Leeds City College

Learners of all ages have been celebrating their GCSE results.

Hundreds of our students, ranging from teenagers keen to progress to work, A levels or university to adults aiming to change careers, picked up their results on Thursday 21 August.

Nana and Kobbie Owusu were both celebrating GCSE success after only one year in the UK.

The brothers moved to the country from Ghana last summer and enrolled at Somerville House to begin their new educational journey with us.

Neither had any GCSE grades or equivalent so they each began our Personal Social Development Course. Both excelled in their class, so they were quickly moved up to Level 2.

It soon became apparent that they would far exceed their predicted English and foundation maths GCSE grades, too – and on results day, that is exactly what happened. Kobbie achieved a grade 4 in both his English and maths, while Nana got a 4 for English and 5 for maths.

Greatness awaits!

Student Relations and Behaviour Lead, Jake Ripton, hailed those results and declared that both brothers – who are talented footballers – were ‘destined for greatness’. He said: “It has been an absolute privilege to work with Nana and Kobbie this year.

“Their attitude to learning has been fantastic and they have been thoroughly engaged both in class and with extracurricular activities.

“We will be sad to see them go from Somerville House, but we look forward to seeing what they achieve in the future.”

Kobbie and Nana both now plan to progress to an electrical engineering course at our Printworks campus.

A top grade for carer Sabina

Many adult learners have to juggle caring responsibilities with their studies. For Sabina Wasik, who studied for her maths GCSE while looking after her six year old autistic daughter, there was also a significant language barrier to overcome.

Despite those challenges, Sabina – who moved to the UK from Poland ten years ago – excelled and achieved a grade 8, a result she and her teachers were delighted with.

She said: “I’m very happy! I never thought I’d get a grade 8, I thought maybe a 5 or 6!

“It was hard because I had to manage every lesson and everything around my daughter, Madia, so I had to find someone to take care of her because my partner works Monday to Friday.

“And I was doing Level 1 English Functional Skills at the same time as studying for the maths GCSE. It was really complicated but I tried to learn when Madia was at school and in the evenings.

“My college teachers were very patient and always happy to help, everything was explained really well. I’m now going to do an online class for GCSE English, and then we’ll see – maybe I’ll apply for university.”

Deputy Head of Community, Wendy Lane, said: “Sabina has demonstrated a commitment to studying as an adult learner.

“She has had 100 percent attendance in both her maths and English courses this year, and has developed the skills to complete the independent homework tasks.

“She didn’t believe she could achieve these grades but never gave up trying.”

A year of firsts for aspiring nurse

Twenty two year old Holly Freemantle has had a lot on her plate this year – and had to balance studying with parenthood, moving into her first home by herself, and taking on her first part-time job.

Despite all those other responsibilities, single parent Holly was pleased to achieve a grade 5 in her English, a significant increase from the grade 2 she achieved at high school.

She also got a grade 3 in her maths exam, and is coming back to us next year to continue her studies with the ultimate aim of starting a career in nursing.

For Abbie Stephenson meanwhile, relief was the overriding emotion when she discovered she had got the grades she needed in maths and English.

Abbie will be staying with us as she goes on to study Level 2 Animal Care.

‘Joyous’ Abril hails exceptional support

Abril Priganica has completed her time as a 14+ Academies student in fine style, achieveing a clutch of terrific grades (including two 8s and three 7s) in her maths, English language, English literature and Science GCSEs.

She said: “I’m super happy, really joyous, it’s so good to know that all of the hard work I’ve done has really paid off.”

She singled out the mental health support that the 14+ Academies provides for praise, and for helping students get through exam times.

She said: “Most mainstream schools wouldn’t have that.

“GCSEs and exam season is such a stressful time where students can eat themselves up and get super-stressed. The fact that 14+ has staff that are trained in mental health support who you can go to and be like ‘look, I’m worried, can you help me out?, has definitely helped in terms of my process mentally during exam season.”

Abril is now going on to study a BTEC Level 3 course in musical theatre.