News & Press
Young people and adults who excelled in education and skills training, fought the odds, gave time as volunteers, and supported their peers, were recognised at an awards ceremony at The Beck Theatre in Hayes.
Uxbridge College’s Annual Awards returned to the stage with motivational speaker Cameron Parker sharing his inspirational story and presenting prizes, including awards for employer partners working with the west London college.
Performing Arts students from Uxbridge College’s Praxis theatre at the Hayes campus also played a key part, kicking off the evening with performances of You’ll reach up and you’ll rise again and You Will Be Found by music and acting students, and a dance performance of Another Day of Sun.
Cameron talked about his life, including playing American Football with the GB Lions, becoming the first university graduate in his family, and using his dyslexia and ADD to his advantage.
His story resonated with award winners - chosen from the college’s 8,000 part-time and full-time students - and their friends and family who came with them to the celebrations.
Award winners included:
George Penn: Super Star Award (overall winner) and Star Award for Sport, Travel and Public Services - for his outstanding academic and personal performance during his two years as a student. As well as achieving top grades in his BTEC Level 3 Sports Extended Diploma, he also successfully completed a Biology A Level in his spare time and is now studying Physiotherapy at Brunel University London. He took part in boxing lessons through college, and his studies included project-managing a new sporting initiative to help overcome racial inequalities in society.
Bistrit Gurung: Star Award for School of Business - a fantastic role model achieving perfect attendance and punctuality, and the maximum grades of D*D*D* in his BTEC Level 3. Secured a place on a degree in Law LLB at the University of York where he was also awarded an international scholarship - he is originally from Nepal - worth £20,000. Also represented the college in football in the First Team at Uxbridge College.
Mamati Malekei: Star Award Winner for English Language Teaching and Foundation Studies - originally from Afghanistan, he has worked extremely hard and made great progress, passing all his exams, despite many challenges. Awarded a Jack Petchey Award for overcoming adversity, he also plays for Uxbridge College Football Academy, and has now progressed to the Level 2 Diploma in Sport and Independent Skills.
Megan Hollyoak: Star Award for Hair, Beauty, Hospitality, and Early Years - a great all rounder with excellent soft skills such as communication and teamwork, as well as high standards of technical and theoretical knowledge, and she took extra units in her Level 1 qualification. Head chef Christian Turner at her work placement at Corbin and King described her as “a pleasure to have in our kitchen” praising her interest, attitude, and understanding of food.
James Makepeace: Star Award in Performing Arts - gained a distinction in his Level 3 Extended Diploma, often producing coursework to University standard. Has shown that he can work at a highly professional level and in fact often been mistaken by outside practitioners as a working actor. Works well in teams and alone. Now progressing to study acting at the University of Wales Trinity St. David, and sure to be a success on our screens and national stages.
Rukhsar Ahmad: Gavin Taylor Bursary Award - An annual bursary of £1,000 to help support her at university - she will be studying Medicine at King’s College London. She has been at Uxbridge College for five years, starting on an ESOL course (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Resat some A level exams to get the result she needed, and also volunteered in college and in the community, including at the Fara Charity Shop in Hayes. She also did relevant work experience in a GP surgery and pharmacy.
Alana-May Brannan: Intermediate Apprentice Award - works supporting autistic adults as a Life Skills Practitioner at West London Community College Colne Lodge. Quickly established herself in her role supporting autistic adults, soon becoming a very strong team member and developing high care standards. Now progressing to the Advanced Apprenticeship at Level 3.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust: The Work Experience Employer Award - provided placements for Health and Social Care, science, and catering students, throughout the year. Created a strong induction programme, and got colleagues on board so students could spend time working in their three hospitals, including during the third wave of the pandemic.
Charlie Bighams Ltd: Apprentice employer - their apprentice is on a Mechatronics training at Level 3, which entails maintenance on mechanical and electronic equipment, in this case the company’s Park Royal kitchens. Extremely supportive to their apprentice who they give very useful feedback on.
Dylan McTaggart, HCUC Deputy CEO and Principal of Uxbridge College: “It’s been really inspiring to see so many of our students and their families once again celebrating their achievements - especially when they’ve all had so much to contend with during the pandemic.
“We’ve had some particularly impressive young people and adult learners this year, and I have no doubt they will all continue to make fantastic contributions to their communities and the world of work, as well as fulfilling their own dreams.
“Every single student is an individual, and Uxbridge College is committed to helping them find the right path to their own style of success - be it achieving a university place, getting permanent work through an apprenticeship, or gaining enough skills to join the next level of study.”
Dr Darrell DeSouza, Group Principal and CEO of HCUC, the merged college group for Uxbridge College and Harrow College, said: “This event is a fantastic opportunity to step back and see just how much our students achieve in so many ways during their time at college. Whilst Uxbridge College and Harrow College both stand in their own right as colleges, our shared goals and partnership opportunities have a value for everyone.
“I’m also very pleased to honour our employer partners from across west London, who not only support thousands of learners across the college, but join in the vital dialogue about how best to fit further and higher level training to business needs.”
The safety and well-being of the students and staff at Uxbridge College is of utmost importance.
Although we are out of lockdown, Covid-19 is still with us and we urge all our students and staff to do their bit to stop the spread, stay safe and protect themselves and others.
So please remember to:
- Wear face coverings in crowded spaces
- Test twice a week, even if you have no symptoms – kits are available at College
- The government is now offering vaccines for all those 16+ years of age. Please take it, it’s the best way to protect yourself and others.
Let’s do our bit to keep life moving.
Photo caption: Design student Jack Parr-Mckivett’s original logo design is being used by HCC in campaigns on social media including Twitter.
A logo designed by a student on Uxbridge College’s Level 3 Art & Design-Graphic course is now being used by the borough’s longest-standing business networking body, Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce (HCC).
The logo by second year student Jack Parr-Mckivett, was chosen from design ideas proposed by his group during their Work Experience with HCC. The chosen design is currently being used in HCC’s networking campaigns on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin, to encourage businesses to take part in its supply chain initiative. Jack was then asked to update the main HCC logo and Commerce Connect logo for HCC.
Kim McGearty from the Chamber kicked off the design challenge by giving the students a briefing about what was needed. They then went on to work remotely in a 'freelance' capacity over the work experience week, presenting their designs at a Google meeting where the final choices were made.
The brief to the students from the UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Art & Design-Graphic course was to create a design as part of HCC’s development of a supply chain infrastructure for construction services. HCC coined the phrase 'Trade Local Gateway' and the students had to design and present logo ideas suitable for online and print use.
Mike Taylor, Graphic Design Tutor, said: “The students were incredibly professional and I was so impressed by how they got their heads down, especially with all the potential distractions that remote working offers. In some ways lockdown has given them useful experience of what it's like to work in a freelance capacity. This was a great opportunity from Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce and we hope to work with them again in the future.”
Kim McGearty said: “Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce would like to say a big thank you to the students and to Uxbridge College for the incredibly professional way they worked with us on this brief. We are very impressed by both the creative and technical standard of the work and are well aware that doing it remotely can’t have been easy. We’ve had some great feedback since starting the campaign and it is a great help to have such an eye catching design to feature on our social media.
See the logos in use at:
https://twitter.com/hillingdoncc?lang=en
https://www.facebook.com/HillingdonChamberofCommerce/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hillingdon-chamber-of-commerce/