Congratulations
The winners of 2016-17 prizes received their certificates and cheques at the recent LASER Access to HE Conference and the British Library in London. Three of our four winners were able to join us on the day to be presented with their prize by Julie Mizon, Access Manager at QAA.
Outstanding Commitment to Study
Winner: Joanne Southwell, Humanities and Social Sciences, Totton College
“Jo has always adopted a positive attitude towards her studies, even when her personal situation has been highly stressful.” Andrew Lucas, Access Coordinator
Runner Up: James Rackett, Nursing and Healthcare Professions, The College of Richard Collyer
“James continued working full time and was promoted to Senior Care assistant. After a 12 hour shift, he would come to class often so exhausted he could barely stay awake, but he never missed a lesson or a deadline” Sally Kent, Access Manager
Outstanding Academic Achievement
Winner: Sally Martin, Nursing and Healthcare Professions, The College of Richard Collyer
“Sally progressed to Access, having secured a voluntary placement and completed extensive research into life as a Midwife. From the very start it was clear that she would do very well on Access. All the hard work paid off as she completed the Diploma with all 45 graded credits at Distinction.” Sally Kent, Access Manager
Runner Up: Thomas Thain, Health and Health Sciences, Crawley College
“From day one of the course Tom was an asset to the group as he brought enthusiasm and a questioning mind to his studies. As well as demonstrating a significant aptitude in all academic areas of the course he was completely focussed on his goal for university and his personable nature quickly made him popular with fellow students and lecturers. In his study of the sciences Tom showed a similar focus and he excelled in Biology and Chemistry, achieving distinctions in every assignment.” Clare Steere, Access Manager
The LASER Access to HE Student Prize Winners: 2017/18
We are delighted to announce the winners for 2017/18 below. Students will be presented with their prize at the LASER Access to HE Conference in the summer.
Outstanding Commitment to Study
Winner – Joe Davies, Access to Social Work, Langley College (Windsor Forest Colleges Group)
“Joe re -started his Access course and retook GCSE English in September 2017. An articulate young man, he has turned himself into a motivated, enthusiastic learner. He has developed excellent concentration and study skills, is well integrated into the groups and has been accepted onto a BA degree course at Bucks New University to study social work.” Lesley Classick
Runner up – Amber Osborne, Access to Psychology, Greater Brighton Metropolitan College
“Amber is an exceptional student, most notably in terms of her commitment to study. Despite facing a range of personal issues, the demands of life as a single parent to three young children and having missed a great deal of education at the Key Stage 4 level, she has taken every opportunity given by the Access course and has in turn become a highly proficient independent learner.
An area of particular note is Amber’s attendance record, which stands at 95%. During the year, she was generally the first to arrive in the morning and she always arrived equipped and ready to learn.” Rebecca Griffiths
Outstanding Academic Achievement
Winner- Chloe Buchanan, Access to Humanities, Chichester College
“Not only did Chloe achieve 45 credits at distinction, she obtained exclusively D indicators across all assignments for the course. This alone demonstrates her academic ability and outstanding skills across disciplines (Psychology, Sociology and English Literature). As an assessor reading lots of the same assignment can become quite repetitive on occasion; when reading Chloe’s work, I found myself learning new things and considering topics in different ways than I had before, it was the opposite of monotony. In her writing Chloe provide exactly what has been asked of her but she is already writing at undergraduate level.” Sue Banger
Runner up- Kelly Harman, Access to Social Sciences & Social Work, Langley College ( Windsor Forest Colleges Group)
“Kelly came onto the Access course having already attempted and dropped out of A Levels and BTEC courses in both Public Services & Childcare. It very quickly became apparent that Kelly was unusually able in terms of her interest in new ideas and curiosity of mind. In addition she was able to present her work in a creative and original way that demonstrated her ability to comprehend and analyse complex ideas.
In addition to being highly academic and completing her Access course with 45 Distinction credits (and hardly dropping from D on Grade Descriptors across all assignments) Kelly was a delight to teach and won an Award for being an Outstanding Student at our annual celebration prize giving.” Lesley Classick
Outstanding Academic Achievement
Students proposed in this category should have excelled in their academic study by producing assessed work of a consistently outstanding academic quality whilst on their Access courses. Along with completed nomination forms, you will need to submit up to 3 examples of the nominated student’s work (of which one piece must be the Extended/Independent Academic Study unit.
Outstanding Commitment to Study
Students in this category should have shown outstanding commitment to their Access studies, perhaps in the face of difficult and challenging circumstances. Nominations in this category should be supported by a detailed statement from the nominator and a student statement. Examples of work are not required for nominations in this category and will not be presented for judging.
Nominations for 18-19 are open!
Please return completed nomination forms, preferably via email with ‘Access Prize Nomination’ in the subject header to Georgia Smith, Access Customer Support Officer at g.smith@laser-awards.org.uk. Postal nominations should be sent to Georgia at, LASER, Access Prize, Canterbury Innovation Centre, University Road, Canterbury, CT2 7FG. For enquiries call 01227 811827.
Nominations can be made at any time from 01 March 2019 and are accepted subject to the students’ achievements being confirmed at the Final Awards Boards. The closing date for nominations is Friday 20 September 2019
Bulletin Access to HE Student Prizes