Student of the Year at Further Education Awards
Chichester College’s Jake Hill celebrated in style with his family at the FE Spring Awards on 29th March. Jake had been selected by judges from the Ncfe awarding body as the winner of the Ncfe Student of the Year Award. Nicola Codd from Ncfe presented Jake with his award and said afterwards “we had some really excellent nominations but Jake’s nomination really stood out and he is a really worthy winner of the award”.
The glitzy Awards ceremony is held every year at the Brighton Metropole Hotel on the seafront in Brighton. The event celebrates the outstanding success, progress and achievement of learners from the different colleges and sixth form colleges in East and West Sussex. There are only twelve awards and twelve runner up commendations which means competition amongst nominees from the different organisations is tough and it is a real honour to be selected to receive an award.
Nominations are submitted by the College on behalf of the student themselves and are supported by a member of staff. In Jake’s case Rob Giles, whose group Jake had been in whilst on his Ncfe Uniformed Services course, made the recommendation for the award on a video recording which was shown during the ceremony. Rob commended Jake for his commitment to the course and his fellow team members, his determination to support his Mum as her carer and his determination to help others through his fundraising efforts. Jake did all this whilst overcoming dyslexia and other learning difficulties and has now successfully progressed onto the Level 3 Diploma in Outdoor Education. A touching film was played of Jake explaining the difficulties he had overcome during his time on the course but how through “just keeping going and refusing to give in” he managed to pass his course in the face of many challenges. He paid tribute to his Mum and also the staff who taught him and also to Ray Bolch, his Additional Support Lecturer.
Jake was one of the Chichester College’s Stars of 2011 so he can now feel proud of having two awards to his name.
Barclays Business and Management Learner of the Year Runner Up Award
Another worthy winner was Lesley van Ewijk who was presented with the Barclays Business and Management Learner of the Year Runner Up Award by Chris of Barclays. Lesley has been a part-time student at Chichester College for several years studying AS and A level Law and then the Level 3 ILEX (Institute of Legal Executives) Diploma. She is now working her way through her Level 6 ILEX Diploma modules and has been a Distinction student throughout.
From being a Mum with few qualifications but an interest in the Law she has now gained several professional qualifications and has a job for a legal practice which she is really enjoying. Combining the challenges of work, bringing up a family and part-time study is never easy but Lesley has been determined and well organised and her husband and mother, who accompanied her to the Awards ceremony, feel she deserved this recognition and expressed their delight and pride in how well she has done.
Rob is Runner Up in Observer Business Awards
Those of you who are familiar with the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy or who came to the Star Awards or the AGM may have heard the name Rob Nunn before. Rob is one of the PJEA students who presented at these events and who also had the opportunity to discuss Business strategy with Peter Jones during his recent visit. Rob has started up the Young Aviation Fund (YAF) which is a social enterprise aiming to provide opportunities for young people to learn how to fly and start a future career as a pilot. YAF provides low interest loans, discounted flying lessons and mentoring to young potential pilots as well as offering discounts and networking opportunities to existing pilots. YAF has recently secured investment from local business angel Tim Breden and has established a new working relationship with Virgin Airways, who will be offering mentoring and flight simulation to YAF members. His enthusiasm and entrepreneurial approach to business got him noticed and he was nominated for an Observer Business Award in the category of Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Sandy Hood, one of our PJEA lecturers, attended the awards ceremony, which was hosted by Fred Dinenage, and said praise was heaped upon Rob by the judges for his approach to business and his determination to see his business work. Because Rob’s business is still in it’s very early stages he was pipped at the post to be named the overall winner but was delighted to be named Runner Up. It wasn’t a bad day for Chichester College though as the person who beat Rob to be named Young Entrepreneur of the Year was also an ex-Chichester College student by the name of Daniel Edwards. Daniel (ex ICT and Graphic Design student) won his award for his work developing his graphic design business.
Chichester College Continues to Improve Facilities
Chichester College has a firm commitment to continuous improvements to our buildings and facilities. The focus for the last six months has been the Stockbridge Halls development on Stockbridge Road, replacing G-Block (Chichester Campus) and developing a new Animal Care, Dog Grooming and Floristry building (Brinsbury Campus).
Pictured below on the left is the Stockbridge Halls building as of April 2012. This new build will accommodate 317 students and is due to be in operation for September 2012. The site has four blocks of accommodation; three will be used by the College and one by the University of Chichester. On the right is an artist's impression of the new G-block at Chichester campus. The proposed building will be in excess of 4000m2 and will accommodate all the Construction areas. Plans are for it to be operational by September 2013.
Similarly, a new build for September 2013 is planned for the Animal Care, Dog Grooming and Floristry building (Brinsbury Campus) pictured below (artist's impression). The design is nearing completion and the planning application is due to be submitted by the end of April.
Chichester College has recently become one of only a few colleges in the country to be awarded the status of being a Football Focus College. This award recognises the quality of the football coaching delivered here at Chichester College but also brings with it opportunities for our students for specialist coaching, visits and opportunities to meet successful sports people from a range of sports from around the world.
As a Football Focus College we have a close relationship with BCS (British Colleges for Sport) who recently hosted Gagandeep Singh Marwah as the international VIP guest of BCS during the British Colleges 2012 National Sports Championships. During his stay BCS representatives took Gagandeep to visit sports areas in some of the top colleges in the UK, which included a visit to Chichester College. Gagandeep is currently Head of PE at Delhi Public School in Jaipur, but formerly was a very talented former handball player so during his visit to Chichester he ran an exciting handball session for some of our sports students.
BCS are working with Gagandeep to develop the concept of using sport as a vehicle to develop wider student leadership behaviours. Members of the College Sports Department will be involved in this project and there may also be the opportunity for some sports students to visit Gagandeep’s school in Jaipur in the future as part of BCS’s International Programme.