Bradford College

Festival of Achievement - FE Awards

Bradford College proudly celebrated success with its Festival of Achievement Further Education Awards Evening.   The annual event was held in the Sir Henry Mitchell Hall, to mark the achievements and pay tribute to Further Education students at Bradford College.

Special guests included Margaret Coleman, Director for Yorkshire and Humberside at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and David Collins CBE, AoC President and Principal. Bradford College Assistant Director, Beverley Ireland-Symonds was the Master of Ceremonies at the memorable event, reading through the list of award winners, Beverley outlined why each award winner had been nominated.

Chair of Corporation, Richard Wightman was delighted to open the Further Education Awards Evening.  In part of his speech Richard said:  “By your own example you have affected the lives of your peers - and are good ambassadors for the College and for the community.  We are proud of you and your achievements!”

Richard continued:  “I will now ask the Principal, Michele Sutton, to conduct the rest of the ceremony.”  Michele Sutton, OBE, College Principal and Chief Executive presented students with their award certificate, gift token and commemorative pen.  Ten specially selected exceptional winners were also presented with cheques for £150.

With pride, Michele told the audience:  “Welcome to the Further Education Awards Evening. Where we are here to celebrate the achievements of all of our students and in particular those who have been nominated for awards.”

Michele went on to outline how Further Education had been the key to her impressive and successful career to date.  Michele explained:  “I have been working in Further Education for nearly 30 years.  I started as a teacher and 10 years ago became a Principal.  I have now been Principal and Chief Executive of Bradford College since August 2004.”

In part of her inspirational speech, Michele said: “Over the years many people have asked me why I have chosen to make my career in Further Education.  The reason is that here we can make a major difference to peoples lives. We can enthuse, support, guide and help people to learn. But the commitment, dedication and motivation that is shown by you, our students, is what has helped you to achieve your goals.”

Michele continued: “I know about making the difference – I left grammar school at 17 and went to the FE college next door. I stayed on in FE for 3 years and left with academic and vocational qualifications, which led me into higher education and work. Starting work as a secretary I worked in industry and the public sector for 11 years before starting teaching.”

“Throughout my career I have gained further qualifications so I also know what it’s like to be a mature student, juggling responsibilities, a home, job, education and training at the same time.”

“I have always remembered how college helped me and I can see how Bradford College has made a difference to you our students.”

“The quality of our teaching and learning was reflected in the Ofsted Report published in December 2008. The expertise of our teaching and support staff was deemed to be good with outstanding features and the way we support students was judged outstanding. I hope this is reflected in our students’ experience.”

Paying tribute to the award winners during the presentation ceremony, Michele said: “To all of our award winners I wish you many congratulations on your success. I know that you have all worked hard.  I am sure that in years to come we will keep in touch with you and you will also be a hero and an ambassador for Bradford College. So – well done, congratulations on your achievement and good luck with wherever your career takes you in the future. Meanwhile we are all very proud of you and hope that you really enjoyed this evening.”

Students spoke of their delight at been honoured at the Awards Ceremony.  Find out what they had to say…

Performing Arts Student, Aimi Walton, was nominated by her lecturer, Damien O’Keeffe.  Aimi not only excelled in her own studies but also helped two of her peers to gain the confidence they needed in Maths to enter their GCSEs.  Aimi said: “I’ve been nominated for a Contribution to the College Community Award and it just goes to show that if you put in loads of hard work – then you get something back.”

Colin Cannel scooped an award for Contribution to the College Community. Expressing his delight, Colin said: “I’m very honoured because the community of the College is very important to Bradford as a community.  We’re an integral part of the community.  We play such a major role within Bradford and we want to continue that success and expand upon it”

With pride Lecturer, Veronique Leygue added: “I am absolutely delighted. Colin deserves it.  He’s been a wonderful student and has made wonderful contributions to the College.”  Veronique nominated Colin, who overcame personal difficulties to complete his GCSEs and A Levels before securing a place at university. He became a very active member of the Student Council and made excellent contributions to the student newsletter.

Speaking at the memorable event, Performing Arts student Stephanie George said: “It’s a great pleasure to be given the Contribution to Bradford Community Award. I’d like to thank Damien O’Keeffe my lecturer for nominating me.”  Stephanie excelled in all of her classes and was instrumental in the development and launch of a professional dance performance company at the College.

Nominated for the Adult Achievement Award, Shawkat Khan said: “My tutor Colin Halstead from the Sixth Form Centre nominated me for the award.  It’s fantastic to accept the award – I am delighted!”  Shawkat is committed to using his studies to develop a career that will benefit society. Showing great maturity, his desire to succeed and help others is commendable. Having overcome a personal setback he has had a positive influence on others and has involved himself constructively in extra curricular activities.

Nominated by Philippa Firth from Hairdressing for a College Community Award, Debbie Dean has worked hard to achieve.  She has also helped others in her group to succeed - making a positive contribution to College life. Debbie said: “I feel very honoured that I have been put forward for this award by my tutor. I’m just really happy to be here… it’s a really positive experience!” 

Student, Carole Holdsworth has been nominated for Excellence in the Curriculum.  Carol said: “It’s great to be nominated for the award.  When I did the exams my mum had sadly just passed away.  It was a really difficult time, but I know my mum would be proud this evening.”  Carol is a mature student who has been recognised for her excellent standard of effort and work. Whilst holding down a full time job and looking after a family, Carol has been reliable, conscientious and has always contributed valuably to lessons, inspiring others.  Carol continued:  “My daughters here studying for her GCSEs.”  Jokingly Carol added: “So we’re in competition.” 

Johnathan Gannon scooped an award for Excellence in the Curriculum. Having overcome significant difficulties Johnathan scored highly in his exams, including a perfect score of 90/90.  Commenting on the award and his achievement, Johnathan modestly said: “I’m very pleased.  This is my sixth year at Bradford College doing A levels. So far I’ve got an A in Physics, an A in Maths, a B in Biology and a C in English Language.  Last year for AS level I got an A in Business Studies and a B in Media Studies.” When asked what Johnathan wanted to do with all his qualifications, he replied:  “I’m presently looking at doing a Masters Degree.  I’ve already got a degree in Chemical Engineering from about 10 years ago.”

Coming back as a mature student, Johnathan said he really enjoyed the experience, he remarked: “It’s a very good atmosphere for studying and a great learning environment, making it easy to learn and study.”

Student Kamal Olagunju said: “Its been an inspirational evening! I’ve been nominated for an Excellence in the Curriculum Award. It’s great to be acknowledged… it’s really motivating.”  Annie Townend from the Sixth Form Centre nominated Kamal Olagunju for gaining an A grade in Sociology.  Kamal studied an AS and A2 course within the same year. As an overseas student his achievements are exceptional, especially as some course content included many aspects of British society that he was unfamiliar with.

Nominated for a Determination and Progress Award, Harjinder Kaur is an ambitious student, who has worked hard to achieve high grades.  Having attended extra classes to improve her language skills and progress well on the course. She always had a smile on her face despite running a business, managing a busy home and raising a young child whilst studying.  Harjinder was delighted to attend the ceremony, saying: “I’m from India so English is not my first language.  My tutors are pleased with my progress as I got four A’s and two B’s and one C at GCSE level.” 

Having already accepted a Young Person Achievement Award, during the evening’s celebrations, Sadiya was delighted to accept a second award – the Helen Butterworth Special Achievement Award.  The special award recognises a learner who has overcome adversity to make exceptional special progress on their course.  Sadiya explained that she has been registered blind 3 years ago, but had enrolled on a springboard course and completed IT @ work and Business. 

Currently studying Braille, GCSE English and Maths, Sadiya is an extremely conscientious and diligent student.  She has also worked incredibly hard on her First Diploma in Business course and demonstrating a strong work ethic in spite of a visual impairment she has a 100% attendance record and is a model student.  Sadiya said:  “I’ve been learning Braille here at the College and its made a real difference to my life.  Next year I’m planning to study for my A levels, something that would have been very difficult to achieve without the use of Braille.”

Nominated for an Exceptional Student Award, Jamie Lowbridge has worked with a severe visual impairment and achieved fantastic A level grades. All her hard work has paid off and she has now gone on to study Psychology at university!  When asked how she felt returning to College to accept the award, Jamie remarked: “It’s fantastic.  When I left the College, I thought that would be it. To be asked to return for an evening like this is wonderful!”

Matthew Denton was nominated for a Determination and Progress Award for overcoming worries about continuing his Further Education.  He applied himself and quickly progressed on his English course. Having worked hard he has gained a full diploma award, ahead of predictions.  He has moved onto a full time programme and continues to make excellent progress.  Matthew modestly remarked: “I’m surprised I’ve been nominated.  I didn’t ask for this and I feel very grateful to have been given an award.”

Aimee Scully overcame a disappointing time at school and experienced a number of personal setbacks before she enrolled on the Health and Social Care course. Aimee sees the course as the key to a secure future.  Aimee said: “I’ve been nominated for a Determination and Progress Award and I feel honoured to accept the award this evening.”

Nominated for a Young Person Achievement Award, Dmitrijs Korobcics is a high achieving student, who has made tremendous progress on his Systems Support course. Managing to complete all of his work to the highest standard he achieved 9 distinction grades! Alongside his IT course this student made exceptional effort to complete Key Skills level 3 in Literacy and level 2 in Numeracy.

Explaining how he nearly missed the awards ceremony, Dmitrijs Korobcics said: “I got a letter informing me that I’d been nominated for an award about two weeks ago.  The letter came to my old address.  I’m actually lucky that my mum went to the old address to check the mail, otherwise I might have missed it.”

When asked how Dmitrijs felt, having being nominated for more than one award, Dmitrijs said:  “I feel very proud!  I wasn’t really expecting it… I was just working hard.” 

Festival of Achievement - FE Awards Gallery