Summer Awards Fiesta celebrates successes

Students, apprentices, employers and staff were recognised for their dedication and outstanding achievements at our Summer Awards Fiesta on Thursday 29th June 2023.

Over 30 student successes were celebrated from across a wide variety of professional, technical and creative subjects, with awards for students and apprentices, of all ages, from across a wide range of qualifications and levels. 

Outstanding academic achievement, determination and consistently going above and beyond were among the many reasons our learners had to be proud, as they were honoured at the summer fiesta award event attended by over 150 people. An additional 250+ people joined in celebrating with us from their homes thanks to the live stream of the event.

The awards evening gave current students the opportunity to practice and showcase their technical and professional skills to the public as they worked on running the event. Students from Production Arts ensured the stage, lighting and sound was set and our Media students took care of both filming and live streaming.

Principal Martin Sim welcomed award winners and their guests, staff, governors and award sponsors, and expressed immense pride in the successes of the College. Within his opening speech, a tribute was paid to Joe Abbess with a standing moment of silence and reflection. He then spoke of some of the many City College successes, including the investment in marine future technologies, the well-attended Creative Arts Exhibition, the achievements at the recent Inter College Culinary Skills Challenge, and highlighted how student applications for September were ahead of targets.

Martin said: “The Summer Awards Fiesta event recognises and celebrates the hard work and achievements of many of our students, apprentices, and staff from over this academic year, plus recognise a local business for their commitment and contribution towards the training and personal development of their workforce. It is a really wonderful way to bring the academic year to a close.”

The Chair of the Corporation, Geraint Davies, presented the special awards including the ‘Employer Recognition Award’ which was sponsored by Carswell Gould. This accolade was given to national motor vehicle company The Snows Group who have supported our motor vehicle students through valuable work experience placements and industry talks. They have been continually keen to support the next generation of the workforce and were so impressed by our students that they are currently recruiting three of our students as apprentices to start in September.

Upon receiving the award, Lauraine Bolton from The Snows Group said: "The Snows Group was so pleased to be nominated and win the Employer of the Year award. As a business, it's good to give something back to the students."

Paris Carter also from The Snows Group added: "We really enjoyed having City College students working with us and had really good feedback from them.”

Geraint also presented six special awards to staff for excellence, along with the prestigious ‘Adult Student of the Year’, ‘Young Student of the Year’ and the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ for which the winners were announced on the night in true Oscar-style.

Ismatou Barry was crowned City College’s Young Student of the Year, which was sponsored by Trant Engineering. The level 1 ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) student was recognised for her exceptional level of determination, persistence and focus. She said: “This is amazing, I am really happy to have been given this award."  

Our Adult Student of the Year, sponsored by HP Contracts, was awarded to GCSE Maths student Sibonginkosi Mpofu for exceptional success despite the challenges she faced. She commented: "This award was unexpected and I was delighted to win. I really enjoyed being at the college."

Level 3 Business Administration apprentice Molly Agius won Apprentice of the Year, which was sponsored by Kendra Energy. Molly was awarded for her ability to overcome a range of challenges and still achieving distinction grades. She shared: “I had a really good time at City College and I'm thrilled to win my award.”

 Guest gallery for all the photos taken on the night: Guest Photo Gallery (new window) Password: 34445

Student Award Winners

Staff Awards