Bicton College

[Nikki Lou]

Hi, does anyone know what Bicton College is like? or have you taken a course there?

I am thinking of taking the Sat course to train for my stage 2 but it is a 200 mile round trip for me and I want to know how good the college is first.

:) :) :)

[devon lass]

hey nikki, if your in cornwall have you considered going to duchy collage, i don't know if they are any bhs courses there but my friend did the sports horse course there part time and worked at a riding school for the rest of the time and really enjoyed it. I want to do my bhs's and bicton does them-on a saturday morning i think but its quite expensive , also okehampton collage did one last year but i wasn't old enough (it was 16 years for bhs 1 then) and i can't find anymore info about it this year,

hope this helps you abit - 200mile round trip is along way though, have you checked out a riding school that may be doing one -is the place you took your stage 1 doing the stage 2 course ?

let me know what you decide
hannah

[Mossy]

Hi
Bicton is supposed to be very good. The facilities there are are much praised. Mind you if you are in Cornwall and thinking of studying pt time have you thought of the Grange at Okehampton. They are doing all sorts these days. My daughter dipped her toe into the Duchy, and removed it again rather rapidly. It is not a college that suits everybody, but then what College does?

[Nikki Lou]

Thanx for your help, I have been to Duchy on their BHS course but they only offer a ten week course once a year in April, and it is not specific to any of the BHS levels its more of an overview and very relaxed, they seem to just cover whatever people on the course want to do that week.
The riding lesson part of the class was very good, but I felt a bit let down on the stable management side, I learnt a lot but not necessary the things which I needed to know for my BHS stage 1 because the group was mixed with people doing all stages and some that were just there for fun with no exam in mind ..... guess they just had to try and please everyone. :)

I will definately give the grange a ring and see what they can offer and compare them with Bicton. I am open to any options as I am finding training opportunities are a bit limited as I work full time and cannot afford to give up my office job until I am qualified :(

[Jenni]

Have you thought about distance learning. Warwickshire college do a distance learning course that is tutor based.
i am doing it and it is about £100 for all the course material for the stage 2, Here is the link.

http://www.warkscol.ac.uk/equistudy/equistudy/home.asp

[Nikki Lou]

Thanx for the equistudy link, I am enrolled on the FdSc degree with equistudy and am really enjoying it and learning loads of theory ... but I want to make sure I get enough practical experience as well.
I'm really looking forward to going on the seminar school weekend at Warwickshire College, I need to do that for my next module. :)

[purple]

HI Nikki Lou,

I am going up to look at warickshire college next week as I'm really interested in the distance learning foudation degree. I've been out of study for a while and am a little hesitant about coping with the learning. How are you finding it? Can you tell me more about the way it all works and if the tutors ect are supportive. Voice your oppinion, I'd love to hear it!

[Nikki Lou]

I am really enjoying the foundation degree course, before I started I had a telephone interview with the course leader Vikki Goode, who was really helpful in pointing me in the right direction and explaining how things work :)

I agree it is a big challenge taking on degree level study but it is very rewarding, basically the course is broken down into modules, you choose your module and they send out a booklet (which is like your lecture notes if you were at uni) you work through it and when you are ready you request your coursework / enter for the exam /or both depending on the module :)

I am doing the personal development module at the moment and have to sumbit coursework which I have ten weeks to complete.

I normally contact the tutors by email, mainly because I am at work all day and it is easier for me but you can also phone in during office hours. I find they reply quickly and are always avaliable to help.

Hope this helps :D keep in touch and let me know how you get on at the open day.

[purple]

Hi Nikki Lou,

I saw the college on monday, I was really impressed by the facilities. The distance learning people were fantastic and answered all my questions. I felt very reassured about the whole thing and I have just signed up to do the foudation degree distance learning. Like you, they recommended the personal develpoment modual first. I'm excited about starting this, thankyou for your feed back on your previous post. ;)