Last week, NCG welcomed colleagues from all of our divisions to the second annual NCG Excellence Awards. Here we share with you a recap of the evening!
Director of Learning & Organisational Development Elouise Leonard-Cross served as compere for the evening and got us underway by welcoming our divisional winners, sponsors and guests.
CEO Joe Docherty revealed that this year we received more than 800 nominations for the 12 available award categories, emphasising the achievement of the shortlisted divisional winners and the overall winners who were about to be announced.
After an energetic game of ‘Dreamboats or Petticoats’, a 1950s themed version of Heads or Tails, our guests were served an ‘American Diner’ themed meal of Presley Pork Pulled Burgers, Blue Moon Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Grilled Corn Cobs followed by a delicious Key Lime Mousse Pie.
Following a short break to wet the whistle, the awards proper began.
2018 Winners
Excellence in Advice & Guidance
Customer Services Team – Lewisham Southwark College
This team care about the people who come to the college and put them first each and every day. Their strength lies in the rapport they build with young people who want to learn at Lewisham Southwark and maintaining a relationship with them throughout their journey at the college.
Excellence in Learner Support
Wellbeing Team – West Lancashire College
An exceptional support team, always on hand to support learners who may otherwise disengage with learning. They regularly attend TAF, Social Service and CAHMMS meetings and ensure young people are supported in the best way by delivering group or individual workshops, building resilience and confidence.
Excellence in Enriching the Learning Experience
Luke Pearson – Rathbone
Luke has really supported the Intraining Black Country site in promoting Equality and Diversity as well as British values. He has organised specific events which have been promoted on LinkedIn; this has significantly raised the profile of Intraining in the local area, and forged useful connections and networks.
Excellence in Unlocking Learner Potential
HCBS English & Maths Team – Newcastle College
This team is outstanding, they all go above and beyond to unlock every learner’s potential and do so with a positive attitude, collaborative approach and sheer determination!
Excellence in Innovation or Technology
Chris Weeks – Group Services
Innovation does not have to be complex, sometimes what appears to be fairly straight forward can often be very complex behind the scenes. By standardising the printing across all divisions Chris has saved the business money and improved the service.
Excellence in Internal Customer Experience
John Whittingham – West Lancashire College
Throughout his many years at the college, John has always wanted what is best for his customers and is always willing to go the extra mile, often working evenings and weekends to ensure that the IT services he provides are best suited to the needs of the business.
Our Values are what define us as an organisation, and we are thrilled to celebrate colleagues who live by them. The next three categories are designed to raise the profile of colleagues who have shown excellence in Our Values: Ownership, Valuing our People, and being Open and Honest.
Excellence in Values: Ownership
Gemma Stephens – Rathbone Training
Gemma demonstrated ownership and initiative in arranging placements for learners, re-engaging external agencies to build relationships to improve the learner intake and supporting other members of staff with their work load whilst maintaining a high standard of delivery for her own caseload and supporting other centres outside her own base.
Excellence in Values: Valuing our People
Lauren Plews – Newcastle Sixth Form
Lauren has coached and mentored a group of newly qualified teachers in NSFC, she has shared her own good practice, and enabled the group to support one another through regular coaching community meetings. Lauren managed this in addition to her own full-time teaching role.
Excellence in Values: Open & Honest
Colin Luhrs – Carlisle College
Overseeing Apprenticeship growth that would be the envy of many in the sector, Colin has achieved this in true collaboration with the vast number of staff involved in the Apprenticeship learner journey, shaping the offer, quality and processes in an open and honest way that has united staff.
The following three categories are designed to recognise the individual colleagues who have really inspired us to be the best we can. These are the teachers, lecturers or tutors who lead by example, constantly have high expectations of us and encourage us to meet them.
Excellence in Teaching: Work Based Learning
Karen Livsey – Intraining
Karen is dedicated, hardworking and goes above and beyond to accommodate the needs of her learners. Karen not only supports her learners on a 1-2-1 basis but also delivers classroom teaching for Maths and English, drop in study sessions and support through webinars.
Excellence in Teaching: Higher Education
Dan Civico – Newcastle College
Dan has introduced a definite and outstanding industrial link to the Interior & Spatial Design Foundation Degree programme which has benefited the students hugely.
Excellence in Teaching: Further Education
Zara Sharma – Kidderminster College
Treating every student as individuals, Zara works tirelessly to help learners reach the best of their ability, inspiring classrooms full of young people to strive for greatness. Zara is described as being “as kind and caring as Miss Honey, in a world full of Trunchbulls”.
Congratulations to all of our very worthy award winners, and to all of our talented colleagues who were nominated for an award.
Finally, we would like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has contributed to making this year’s NCG Excellence Awards a brilliant success, and to our sponsors NCFE and Capita UNIT-e for your generous support.
We’ll see you again next year for the NCG Excellence Awards 2019!
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