South London Colleges' Best Learners' Awards
25th May 2006
These prestigious awards took place at the House of Commons on the 25th May in the presence of Phil Hope, Minister for Skills, Lord Tope, the Liberal Democrat Leader of the London General Assembly and Andrew Pelling, MP for Central Croydon. The awards are organised by the Committee of South London Principals (COSLP) - one of the strongest groups of its kind in the country. The principals work together to share good practice and to improve what is on offer for post 16 and adult learners across the boroughs of Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond and Sutton. COSLP is chaired by Jennifer Sims, principal of John Ruskin College.
Eighteen learners representing each of the colleges received an award. Phil Hope spoke about the importance of the role of colleges in contributing to the government agenda for education and skills. He said "I want to congratulate all the entrants to this year’s South London Learner Awards. These awards are not only for their hard work, but for the help and inspiration they have given to other learners. If we want to continue making progress in our ambition to build an education system that is not merely good, but world class, and built around the needs of our young people, we must reward achievement, excellence and determination to succeed".
The winner of the award for John Ruskin College was Shirley Brown Taylor. Shirley won the award because of her hard work, positive outlook and determination to succeed. Since starting at the college in September 2002, shortly after arriving in the UK from Ghana, Shirley has completed both the Foundation Business GNVQ and GNVQ Intermediate Business courses with Distinction and 100% attendance, despite finding the courses challenging and overcoming language difficulties.
Shirley is progressing to University this year to study Business Management with Accounting.
She is pictured here with Lord Tope, Jackie Mitchell representing the Business team from the college, Jennifer Sims, the college principal and Shirley’s mother and younger brother.