Why Black Mountains College is Important: A Conservationist’s Perspective. By Sir Tim Smit KBE

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Black Mountains College is possibly the UK’s most exciting and important development in education.

It draws together strands of humanities and science into an un-siloed whole, enabling students and teachers to understand the interconnections of all things. Only then can they tease out insights into how to build a sustainable future.

The focus on core skills and creativity is innovative and necessary. Our future is uncertain and is determined by our actions now. The chance to be part of building a sustainable future is a unique and attractive proposition for students.

Here at Eden, we are also expanding our education offer and are investigating new approaches to higher and further education. There is an urgent need for new thinking in this area. As an education provider, we look forward to working with Black Mountains College in breaking new ground and to possible exchanges of students to mutual benefit.

We strongly support Black Mountains College and believe it to be a hugely important venture asserting the intellectual ambition of Wales to be a global leader in education.

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Further Education Application Form

HE Application Form

HE Application

Name*
First Last
Date of Birth*
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Address
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Pathways*
Please indicate which of the pathways you may be interested in following. You are not committing yourself at this stage. For more info on pathways, see our website.
Secondary Education/FE/HE
Please note: there are no formal entry requirements for the BMC Degree. Please fill in any relevant qualifications below or leave this section blank if it is not applicable.
Qualification & Grades School/College/University Date
Qualifications or Courses Completed
Date Awarding Body Subject/unit/module Level Result
Qualifications Pending
Date Awarding Body Subject/unit/module Level Result
Employment Details
Please give details of your current or most recent employer and any previous employment experience that you feel is relevant to your application.
Names and addresses of recent employers Nature of work From (mm/yyyy) To (mm/yyyy) Full-time or Part-time
Name and Address of Referee*
Your application must be accompanied by a reference, and you are advised to select a responsible person with recent knowledge of you to provide it. This may be someone who has taught you and has knowledge of your academic work. If this is not possible, examples of an appropriate referee would be: an employer; training officer; adult guidance officer; or a colleague with whom you have worked in an employment or voluntary context. References provided by friends or relatives are not acceptable. You must upload your completed reference form below. To download a form template, please go to our Higher Education page on our website. It is your responsibility to obtain your reference and forward it with your application. If your reference is not attached to this application, either because the referee wishes to send the reference separately, or because there is a delay in obtaining it, you are welcome to submit your application form with a covering note to confirm that the reference will follow separately. Decisions on applications which are not accompanied by a reference will be delayed until the reference is received. Please either upload your completed reference form or covering letter below or email it to studyHE@blackmountainscollege.uk, as soon as possible.
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Personal Statement*
In your personal statement, you may wish to comment on: • Your experiences of formal study and your own learning in the past (whether positive or negative). • Your reasons for wanting to study now in the particular form offered by BMC, on a degree that emphasises both academic and practical skills, learning in a unique setting in the Brecon Beacons National Park, and acquiring skills appropriate to a changing world and future careers that may not yet exist. • Your interest in, and any experience of, any of the key themes of the course, including arts, ecology, sociotechnical systems and systems change. • What you would like to achieve by the end of the course. • Your other interests.
Upload video or image file showing why you would like to do this course.
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Accepted file types: jpg, pdf, doc, docx, xls, mp4, mov, avi, wav, mpg, wmv, Max. file size: 32 MB.
Will you require accommodation in the local area? *
- Yes
- No
Please indicate whether you will require accommodation in the local area to study with us. If you have answered 'yes' we will be in touch to go through our Accommodation application process. We have a limited number of shared and self-contained accommodation options, but you are also welcome to organise your own.
Difficulty, Disability or Health Problems
• If you feel you may have a disability, special needs or a medical condition that has not yet been medically diagnosed you should select the disability option, and give further details of the circumstances in the free text box underneath. • If you do not have a disability, special needs or a medical condition, select No disability. • If you are concerned about disclosing your disability in your application, don't be. Generally, early disclosure will help support to be put in place for you.
Do you have a disability?*
- a) No disability
- b) Deaf/ partial hearing
- c) Blind/partial sight
- d) Longstanding illness
- e) Mental health
- f) Learning difficulty
- g) Wheelchair/mobility
- h) Multiple disabilities
- i) Not known
If you answered 'other' or 'multiple disabilities' above, please specify:
Do you have access or support requirements (e.g. level access, induction loop, interpreter, information in large print or alternative formats)?*
- Yes
- No
If yes, please give details of any support required (we will contact you to discuss your requirements).
To help us to prepare for you, please explain here if you will need any facilities or support as a result of your disability or special needs. This might include adapted accommodation, extra equipment, readers or interpreters or extra time to complete your course. If you do not know what facilities or support you need, please contact us at studyHE@blackmountainscollege.uk. You could also visit to make sure you are happy with the facilities. We may also ask you for more details to help plan for you. You may be able to get extra financial support or help with care. If your fee code is 02 or 05 you may be eligible for support from Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs) For more information contact Student Finance England if you live in England, Student Finance Wales if you live in Wales, SAAS if you live in Scotland, and Student Finance NI if you live in Northern Ireland.
Are you a carer?
- Yes
- No
Are you looked after by a local authority (in foster care) or estranged from your family?
- Yes
- No
Criminal Convictions
This question requires you to disclose whether you have a criminal conviction which is deemed both relevant and unspent. Universities and colleges need this information to help them reduce the risk of harm or injury to their students and staff. Please read the following carefully to help you in answering this question. Do I need to tick the box? There are two elements to the question we ask; if you answer Yes to both these elements, you will need to tick the box. 1. Is the conviction for a 'relevant' offence? 2. Is the conviction unspent? No decision will be made on the basis of a ticked box at this stage. This information will be held securely and shared only with those institutions that you apply to. Is the conviction for a 'relevant' offence? This is the first element to the question we ask. Relevant offences include one or more of the following: • Any kind of violence including (but not limited to) threatening behaviour, offences concerning the intention to harm or offences which resulted in actual bodily harm. • Sexual offences, including those listed in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. • The unlawful supply of controlled drugs or substances where the conviction concerns commercial drug dealing or trafficking (drug offences only involving possession are not relevant offences). • Offences involving firearms. • Offences involving arson. • Offences involving terrorism. If you were convicted outside the United Kingdom for an offence listed above, this is also considered a relevant offence. For the purposes of this question, cautions, reprimands and final warnings are considered as convictions. Penalty notices for disorder (PNDs), anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) or other orders are not convictions, unless you have contested a PND or breached the terms of an ASBO or other order and this has resulted in a criminal conviction. If your answer is 'No' to this question because you don't have a relevant conviction, then you should not tick the box. You don’t need to consider whether your conviction is unspent because it is not relevant and should not be disclosed in answer to this question. If your answer is 'Yes' to this question, because you have a relevant conviction, you must then go on to consider whether the conviction is unspent (see below). Is the conviction 'unspent'? You should only consider this question if you have a relevant conviction (see above), i.e. answered 'Yes' to the previous question. A criminal conviction can become 'spent' after a period of time. The length of time it takes to become spent is defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and depends on the sentence or disposal made by the court following the conviction. Until that period has passed, the conviction is considered 'unspent' and you must tick the box. Further convictions can impact when other convictions become spent. Sentences of over four years in prison cannot become spent. Most cautions, reprimands and final warnings become spent immediately, so will not normally be 'unspent'. For more information on offences and rehabilitation periods, visit www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286421/rehabilitation-of-offenders-guidance.pdf You can work out whether your conviction is spent by using an online tool – visit www.disclosurecalculator.org.uk This only covers convictions made in England and Wales and is maintained by the charity, Unlock. UCAS and Unlock cannot guarantee the tool’s accuracy or completeness. Neither charity assumes responsibility or accepts liability for any damage or loss which may arise as a result of your reliance on it. If you were convicted outside the United Kingdom, you will need to follow the same process above. If your conviction would be considered unspent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, you must tick the box. Convictions that are spent do not need to be disclosed, it’s only when you have one or more unspent convictions that you must tick the box. How will the College handle my application if I tick the box? If you tick the box, you will not be automatically excluded from the application process. The information concerning criminal convictions will be passed to appointed persons at the college. In line with good admissions practice (such as that created by Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA)), they will consider your criminal conviction separately from the rest of your application. During this consideration, they may ask you to provide further information about your conviction. If they are satisfied, your application will proceed in the normal way although they may add certain conditions to any offer they may make. Otherwise they will notify you of their decision. It is important to note that a failure to declare a relevant unspent criminal conviction is taken very seriously and could result in expulsion from your university or college. You should therefore seek advice before answering this question if you are unsure how to answer it. All information concerning criminal convictions will be treated sensitively, confidentially and managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. You may find further details about how a criminal conviction declaration is handled (including the right to appeal a decision) at the university or college website. What if I receive a relevant criminal conviction after I have applied? If you are convicted of a relevant criminal offence after you have applied, you must tell us and any university or college that you have applied to, or may apply to, during the application cycle. Do not send details of the offence; simply tell us and the universities and colleges that you now have a relevant criminal conviction. The universities and colleges may then ask you for more details. When might I need to disclose a spent conviction or caution? If you apply for certain courses, you will be required to disclose whether you have any spent convictions, in addition to this question about relevant unspent convictions. If this applies, you will be asked an additional question each time you choose a relevant course. Please see the entry requirements for your course choices to see if this requirement applies to you. Please note that, in this situation, you should not declare convictions, cautions, warnings or reprimands which are deemed 'protected' under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). A conviction or caution can become 'protected' as a result of a filtering process. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of convictions and cautions can be found on the DBS website. Further information on filtering can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/dbs-filtering-guidance
Do you have any unspent criminal convictions?*
- Yes
- No
If you're unsure, please read the help text above. If ‘yes’ please send separate details, marked ‘Strictly Confidential’ to ben@blackmountainscollege.uk. Please be aware that we may need to seek additional information from you besides what you provide.
Anything Else?
If there is anything else you would like to tell us, please include it here
Data and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Information from this page is not used for selection purposes, but is used by the college in order to monitor our equality policies and provide support.
How would you describe your ethnic origin?
- White
- Asian Bangladeshi
- Asian Chinese
- Asian Indian
- Asian Other
- Asian Pakistani
- Black African
- Black Caribbean
- Black Other
- Mixed: Other mixed background
- Mixed: White and Asian
- Mixed: White and Black African
- Mixed: White and Black Caribbean
- Other ethnic background
- Prefer not to say
Country of Birth
Occupation

If you are 21 or over, please state your current or most recent occupation: If you are under 21, please state the occupation of the highest-earning member of your household (if she or he is retired or unemployed give their most recent job title):
Family Educational Background
- Yes
- No
- Don't Know
- Prefer not to say
Have any of your parents (including adoptive parents, stepparents or legal guardians if appropriate) completed any higher-education qualifications, such as a degree, or a diploma or certificate of higher education?
How did you hear about BMC?*
Please help our marketing team by selecting how you heard about us here.
Please explain further how you heard about us
If you are able to, please add a few comments to explain how you heard about us in more detail here. Please be specific to which social media site you might've seen us on, which event or short course did you attend, which school or college, which radio channel/news article? If you selected 'word of mouth' who did you hear from, or what did you search on the internet?
Declaration
By submitting this form, I confirm that the information given in this form is true, complete and accurate, and that no information requested or other material information has been omitted. I consent to the processing of my data by Black Mountains College for the purpose of dealing with this application. All decisions by the College are taken in good faith on the basis of the statements made on your application form. If Black Mountains College discovers that you have made a false statement or have omitted significant information from your application form, it may withdraw or amend its offer, or terminate your registration, according to circumstances.
Consent*
I have read the declaration and would like to submit my application.
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I would like to be kept updated by Black Mountains College. Please add me to your mailer list.
Next Steps
Thank you for your application. We aim to be in touch within 5 working days! Please remember to send us your completed reference form to studyHE@blackmountainscollege.uk if you haven't attached it your application form already. While at university or college you will have two main costs - tuition fees and living costs. Most students will not have to pay anything up front. Depending on your circumstances, your course and where you study, you could get a range of financial support. The main types of finance are tuition fee and maintenance loans (which have to be paid back), and grants and bursaries (which don't). There is also extra support for those with special circumstances, for example, if you have children or adult dependents, a disability, mental-health condition, or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia. Repayments are based on future earnings and not on what you borrow. You only repay once you have left university/college and earn over a threshold. Applying is easy and you do not have to have a confirmed place - simply use your first choice of course and change it online at a later date if you need to. How to apply It's really important to find out what funding is available to you and how you go about applying for it. You can find out everything you need to know about student finance online at the GOV.UK website or follow Student Finance Wales on Facebook and Twitter to get updates. It is important to apply early to make sure you have everything in place before starting your course. Please contact us if you have any queries.

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Why Black Mountains College is Important: A Conservationist’s Perspective. By Sir Tim Smit KBE

More Like This

Further Education Application

Difficulty, Disability or Health Problems

Criminal Convictions

Anything Else?

Data and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Declaration

Next Steps

Further and Higher Education Interest