Students and apprentices’ achievements celebrated at Excellence Awards

The very best in vocational and academic achievement at The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) was celebrated at this year’s Excellence Awards.

More than 60 apprentices and students received awards this year, with many attending a presentation evening at the College’s Tottenham Centre hosted by Principal Andy Forbes.

Deputy Mayor of Enfield, Cllr Christine Hamilton was among the guests at the awards ceremony along with sponsors, business partners and family and friends of the winners.

Chair of Governors Keith Brown presented the awards to winners from across the College’s curriculum areas, including Business and Accounting, Construction, Engineering, Science, Travel and Tourism, Sport, Creative Media, GCSE English and Maths, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Supported Learning and Teacher Education.

Ahead of handing out the awards, Mr Brown said: “All of our apprenticeship and student winners should all be immensely proud of themselves. Your backgrounds and personal stories are hugely varied – indeed, they illustrate the amazing diversity of our College and the communities it serves.”

The biggest awards of the night were the Exceptional Performance Excellence Awards, which were presented to Turgay Uludag and Sacdiya Farah.

Turgay, 18, made huge progress over the past four years from the College’s Key Stage 4 programme to gaining Distinctions on a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Public Services.

ESOL student Sacdiya, 18, passed all her exams despite being unable to write her name in English when she first enrolled at CONEL after arriving in the UK from Somalia. She has since started part-time work while continuing her studies at the College.

She said: “I am very happy to get this award from the College. My teachers have been good and helped me so well to learn English. Now I understand a lot more now.”

The evening also saw the presentation of a Higher Education Excellence Award to Samuel Crick, who completed his HNC in Music Production with Distinction and has been an active supporter of College events where he has DJ’d at evening and weekends.

Samuel, 31, said: “This is a million miles from where I come from – I never win anything! I always strive to be the best I can be and it’s a huge honour that has been recognised. It shows it’s all been worth it.”

The ceremony further recognised the support given to the College by Student Ambassadors Panagiotis Plekis and Papiya Sulthana.

Staff Excellence Awards were given to Curriculum Manager Brendan Berry, Vocational Employability tutor Malgorzata Klimko, Examinations Officer Robin Cook and the Learner Recruitment and Reception Team.

Long Service Awards were presented to Ines Angelini, Joan Bardouille, Kerry Holloway-Biddle and Susie Carroll, who between them have completed more than 80 years’ service at the College.

There were also Employer Excellence Awards for business and other partners of the College, which went to Attend, Quadron Idverde, Conneely Group and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

“We really appreciate getting the award,” said Mark Hoey, Construction Director at Conneely. “We’ve always had a good relationship with the College, and there is clearly a lot of talent coming through CONEL.”

Terry Burns, Contract Manager at Quadron Idverde, said: “It’s great to receive an award and be invited to such a fantastic ceremony. We feel very privileged to have been part of the celebration.”

The ceremony included performances from students on the College’s Music Technology courses, and SoundSkool, a not for profit music organisation, which teamed up with the CONEL earlier this year.

Closing the evening, Mr Forbes said: “You are all marvellous ambassadors for the College and I hope many of you will return to mentor the next generation here at CONEL.I would like to wish you all every success as you go forward in your education and careers.“