Results day offers the perfect opportunity to shout about the amazing achievements of all our students, including our incredible adult learners.
SHARON
Billingham mum-of-six Sharon was feeling great after picking up a grade 5 in GCSE Maths.
“It feels really good as I didn’t think I was going to do it,” said the 45-year-old who is also studying her PGCE at Stockton Riverside College in partnership with Teesside University.
Whizzing through the GCSE course in just six months, she said: “I felt a bit sick coming to get my result today, but I got a 5 and I am really happy with that.”
Working as a teaching assistant for children with additional needs, Sharon is now training to become a teacher herself.
Balancing the demands of her studies around work and family life, with six children, aged between 11 and 28, and a grandmother of three, she is no doubt setting a great example.
PAULA
Also celebrating success was Yarm mum-of-one Paula.
Achieving her Level 3 Diploma in Supporting Teaching and Learning, the 37-year-old said: “From a background in admin I decided a few years ago that I wanted to retrain and work with children.”
Leaving her job to volunteer in a school, she enrolled on to the level 3 course and hasn’t looked back.
She said: I went on to be offered a job at the school I was volunteering at and now I am staying at college to move on to my level 4.”
Of going back to college, she explained: “I was nervous coming back into the classroom as you think college is just for people leaving school but it’s not. I was made to feel so comfortable and supported.”
Picking up her results, she said: “When you are older with family commitments you think there’s no way I will ever be able to do that, but it is do-able, and the opportunities and support are there.
“It is hard work but if you are determined you can do it.”
Plus, she added, it has been fantastic to be able to show her 12-year-old son there are options to change direction in life after school.
She said: “You think the decisions you make in school are set in stone for the rest of your life, but the reality is there are so many choices.”
JANE
It’s always great to see our staff achieving their own success at the college.
Learning support assistant and now maths and English progress coach, Jane, has successfully completed the Level 2 in Functional Skills Maths and the Introduction to Neuroscience in Early Years.
Happy with her results, she said: “I enjoyed studying alongside the students as it means we could have little competitions between us with the maths sheets and seeing who got the right answers.”
MUSLIMA and SHAHIDA
Well done to pals Muslima and Shahida who have both achieved their Entry Level 3 in Hair and Beauty.
Both took up the course to brush up on some new skills.
Muslima, 26, from Thornaby said: “It’s something I have always liked, and it is now a hobby.”
Thrilled to pick up their certificates, Shahida, 39, said: “It has been really nice.” While Muslima added: “I was really quite excited.”
