Eastleigh College are delighted to have held our annual Learner Awards, with a total of 108 awards distributed to learners who have most embodied our College values this year.

This festive occasion is one of the marquee events on the academic calendar and an opportunity for learners to come together and celebrate each other’s efforts, values and accomplishments over the past 12 months. The values of Respect, Professionalism, Ambition and Resilience are at the heart of Eastleigh College and the Learner Awards puts a spotlight on learners from every department who go above and beyond to honour and represent these values in their learning.

In addition to the 108 values awards, three special awards were given to learners who have performed outstandingly this year. They included Carpentry learner Riley Miller, who was declared Apprentice of the Year, Martha Broadbent Smith, who was announced Adult Learner of the Year, and Liam Hughes, who was revealed as Learner of the Year (16-18).

Darren Cousins is a Lecturer in Art at Eastleigh College and nominated Martha for the Adult Learner of the Year award. He commented: “Martha is a highly focused and professional young woman who has worked consistently hard on her Foundation Diploma all while balancing a part-time role as an exhibition guide at an art gallery in Chichester. Her mature and intelligent approach make both her and her work stand out.”

Ashley Vaughan is the Head of Delivery for Carpentry at Eastleigh College and nominated Riley for the Apprentice of the Year Award. He wrote: “Riley is a fantastic apprentice, who is both highly skilled and motivated, and consistently displays fantastic Bench Joinery knowledge and an understanding of how to apply this in his work. He has produced some amazing Architectural Bench Joinery during his time here and we look forward to seeing him develop further still in the future.”

Liam was nominated by Michelle Thornton for Learner of the Year (16-18), a lecturer in Travel and Tourism at Eastleigh College. Michelle said: “Liam embodies our College values, in particular professionalism and resilience, and is always one of the first to volunteer for our open events. He has a superb attendance rate of 99% during his progression from Level 2 to Level 3 in Travel and Tourism. Liam fully deserves this award for his strong commitment to his studies and the whole team wishes him well for his career post-college, where he will begin working full time at Swissport as a Passenger Services Agent.

Stay tuned to our social media for further pictures to follow.

For any further queries, please contact the College at BeBetter@eastleigh.ac.uk.