JCC’s Partners
Your time with us at Joseph Chamberlain College is the final step before you move on to Higher Education, an apprenticeship, or jump straight into employment. We understand how important this crucial time in your life is, which is why we work with a wide array of universities, other Higher Education providers, and employers to ensure you are fully prepared for your next steps. Below is a list of the partnerships we have entered and how they can benefit you while studying with us at JCC.
Birmingham Ethnic Education Advisory Service (BEEAS)
We work together with the Birmingham Ethnic Education and Advisory Service to provide ESOL classes for women in South Birmingham. Founded in 1984, BEEAS aims to improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged communities in the city. In conjunction with JCC, BEEAS:
- Organises and delivers English as a Second Language classes
- Provides guidance and advice on education and training matters
- Makes people more employable and provides access to training
- Provides opportunities for gaining qualifications and further professional development
- Signposts services for the community
- Promotes health and wellbeing programmes
For more information on BEEAS, please visit www.beeas.org
Our School Partners
Birmingham South Network
Joseph Chamberlain College is a member of the Birmingham South Network, a group of fifteen schools (including academies and maintained secondary schools) that have worked together since 1999.
Together, they serve approximately 12,000 students between the ages of 11 and 19, covering the areas of Balsall Heath and Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Hall Green, Kings Heath, Moseley, Brandwood, Cotteridge, and Kings Norton. These schools have a long history of collaboration, which includes a shared vocational and post-16 provision, collaborative continual professional development, and inclusive sharing of ‘hard to place’ pupils.
All schools within the Birmingham South Network adhere to their ‘REACH’ philosophy: Reaching all, Educating to Achieve through Challenge, with High expectations.
The Birmingham South Network:
- Is rigorous, expects the highest standards, shares what they do best, and learns from each other.
- Is mutually accountable through collaboration and formal reporting structures.
- Connects different schools/colleges, commercial outdoor pursuits partners, as well as many others, to maximise the power of collaboration for sustainability and value for money.
- Is flexible, adapting to each child’s needs, beginning with the premise that the network has the resources to find solutions with a corresponding focus on growing the young person’s independence and ability to cope with responsibility as a whole.
- Works closely with families and support agencies to learn and extend capacity, resulting in a shared understanding and coordinated approaches that improve pupil outcomes.
- Transcends boundaries by working across a significant range of schools, serving highly diverse communities.
Our University Partners
University of Birmingham
Routes to Professions
We work in close partnership with the University of Birmingham on their ‘Routes to the Professions’ initiative as a part of our commitment to improving access to courses that lead to professional careers for under-represented groups. The programme aims to improve the knowledge, understanding, and progression of under-represented groups regarding professional courses by providing these students with opportunities to develop non-academic skills and capabilities that are important for accessing professional courses and careers.
Realising Opportunities
We also work with UoB as a part of their ‘Realising Opportunities (RO)’ initiative, a collaboration of fifteen leading research-intensive universities that work together to promote fair access and social mobility for students from under-represented groups within Higher Education. Successful completion of this programme gives students the opportunity to have their achievements recognised by UCAS, resulting in additional consideration and the potential for alternative offers from the universities involved.
Access to Birmingham (A2B)
With UoB, we are also involved in the ‘Access to Birmingham (A2B)’ scheme, which is designed to help students from families and communities in the West Midlands who have little to no experience in Higher Education find out about what exactly studying at university involves. Every year, we send a group of students to visit St Catherine’s College at the University of Oxford.
University of Birmingham, Newman University, and the University of Wolverhampton
We have developed very strong teacher training partnerships with various universities in the West Midlands region. Our college offers work placements, a tailor-made ‘enhancement programme’ day visit, and integrates trainee teachers into professional development activities.
Aston University
We work in close partnership with Aston University’s Medical School to give students who are interested in a healthcare career the opportunity to join the Sir Doug Ellis Pathway to Healthcare programme. This programme provides selected students the opportunity to participate in a range of activities, including:
- A two-week work placement within the local NHS institution
- Online mentoring from an Honorary Clinical Fellow scheme linked with the Medical School
- The opportunity to shadow current students from the School of Life and Health Sciences
- Advice on obtaining work experience in the healthcare professions
- A summer essay project
- A summer academic enrichment programme
- Easter revision classes on campus in year 13
Birmingham City University
We offer an HND qualification which is awarded by Birmingham City University, that being the Diploma in Education and Training (DET). In June 2018, our college became an approved institution to deliver teacher training. The Level 5 Diploma in Education and Training (DET) is a well-recognised qualification in the post-compulsory education sector.
Subcontracting
To ensure that we offer the best possible education and training to our learners of all ages, we work with a small number of specially selected partners. These partners help us to deliver specialist courses or offer an access point for the most disadvantaged groups.
Teaching Alliances
Joseph Chamberlain College is a key member of Bishop Challoner Catholic College’s Teaching School Alliance (TSA). The TSA is a partnership of forty-three schools from around the West Midlands, with the majority located in Birmingham and others scattered throughout Dudley, Solihull, Walsall, and Worcestershire. Out of all of these educational institutions, we are the only sixth form college to be a member.
The Alliance is a learning community that shares ideas and discusses education, providing and delivering high-quality integrated programmes for school-led improvement.
Together, we work hard to focus on the ‘Big Six’ areas of development, those being:
- Initial Teacher Training
- Continuing Professional Development
- Leadership Development and Succession Planning
- School-to-School Support
- Specialist Leaders of Education
- Research and Development