After an extremely challenging year, with teaching having to move online for many weeks, achievement in maths and English at the College has shown sustained improvement over a three-year period.
Over 2000 GCSE results were issued at College today - around 500 of which were for adult students who have returned to education after some time and can now continue their career progression.
Jumoke Brown Abosede, 36, from Thamesmead, achieved a massive grade 7 in her GCSE English and now intends to go to university to study law or criminology. She said: “I’m delighted to have done so well. When I first started the course, I was very unsure - all the other students were much younger than me and I had a tough couple of weeks settling in. However, it wasn’t long before I discovered once again, the joy of learning and I even loved the homework. My tutor, Elvira is inspirational and I can’t thank her enough for enabling me to achieve this result.”
Level 3 Business student Bryan Armah, 19, from Greenwich was delighted to discover this morning that he had achieved grade 5s in both his English and Maths GCSEs exams. Overcome with joy and relief, Bryan said: “I owe so much to my brilliant teachers Finn (English) and Boakye (Maths) for the amazing amount of support, patience and dedication shown to all students re-taking these subjects - particularly over the last year and in spite of lockdowns and online tuition. They have been magnificent. It also means that I can continue with my course and feel more confident of getting into university at the end of it. Thank you so much!”
HND Construction Management student Earnest Korley, 22, from Woolwich was also punching the air with triumph after finally passing his GCSE Maths after three previous attempts. Earnest said: “I’ll be honest, Maths has never been my strong subject and I’ve always struggled with numbers. Our tutors were fantastic in that they related the math to how it can be applied in daily life and I think that’s how I eventually came to understand things a little better. After my last re-take, just before the Covid pandemic struck, I was ready to concede but thanks to the encouragement of my mum and brother, I decided to give it one more go. Thank God I did. I now have my GCSE Maths qualification - this will make life so much easier.”
Deputy CEO and Principal of London South East Colleges, David Lambert, says: “Huge congratulations must be given to all our students who have worked so hard through an extremely difficult and unprecedented year.
“The uncertainty around assessment and exams was a major challenge but staff and students stepped up admirably and worked extremely hard in very difficult circumstances.
“We are delighted to see a continued improvement in achievement rates across maths and English – with an increase over the last three years. This is testament to the continuity of teaching and learning throughout the lockdown period, with tutors engaging students effectively online while sites had to shut.
“With Teacher Assessed Grades replacing exams this year, staff have worked exceptionally hard to ensure that students’ grades accurately reflect their efforts, with a robust quality assurance process in place.
“We will continue to support our students through every challenge and wish them all the very best in their future lives and careers. We now hopefully look forward to a more settled academic year ahead.”
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