Earlier this month, City of Bristol College held a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) day, on which all College staff met for three engaging and informative sessions.
The day began with a virtual welcome from our Chief Executive and Principal Rich Harris, in which we reflected on the successes the College has enjoyed in the first half-term of 2021/22 and looked forward to the year ahead. Another session saw teams from across the College gather to give presentations on their roles and take questions from colleagues, with the goal of reflecting on how we can all work together to achieve our common goals and deliver the best experience possible for our students.
The CPD day also saw the unveiling of our new College values, which were decided after collecting suggestions from staff, students and stakeholders to reflect what they love about City of Bristol College, and what they hoped to continue striving for. Two of the original values remained, while two were updated; the new values are Respect, Ambition, Honesty and Inclusion. Exciting work is now underway to embed these values in meaningful ways across the College.
But, it was sustainability that took centre stage at CPD day, starting with an inspiring presentation from sustainable development consultant Gnisha Bevan. After the presentation, teams had the opportunity to discuss what we currently do to further the green agenda, and how we can be more sustainable in our individual roles and as a whole College. There was a particular focus on the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and how we can all play a part to achieve them by 2030 in line with the UN’s goal.
Efforts to make the College ‘greener’ are already underway, with staff now able to buy hot drinks for significantly less if they use a re-usable cup – which should be easy after staff were gifted a sustainable coffee cup as part of our 25th jubilee celebrations! Elsewhere, 9 electric vehicle charging points are available at our Centres to make it easier for staff who own them to make sustainable choices.
Our facilities already include solar energy at South Bristol Skills Academy (SBSA), Ashley Down Centre and our Advanced Engineering Centre, in addition to solar heating and rainwater harvesting used to flush toilets at SBSA. Over 75% of the waste produced at the College is recycled, and less than 1% goes to landfill.
We also have policies in place to make it easier for colleagues to use eco-friendly active travel, with our Cycle to Work scheme supported by secure cycle lockers and showering facilities at all of our Centres, while more sustainability activities are planned for the future to keep everyone thinking about changes they can make day-to-day to help save the planet.
