Virtual end-of-year celebration for students, apprentices and employers

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, this year the prestigious ceremony was virtually streamed, the virtual ceremony, was streamed from the College’s Facebook page (@NSCGNewcastle) on Thursday 9 July. Host Karen Dobson OBE, Principal and Chief Executive at NSCG congratulated the inspiring award winners, introduced musical performances and special guest appearances from Ricardo Fuller; Ex-Stoke City Football Club Striker, Jack Butland; Current Stoke City Football Club Goalkeeper, Lord Stafford and local businesswoman and chair Carol Shanahan.

Ahead of the evening ceremony, award winners were delivered congratulatory goodie boxes along with their award certificates to their homes. The evening saw 55 different awards presented for outstanding contributions and successes; including dedicated sixth form and vocational awards, progression awards, sport awards, cross college awards, apprenticeship achievement and employer recognition awards.

In addition to this, there were a number of special awards, including: The Gordon Banks Award for Sporting Excellence, The Ellen Anderson Award and The George Stonier Award. Two students were selected for the prestigious Principal’s Award. They were, Eden Blanch, formerly of The Kidsgrove Secondary School and Benjamin Milward, formerly of Clayton High School.

In her first year at Newcastle College, Eden passed her GCSE English resit and developed her confidence and leaderships skills by taking every opportunity to enhance her knowledge, skills and understanding. She received the High Fliers Award 2018-19 and was placed on the College’s High Fliers board more than any other student on the course, as a result of her continuous commitment and determination to excel. She has gained a Distinction in every unit studied and is predicted D*D*D* overall. Eden was selected to join the Future Leaders Academy and was on the winning team for the ‘Tesla Future Leaders Day’, where she helped devise and present a proposal for an inspirational promotional campaign to industry professionals. Eden is still considering her options for her next steps but hopes to progress from Newcastle College to either study Business & Management at Falmouth University or undertake a degree apprenticeship.

During Ben’s time at Newcastle College, he flourished in A-Level studies, relishing elements of academic risk and pushing the boundaries of his knowledge and development. Ben has a natural flair for Mathematics and Science and his current mock results of A*A*AB reflect the self-realisation of his true ability level and have supported a strong UCAS application; which has led to a conditional offer from Cambridge University to study Natural Sciences where he will now progress to.

Karen Dobson, Principal and Chief Executive at NSCG, said: “We were determined not to let the current situation stop us from recognising and celebrating the outstanding achievements of our students, apprentices and employers. Our staff do everything they can to ensure our students thrive and achieve in their studies and ultimately go on to make a positive contribution in the businesses and communities in which they live and work and we are extremely proud of them all.”

Full list of award winners:

Sixth Form Awards:

Academic Outstanding Achievement - Arts and Creative Award - Jack Sproston

Outstanding Achievement - Business and Professional Studies Award - Hannah Perry Outstanding Achievement - Humanities and Social Sciences Award - Lucy Pountain Outstanding Achievement - Modern Foreign Languages Award - Matthew Dawswell

Outstanding Achievement - English Award - Daniel Dean

Outstanding Achievement - Science Award - Jamie Wallace

Outstanding Achievement - Philosophy Award - Edward Sillitto

Outstanding Achievement - Honours Programme Award - Jack Heath

A Level Award for Special Achievement - Jacob Lockett

Vocational Awards:

Outstanding Achievement - Business Award - Iuliana Sorcia

Outstanding Achievement - Computing and IT Award - Heather Quigley

Outstanding Achievement - Creative Arts Award - Katie Jones

Outstanding Achievement - Early Years Award - Abbie White

Outstanding Achievement - Engineering and Construction Award - Reuben Barker Outstanding Achievement - Engineering And Construction Award - Kyle Bedson Outstanding Achievement - Health & Social Care Award - Bethany Woolridge

Outstanding Achievement - Performing Arts Award - Callum Mountford

Outstanding Achievement - Public Services Award - Daniel Lucas

Outstanding Achievement - Vocational Science Award - Sophie Roberts

Outstanding Achievement - Sport Award - Jodie Hulme

Vocational Award for Special Achievement - Chelsea Stevenson

Progression Awards:

Outstanding Achievement - Foundation Level Award - Chloe Green

Outstanding Achievement - Foundation Level Award - Dorothy Hegarty

Outstanding Achievement - Intermediate Level Award - Trinity Harvey

Outstanding Achievement - Intermediate Level Award - Harry Davies

Progression Award for Special Achievement - Hannah Jackson

Progression Award for Special Achievement - Bethany Jones

Cross College Awards:

Award for Progress in English - Rax Arora

Award for Progress in English - Denisa Hangoniova

Award for Progress in Maths - Fhatiha Islam

Award for Progress in Maths - Kelsey Thursfield

Student of the Year - Adult Award - Sheena Wold

Xtra of the Year - Bryan Simpson

Apprenticeship Awards:

Outstanding Achievement - Intermediate Apprentice Award - Jayne Williams Outstanding Achievement - Intermediate Apprentice Award - Lucy Begley Outstanding Achievement -Intermediate Apprentice Award - Carly Seaton Outstanding Achievement - Advanced Apprentice Award - Catherine Donnelly Outstanding Achievement - Advanced Apprentice Award - Molly Killeen Outstanding Achievement - Higher Apprentice Award - Jenny Pratt

Employer Awards:

Best New Employer 2020 - Nails by Annabel

Best New Employer 2020 - West End Cafe

Best Small Employer 2020 - Minuteman Press Ltd.

Best Small Employer 2020 - Morecare Day Opportunities

Best Large Employer 2020 - Staffordshire & Stoke-On-Trent Workforce Programme Best Large Employer 2020 - ABB Power Grids UK Ltd

Employer of the Year 2020 - Tt Pumps Ltd.

Sport Awards:

Sport Volunteer of the Year Award - Anya Akhbar

Team of the Year 2020 - Andy Griffin Football Academy - 1st Team

Special Awards:

The Gordon Banks Award for Sporting Excellence (Female) - Jennifer Hesketh The Gordon Banks Award for Sporting Excellence (Male) - George Chapman

The Gordon Banks Award for Sporting Excellence (Male) - David Periera

The Ellen Anderson Award - Ethan Barlow

The George Stonier Award - Cassie Pope

The Principal’s Award 2020 (Vocational) - Eden Blanch

The Principal’s Award 2020 (Academic) - Benjamin Millward