Schools/colleges

By Tom Lawrence

Heavy-handed bailiffs reclaimed the academy site this morning after heated clashes with protesters.

About 20 Brent Council officers and bailiffs moved onto the Bridge Road Recreation Ground at 6am to clear out the 15 campaigners who had been camped their since July 26.

By Tom Parnell

A Brent college is encouraging students to fly out to an island for the latest extension to its campus.
The College of North West London's new facility includes an outdoor amphitheatre, business park and relaxing garden and waterfall.
However, visitors will not need to move from their classrooms to explore the extensive grounds, as it is all online.
The further education college, which has campuses in Wembley, Willesden and Kilburn, has become the first in the country to have its own operational island on the worldwide web.
Gas and heating lecturer Martin Biron rented 4,000 square metres of space in virtual world Second Life to explore the possibilities ofrunning an online 3D classroom.
He then persuaded the college to support a programme of exploration anddevelopment, which led to it renting 65,000 square metres of land in the the programme and attracting as many as 15,000 visitors in a month.
Visitors can fly through the air using an avatar or humanoid figure of their own choice to represent them inside the virtual world creating a game-style virtual reality environment for educational use.
Second Life opened in 2003 with properties entirely built and owned by its residents, who range from IBM and the NHS to Honda and lighting manufacturer Osram.
The virtual 3D environment is designed mainly for social and entertainment purposes, and has 11 million registered users worldwide who can do anything from watch a rock concert, shop or just have a chat with friends.
Visitors to the college's island can play chess, visit the garden and waterfall, check out the outdoor amphitheatre or enter the public sandbox to build their own 3-D objects.
There is also a business park where companies with college links can set up exhibitions to support students.
Mr Biron has installed a veritable giants house with an interactive central heating system that plumbing, gas, and heating and ventilation students can access and study.
Visitors can fly round the virtual central heating and hot water system, turn on taps and follow the movement of water through the pipes.
The house also features a U6 diaphragm meter to allow students to take a gas reading from a virtual appliance and get instant feedback on whether they are right.
Mr Biron said: The technology is so refined, its amazing - you can create anything you like. Second Life offers an excellent platform as a distance learning tool to support a blended learning approach.
It can be instantly accessed by students in a classroom or anywhere on the planet to undertake learning and assessment in their chosen field.
"Additionally, it supports their individual develop of IT and design skills.
We have set up a picture gallery from the Colleges recent Industry and Competitions Day, where visitors can walk through as though they were in a real gallery, and we are talking to other areas of the College, especially Art & Design, with a view to displaying their work.
Second Life can be accessed free on www.secondlife.com.

Art, design and media students from Queens Park Community School will be holding a free exhibition of their GCSE examination work, next month.
The youngsters will be showing paintings, sculptures and drawings at a preview party at The Gallery, in Willesden Green Library Centre, on July 10, and the creations will be on view until August 1.
New Zeland artists Sonja van Kerkhoff and Sen McGlinn will also hold a poetry-inspired exhibition at The Gallery from July 18.

By Aisha Silin

Byron Court Primary School held its annual summer fair last Saturday (21) to raise funds for the school.
Children and parents were treated to a day of activities such as face-painting, henna and a bouncing castle game. The fair also included a number of international food stalls.
Umesh Raichada, chairman of the Parent Teacher Association, said the school held a special raffle for helpers in order to get more of them on board.
He said: "It was a great day, and that's thanks to all the parents, the helpers, the teachers, and the year 11 students who participated."
The raffle prize was a video game player donated by a former student, Sundip Patel, who is now managing director of a toys and electronics company. Rasa Murugasu, whose child attends the school, was the lucky winner.
The fair raised approximately £2,000, which is more than £200 more than last year. At least three 300 people attended, and although it started out as a rainy morning, the weather fortunately turned warmer and sunnier in the afternoon.

Pupils from Alperton Community School will hit the dance floor next week to learn a special routine for this year's Brent Respect Festival.

Around 30 youngsters will take part in a three-day workshop and then perform the steps at the free annual event.

The festival will take place at Roundwood Park, in Harlesden, from 1-8pm on July 6. For more information visit www.brent.gov.uk/respect.

Pupils from Alperton Community School will hit the dance floor next week to learn a special routine for this year's Brent Respect Festival.

Around 30 youngsters will take part in a three-day workshop and then perform the steps at the free annual event.

The festival will take place at Roundwood Park, in Harlesden, from 1-8pm on July 6. For more information visit www.brent.gov.uk/respect.

By John Hayward

Pupils from 12 schools are to experience the volatile world of stock market investment at the sixth annual ADVFN School's Challenge, which will run from June 10 to 27th .
The competition hosted and run by the ADVFN, Europe's leading stocks and shares website, aims to teach more than 300 youngsters practical skills through a specially designated area of the AVFN website onto which they will enter five selected stocks.
Pupils will learn how to research companies and create a stock portfolio as well as providing them with an insight into how the stock market really works.
They will also learn about taxation, mortages, interest rates and inflation. The best performing school will receive £300 from the challenge sponsor, which will provide prizes up to fourth place as well as individual prizes.
Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN said: " The competition continues to inspire the pupils and has always proved to be a lot of fun for all involved while providing the chance for participants to learn more about personal finance.
" The current turbulent market conditions will no doubt add to the excitement".

By Tom Lawrence

Four of the borough's schools are set to be expanded or rebuilt in an attempt to satisfy the rising demand for pupil places.