to know how BTECs differ from other qualifications and what advantages they have.

A practical approach to study

Students have to undertake a number of units for which they present evidence, based on real-life work and studies. This allows them to demonstrate their skill and knowledge in practical situations. If you think you would succeed better working in this way, the BTEC route may be the one to take.

Some students thrive on the pressure of exams, but others often fail to achieve their potential due to worries or nerves. With a BTEC, progress is measured throughout the course, allowing students to gauge their own performance on a continuing basis, just like in a real workplace. As a result, students are more engaged and motivated, as they can see the progress they’ve made through the course rather than waiting until the end to sit an exam.

Keep your options open

There are many options available to school-leavers: further education, vocational degrees and apprenticeships and jobs that offer workplace learning. If you are not sure about the path you will wish to take, the flexibility of BTECs makes them a good choice, as they offer useful practical experience as well as a recognised qualification.

Inspiring confidence

Learning should be fun, not daunting. In our experience, students enjoy BTEC programmes because they can specialise in areas of learning linked with work that they are interested in, like sport or the music business. Courses tap into what they enjoy, feel good at and find familiar.

Students build their confidence because they are developing practical skills that will help them secure a job in the future. Answers to assignments may be in written form, but it’s just as likely they will be in other forms – such as film clips, project proposals, business plans and structured databases. Students are always given clear guidelines so they know what they have to achieve and how to do this.

Rewarding effort

Students will have to meet deadlines set by teachers, but can do this at their own pace rather than having to perform to the time constraints of an exam. Progress is monitored individually by teachers who provide personal support and guidance, helping students develop their learning skills and reach their potential. Learning is progressive, from small-scale and simple topics to larger and more complex themes.

Working together

Teamwork is an important aspect in the world of work. Not surprisingly, it is also a key feature of BTECs. Students work on assignments - such as a group drama production or manager-employee role-play - both individually and in groups. Some students may take time to adapt to these new ways of working, but they gradually understand what is expected of them. They learn even faster if, at Key Stage 4, they take more than one BTEC course, because they make connections and apply approaches to learning from one subject to another.

Fitting study around other things

BTECs are flexible. They can be studied for full time or part time. BTECs can be taken as part of an Apprenticeship programme or alongside work commitments and other qualifications.

Staying up to date

An important consideration when deciding on a course to follow is whether the content is relevant and the course has been revised recently. If it is a BTEC, you can be assured that it has. We are continually developing and updating BTECs in response to the needs and skills required by employers. This ensures that learners gain maximum benefit from their work while qualifying, and that the qualifications stay up to date and relevant. All BTEC qualifications are now developed in co-operation with the relevant Sector Skills Council (SSC), ensuring they meet the needs of employers.

Real Madrid BC topple Cliffton Plaza's 1st day lead, to go top

Real Madrid BC, the only all-boys team featured in the GREAT WEEKENDS Village Walk/InterSchool League (ISL) Quiz, upturned a 6-point gap against hot favourites Cliffton Plaza on the second day of the quiz, in a dramatic last-minute turn around on Sunday, that also saw the Dynamites show a stealthy performance.

It was Hussein Ahmed, who took his team ahead in the last round question when he correctly answered before seeing Team Believe drop their question to hand Real a well deserved lead.

After two days of marathon competition, Real Madrid BC (Raed Ahmed, Hussein Ahmed, Delma Ahmed, all from AK Mzizima Secondary School, and Mark of DIS) stand top with 73.5 points.  On second spot, Believe (Halima Ally, Fatemazehra Rajpar, Ahlam Ally and Najeeba Balouch, all of Al Muntazir Islamic Seminary) with  72 points.

Third in the race is Cliffton Plaza (Zahra Tejani, Aliakber Tejani, Fatema Dewji from AK Mzizima Secondary School and Nayaab Parmar) at 61.5 points ; followed by Dynamites at 58.5 points (Nadiya Kadri, Mahjubah Esmail, Ayman Satchu and Aysha Iqbal, all of Al Muntazir Islamic Seminary).  Holding the tail is MZ (Zameena Somji, Zainab Walji, Mehreen Mushtak and Maham Mushtak, all from Al-MIS) with 55.5 points.

The games continue on Sunday as all teams vie for the top prizes on offer by Samsung, I&M Bank and Flying Horse, amongst others.

All student points are being credited to their league account, which will further give them the boost to become the Brain of ISL 2012.