News & Press
Adventurer and author Anna McNuff joined some of Uxbridge College’s most inspiring students and employer partners to celebrate their achievements at an awards night recognising their success.
Anna, whose incredible endurance feats include cycling through every state in the USA and running 3,000 miles from one end of New Zealand to the other, is also the author of ‘The Pants of Perspective’ about her 148-day kiwi trip. As well as presenting the awards, Anna talked about her life and adventures - and shocked everyone by ripping off her baggy walking trousers mid-sentence to reveal the authorial ‘pants’ - a pair of lurid Spandex leggings decorated with rainbows, a unicorn and a wolf!
Students and employers who work with Uxbridge College received their awards from Anna and had their photos taken with her. The overall winner, who took away the Super Star prize, was Travel & Tourism student Chelsia Afonso. Chelsia (19), has gone from strength to strength, excelling in her studies, volunteering, and being chosen as a British Airways Inspire Student Ambassador, which as part of the role saw her as one of the passengers on an all-female flight with Carol Vorderman to commemorate International Women’s Day. Chelsia started at College on a Level 2 City & Guilds Cabin Crew course, going on to complete the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Travel & Tourism, which enabled her to gain a place at the University of West London on the BA (Hons) Airline and Airport Management. She also won a Jack Petchey Award, including for volunteering at Open Days and Parents’ Evenings, and was chosen for a Highly Commended Award in the national BTEC awards.
Principal of Uxbridge College, Laraine Smith OBE, said: “I would like to say a huge congratulations to all our student and employer winners at this year’s awards - as well as a really big thank you to Anna McNuff for making the evening so special. Whilst our awards are partly about some of the more apparent forms of success such as excellent grades and high pass rates, what really shines out among our winners is what they achieve as individuals during their time at college - be it through the challenges they overcome, the journeys they go on, or the people they turn into as they take up opportunities in and outside the classroom to fulfill their potential. I’m extremely proud to be at the helm of such a fantastic organisation that continues to make this possible for young people and adults year on year.”
The event, held at The Beck Theatre in Hayes, recognised winners from across the College’s academic and vocational programmes - including GCSEs, A Levels, BTEC qualifications, Apprenticeships and HNDs - and from among the 1,000 employers the College works with.
Star and Special Award winners were:
6th FORM CENTRE
Star Award (Sponsored by intu Uxbridge): Lul Aklilu
The Gavin Taylor Bursary Award: Nadeem Moledina
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Star Award (Sponsored by M4Money Credit Union): Jenika Ranmal
Higher Education Award: Casilyn Magabulo
SCHOOL OF COMPUTING & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Star Award: Shkelzen Prelezi
Higher Education Award: Khaled Gholami
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING (Mechanical & Electronics)
Star Award: Joshua Teixeira
Higher Education Award: Neesha Paul
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING (Technology & Innovation)
Star Award (Sponsored by John Guest Ltd): Cameron Lynam
SCHOOL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING, LEARNING SUPPORT & FOUNDATION STUDIES
Star Award: Sayed Awlia Sediqee
SCHOOL OF HAIR, BEAUTY, HOSPITALITY, EARLY YEARS AND PERFORMING ARTS
Star Award for Hair, Beauty, Hospitality & Early Years (Sponsored by Dennis Williams Ltd): Sadie Loveridge
Star Award for Performing Arts: Demi Humphrey
The Comfort Simoyan Award (Sponsored by Dennis Williams Ltd): Narges Aslami
SCHOOL OF HEALTH, SOCIAL CARE & CREATIVE ARTS
Health & Social Care Star Award: Aiasha Mohamed
Creative Arts Star Award & Ian Hebditch Award: Ruby Khan
SCHOOL OF SPORT, TRAVEL AND PUBLIC SERVICES
Super Star Award (Sponsored by Lloyds Banks, Commercial) and Sport, Travel & Public Services Star Award: Chelsia Afonso
Higher Education Award: Connor Murphy
David Keating Memorial Award: Wiktoria Szewczyk
EMPLOYERS AND APPRENTICES
Intermediate Apprentice Award (Sponsored by the Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce): Kyle Matson
Advanced Apprentice Award (Sponsored by the Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce): Kimberley Way
Apprentice Employer Award: Chalfont Electrical Services Ltd
Work Experience Employer Award: Triangle Site Project Team, Galliford Try Building - London & South East Commercial
Pictured: GCSE achievers (L-R) Andrea Fernandes, Rida Adeel and Kulsum Shaikh are all staying on to do A Levels at Uxbridge College then aim to go to university.
GCSE achievers at Uxbridge College are moving on to A Level and other Level 3 programmes thanks to great performances on their one-year programme.
Students usually take up to five subjects in Uxbridge College Sixth Form Centre, either for the first time, or having studied GCSE subjects at school previously and wanting to improve on their original results. Uxbridge College’s full-time programme is designed to enable students to meet the requirements to study on Level 3 academic and vocational qualifications.
Darrell DeSouza, Vice Principal Curriculum and Standards, said: “Following some great GCSE results this year we are very pleased yet again to see so many of these students enrolling on A Level and other Level 3 study programmes. We’re also really pleased with how well our students have done this year, particularly with the more challenging GCSEs under the new system which build on our previous years’ successes.
“Uxbridge College is very proud of the excellent progression opportunities offered via our GCSE programme, which often give young people a pathway to university or into the career of their choice. We’re also particularly pleased with our strong science results this year at GCSE.”
Amanda Washbrook, Head of Uxbridge College Sixth Form Centre, said: “The one-year GCSE programme is a really important course for us because it enables learners to gain the qualifications they need for their chosen careers and further study, even if they have experienced difficulties before joining the college. It often radically changes their future options and opens doors that had looked closed.”
Among Uxbridge College’s top performers was Hristina Grebcheva (17), who achieved grades 9, 8, 7 and 7, and an A* in media, English subjects, biology and maths. She will be staying on at college to study A Levels in business studies, media studies and English, and plans to go to university.
Neha Pal Kaur achieved three grade 8s, a 7 and an A, in science subjects, statistics and English and will be taking science A Levels at college. Neha, who came to the UK from Spain and studied Level 2 science at college before taking her GCSEs, plans to go to university, potentially to study medicine or another medical or science subject.
Kulvinder Gaaba and Andrea Fernandes were also among the college’s top performers. Andrea achieved grades 9, 8, 7, and two grade 6s, in science subjects, maths and English and will be staying on at college to study science A Levels and plans to go to university. Kulvinder got a grade 9, two grade 8s, a 7 and a 3 in science subjects, maths and English and will be staying on for A Levels.
One of last year’s GCSE success stories was Bruna Sousa, who went on to gain three A grades in last week’s AS Level results and is progressing on to the second year of A Levels.
Uxbridge College also provides maths and English GCSE learning for students on courses across the college. One of this year’s successes was Lucy Everall who has complex special needs and finally achieved her English GCSE this year, having attempted it twice previously. Lucy has also studied sports at Level 2 and 3 at Uxbridge College and now plans to study science.
A Level students at Uxbridge College are celebrating some excellent individual successes, along with great results across the board too.
A total of 98% of students achieved A*-E grades, placing the college in line with national figures and heralding another year of expected ‘Value Added’ success on DfE tables, which are published in January. Value Added is a measure of the progress that students make compared to their GCSE grades.
As well as students who have achieved good grades at school, Uxbridge College also welcomes those who may not have fulfilled their potential at school, or need extra support or to learn language skills, and who then go on to demonstrate significant improvements. The college has a strong track record of students with lower GCSE grades making progress above the national rate and achieving excellent A Level results, and often going on to enter the university of their choice.
Achievers this year included:
Marcus Davenport (22), from Uxbridge, who made exceptional progress at college, starting on a Foundation Studies course and going on to achieve A*, A and B. Marcus, who has a learning disability and received extra support at college, is now off to Brunel University to study History & Politics. He also excelled in college activities such as the Reading Ahead scheme, debating competition, and MP’s Q&A.
Navleen Mutti (18), from Hayes, who will be studying Economics at the University of Surrey after achieving an A* and A and a B.
Nadeem Moledina (20), from Pinner, who achieved A*, A and B and is going to Nottingham University to study Physics and Philosophy.
For grades A*-C this year, which is the first in which the students all completed their courses on the new linear system - which means that all exams are sat at the end of the second year, rather than being carried over from the AS Level year - the figure was 74%.
Darrell DeSouza, Vice Principal Curriculum and Standards at Uxbridge College, said: “Congratulations to all our achievers - we are extremely proud of them all, particularly considering how far many have travelled given their starting point when they arrived at college. In addition, a number of our A Level achievers at Uxbridge College, which is the best west London college for 16-18 year old performance overall, also completed their GCSEs at college, either for the first time or after taking their exams at school.
“These very positive results also bode well for next year’s Value Added scores, which this year saw Uxbridge College coming 4th nationally out of all FE Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges, and becoming best London College, for institutions offering a full A Level programme.”
Other top achievers included Abin Rai with two A* and an A; Ovidiu Tirnovan with an A* and two A grades; and Fozia Patel with three A grades.