Chesterfield College students celebrate maths and English GCSE success
Chesterfield College students are celebrating after achieving the GCSE maths and English grades they need to help them secure college, university places or employment.
Studying maths and English at college helps students to improve the grades they left school with, or refresh qualifications which they might have achieved a while ago. Many universities and employers ask for a grade 4 as a minimum and the Government expect students to achieve this before they leave education aged 18.
Claire Brentnall (right) came back to study English to help her secure her place at university so that she could pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a social worker. There were tears of joy when she opened her results. She said: “I am absolutely amazed and shocked. It is still sinking in! I left school without any GCSEs and I had a dream of being a social worker but I had children quite young so I had to push that further back. I took the plunge and enrolled at college two years ago and had to start on a functional skills course before I could work my way up to GCSE. I am starting university next month which feels great.”
Fashion Student, Piper Barras was shocked to receive her high grade in English Language today. She said: “I wasn’t expecting a grade 7 so it feels pretty good. I had a really good English teacher which helped me a lot. I thought it would be hard to manage studying English and Fashion but it wasn’t that bad. I’ve had lots of support from my tutors on both courses because they wanted to support me to get my English grade.”
Computing students, Jaike Davis-Batr (below), was over the moon when he opened his results with his mum and brother there to celebrate with him: “I left school with 2s and 3s so I didn’t think I would do very well but I’ve smashed everything. I got a merit in my computer course and a 4 in English and maths. I didn’t focus at school or for the first part of my course here but halfway through the year I realised I needed to put the work in. The support I got from the tutors has helped me 100%. Getting these results has given me so many options for next year that I didn’t think I would have.”
David Malone, Chief Operations Officer said: “It is wonderful to see so many of our students celebrating maths and English success today. It is particularly important to celebrate the stories of those who have shown remarkable resilience to improve their results. These students have been studying maths and English alongside other qualifications and juggling work and family too. I am so proud that Chesterfield College has been part of helping them to achieve the grades they need to open up the next stage of study and develop their career. ”
“I hope that our successful students will help to show anyone who might not have achieved the grade they wanted the first time around just what is possible. We take a very different approach to teaching maths and English than people might have experienced at school. We recognise traditional teaching styles might not suit everyone so we use a variety of techniques to allow people to practice their skills. Our students tell us that this is what helps them to improve their grades.”
Chesterfield College has invested £120,000 to develop a new maths and English hub which is set to open in September. The new facility will provide a dedicated space to support students to improve their skills and help them achieve GCSE success.
