ALMOST all students who sat maths and English GCSEs at Reading College this year passed – in all, 96.6% did.
And the college said that many of its GCSE students are resitting the core subjects to continue in education, be they full-time, part-time, mature or young.
Among those celebrating today was Ben Williams, from Reading, who improved his English grade from a 3 to 6 over the past 12 months.
He said: “I’m so happy! I’ve got one more year of study at the college for protective services and then I hope to join Thames Valley Police on their apprenticeship programme.
“I found the teachers here really helpful and I’ve enjoyed my time in the Students’ Union. I hope to be elected president in the next year.
“I’m having a great time.”
Access to Higher Education student Seth Wright, from Basingstoke, now has maths and English GCSEs under his belt and has an unconditional offer to study psychology from the University of Glasgow.
“I never enjoyed school before but I loved college,” he said. “I made a lot of new friends here; I really like my teachers and the course content. Doing well was a big confidence boost.”
Maidenhead-based Tania de Freitas studied GCSE English last year, and has just passed maths after holding down two jobs.
Her new qualifications have recently helped her to get the office job that she “always wanted”.
Tania now wants to study photography at Reading College as she says: “I love it here. The teachers and the support they provide is really amazing.”
Activate Learning Group Chief Executive Sally Dicketts MBE, said: “We are always excited at GCSE results day at Activate Learning.
“Many of our students getting their results today have already sat these exams at school and failed to get the grades they require. So it is really pleasing to see them now significantly improving their maths and English results.
“I would also like to congratulate our many adult learners who collected their results today. Some of their stories are truly remarkable and I am delighted to see their hard work to improve themselves and their determination to change their lives has been rewarded.
“These results are a testament to the student’s hard work and the approach we take to learning at our colleges. We understand that in order for our learners to succeed, we need to provide them with support and help them to get into a mindset where they feel they are able to do it.”
