Posted: 19/04/10
Schools academy praise exceptional learners
Students aged between 14 and 17 will take to the stage next week to collect certificates of achievement, recognising their outstanding contribution on courses within the schools academy at West Nottinghamshire College (27 April).
Certificates will be presented to 38 learners who attend college one day per week from their home schools in the Mansfield and Ashfield areas and have gone on to achieve success on a wide-range of courses giving them a broad curriculum and an insight in to the world of work.
The schools academy offers courses that some local schools have difficulty in providing on their own premises. These courses are aimed at students who would benefit from a practical learning environment, and those who are not fully engaged in learning or have additional needs.
Students from the new diplomas will also be collecting certificates of achievement at this event. West Nottinghamshire College delivers several new diplomas in partnership with Mansfield and Ashfield schools over its many sites covering IT, hospitality, hair and beauty studies as well as construction and engineering.
Schools academy manager Cate Hunt, said: “This annual celebration is a proud moment for staff, parents and students. We recognise not only the determined efforts that these learners have put in to their studies, but the life-changing journeys that many have been on.
“Quite often students who have been on schools academy programmes develop new confidence to encourage them to study at the college after school and develop their skills and ambitions to pursue their career dreams."
Special guest speaker on the night will be Kay Prosser who is now an undergraduate in medicine at Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge. Kay attended the college’s schools academy from 2002 to 2004 when she studied engineering.
At the time, Kay was one of only two girls who pursued the engineering qualification through to the end. Kay, originally from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, will be speaking at the celebration event to inspire young people from today’s schools academy about her journey from a 14-year-old school learner at the college to her studies today at Cambridge.
