Annual Report 2012 - Highbury College

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Cleopatra Sillah Access to Higher Education & Social Work I worked as a support worker and later a manager in care homes for 18 years but always felt I had more to give, which was why I applied to join the Access course. Just before I started the course I went to Zimbabwe to see my mother, who is 76. I hadn’t seen her since 1991 and I was shocked to learn what a struggle life was for her. I discovered how little she has and also saw how she looks after my sister who has HIV. When I returned to England I found that I’d lost my confidence. I felt guilty and thought I should be caring for my family. I have a young daughter with special needs and worried that I should be giving her more of my time too. I thought about this a lot, worried about it, and suddenly I realised that the best way I could help my family was to better myself and achieve my potential. The first few months of the Access course were very hard - I hadn’t been in education for 20 years and everything was a struggle. The lessons were hard, and I wasn’t good at IT - everything was difficult. But the staff at Highbury were so helpful, so supportive! The Library staff helped me with my study skills and computing, the tutors were clear and understanding. The head of Access was my rock - I’m not sure she knows how much she helped me, but she was so kind and encouraged and pushed me to do what I needed to do. There was one tutor who was really tough with me in a subject I found difficult. She kept on pushing me. I thought: I am struggling so much and she should be giving me better marks. I almost hated her! But now I thank her for her toughness because she made me a better person and helped me to progress. I’m so proud of Highbury College. I learned so much at Highbury that when I started my BSc (Hons) in Social Work at Portsmouth University I was ready for it. When I finish my Degree I’ll be able to use my voice more constructively in the Care sector and really make a difference. I’d like to say THANK YOU to EVERYONE at Highbury - all the staff at the College are AMAZING!
Tim Richardson HNC Electrical Engineering Higher Apprenticeship (EADS Astrium) Before I began my Apprenticeship I was at a local college studying A Levels. I didn’t enjoy these much and only achieved mediocre results in my exams. University didn’t feel right for me either, so I started thinking about a more hands-on route. An Apprenticeship was the best option. At the back of my mind, I’d always wanted to do something in engineering. Getting a role within Astrium really put me on that path. When I started I soon realised how much there was to learn. The lecturers at Highbury built my knowledge from the ground up. My knowledge of electrical principles was especially non-existent when I started. Now I feel extremely confident in the subject. The way the lessons were taught at Highbury really brought the subject to life and made the theory easy to understand. I also improved my hand-working and machining skills. The Apprenticeship was hard work, but good fun. The best thing about it was the mix between practical lessons and theory lessons. In my first year I spent three days a week in the classroom, and the other two days in the lab, carrying out experiments, working on the lathes - putting all that theory into practice. I was very pleased when I won an award from the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) after I gained distinctions in all 12 units of study of my National Certificate. It felt good to be recognised and rewarded for the hard work I had put in. After the National Certificate I moved on to an HNC. This was a big step up, but studying at this level helped me to really understand some of the essential principles behind the work at Astrium. I now have a full time job in the AIT (Assembly, Integration and Test) department at Astrium where I am in charge of certain mechanical processes within the clean room. Hopefully in the near future I will be leading the mechanical activities on an entire project. It’s a long way from A Levels. I know I’m in the right place.
Page 1: celebrating success annual report 2
Page 5 and 6: Principal’s introduction I am del
Page 7 and 8: Chair’s introduction I am delight
Page 9 and 10: Celebrating success Dr Susan Pember
Page 11 and 12: Stella Mbubaegbu CBE speaking at MA
Page 13: Priority 5 Leadership It is our fir
Page 17: The Community College The specific
Page 20 and 21: Expert Advisory Boards Highbury's e
Page 23: University level programmes Highbur
Page 27: Highbury Academies Highbury’s Aca
Page 31: WorldSkills Principal Li, of Guangz
Page 34 and 35: Transforming lives Many students ch
Page 38 and 39: Mark Flynn BTEC Level 3 Diploma in
Page 40 and 41: January Highbury launches its Peter
Page 42 and 43: July August September Staff from th
Page 44 and 45: A sustainable environment for succe
Page 47 and 48: Fast facts 4 On 17 September 2013 H

Annual Report 2012 - Highbury College

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