Harlow College students were celebrating today with some fabulous results, with a 96% pass rate, with 53% of all our A Level students gaining A*-C grades overall.

And our A Level students have gained places at some of the country’s top universities including York, Bristol, Queen Mary’s London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Sheffield, Liverpool and Southampton to study subjects such as Criminology, History, Politics, Computer Science, Law, Medicine, Psychology, Mathematics and Engineering.

Students on vocational courses or other technical courses such as BTECs, UAL etc. achieved an overall pass rate of 94% with 70% of students gaining Distinction*, Distinction or Merit grades, consolidating last year’s 11% increase. These great results allow our students to progress directly to university or to take up apprenticeships as the route to combine their studies with employment.

Our T Levels students in Early Years, Health, and Construction and the Built Environment have also achieved great success with a 95% pass rate, 73% of those students gaining Distinction or Merits grades. T Levels are a new technical qualification which follow GCSEs and are equivalent to three A Levels. They combine classroom theory, practical learning and an industry placement with an employer to make sure students have real experience of the workplace.

Becky Jones, Vice-Principal of Harlow College, said: “Huge congratulations to all our graduating students this year. We have seen another year of great results with our higher-grade profile being maintained. This is attributed to all our students’ hard work; all courses at Level 3 require dedication, perseverance and resilience to be successful. These results show our students are working harder than ever to get the grades they need to move onto their next destination - work, apprenticeship or university - with many students also having to balance working many hours alongside studying. I want to wish all our graduating students the best of luck in their next exciting endeavors!”

Sotirios Adamopoulos, Head of Sixth Form, said: “To all our A Level students - congratulations on reaching this important milestone! Your hard work and dedication have paid off and today is a moment to celebrate your achievements.

As future leaders, academics, professionals and global citizens, remember that success is not only about personal achievement but about the positive impact you make on those around you. I am incredibly proud of each and every one of you. Wishing you all the very best!”

Harlow MP, Chris Vince, was equally enthusiastic. “I would like to join with Harlow College in congratulating their students on today’s results. I know that they are down not only to the hard work of the students themselves but also the teachers and support staff. I wish all of Harlow College students the best of luck for their future endeavours.”

Among the students who achieved excellent results were:

 

 

 

Ryley O’Grady, 19 – A Level Student

Mathematics A*, Further Mathematics B (combined with Computer Science A*, Physics B from before gap year)

Going to King’s College London to study Computer Science

I needed to take a gap year because of caring responsibilities and the college was really supportive of this and helped me extend my studies. I can’t wait to start university, I’m really excited to be going to King’s College in London. I’m hoping to go on to do a Masters Degree – there’s a strand of computer science that deals with accessibility, which my caring responsibilities exposed me to. I would like to thank the truly excellent staff at Harlow College for all their support.

 

 

 

Esosa Ikhuenbor, 18 – A Level student

Psychology B, Mathematics B, Physics B

Going to University of Birmingham to study Electrical and Electronic Engineering

I feel good! I got the grades I needed to get into my first-choice university. I’m really looking forward to moving into my accommodation and meeting new people and embracing the whole uni experience. After graduating, I want to go into electrical and electronic engineering, either cars or computers, I haven’t decided yet. My teachers were very good – I don’t know what I’d have done without them.

 

 

William Spalding, 24 – A Level student

History B, coupled with previous NCTJ Journalism qualification

Going to the University of Central Lancashire to study History

I did three years of Journalism and really enjoyed it, but then covid hit, making study much harder. After another three years of working, I wanted to apply myself to something academic again. I really wanted to become a history teacher so I enrolled on the History A Level course. Being a student when you’re a bit older is such a nice experience! I’m very much looking forward to starting university – being able to study the subject I adore in such a great academic setting is so exciting!

 

 

Arabella Duffy, 18 – T Level Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction student

Distinction. Going to University of Greenwich to study Construction Management 

I loved studying the T Level! The mix of theory and practical meant I was easily able to apply the knowledge I learned to real life situations. I did my industry placement with Kier Construction which really helped my confidence and has prepared me for university. I was so nervous opening my envelope but I’m really happy! After I graduate, I hope to work in project management, and I’m also interested in quantity surveying.

 

Archie Dundridge, 18 – T Level Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction student

Merit. Going to the University of Westminster to study a Degree Apprenticeship in Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management

I knew the Degree Apprenticeship route was right for me because I feel I’ll be able to achieve my best with the experience I’ll gain and the job opportunities that will be available. To not take on any debt while being paid to learn a university degree was an important part of my decision. After my Degree Apprenticeship I plan to become a quantity surveyor and hopefully one day become a commercial manager and eventually a commercial director.

 

Jessica Bourne, 19 – T Level Health student

Merit. Going to University of Hertfordshire to study Midwifery

Because a T Level is equivalent to 3 A Levels, it was a better qualification for me to get. It was hard work – the mix of theory work and industry placement is demanding, but rewarding! The industry place is 45 days and it’s really prepared me for university. I’m so excited, I really didn’t think I’d get a Merit! After I graduate, I want to be a midwife. For anyone thinking of going into healthcare, the T Level is great because your industry placement will give you a valuable insight into the work involved.

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Under normal circumstances, teaching of A Level subjects at Harlow College involves two long sessions per week: a three-hour session one morning and a two- to three-hour session one afternoon on a different day. As such, a learner receives between five and six hours of contact time with their teacher per subject per week. 

Progression onto their new A Level programme in the academic year 2020 started later than usual for the A Level learners at Harlow College, with the first day of teaching being Monday 14^th September. This was to allow additional time for implementing plans for the return of both staff and learners to campus, whilst also completing the more time-consuming processes of online enrolment for all learners. Since starting their A levels in September 2020, the current Year 13 cohort have not only experienced a number of lockdowns (both government directed and due to in-college COVID cases), resulting in the need to work extensively online in their first year, but also reduced contact time when classes were able to run onsite; in order to reduce the total number of learners on campus, A Level classes only ran on site for the morning sessions, with afternoon sessions being delivered in a remote manner. In addition, where class numbers are too large to permit social distancing in the classroom, some learners partook in the morning classroom sessions online, with rotas being employed to track which individuals had lessons in a remote manner each week. For the largest classes, groups were halved and learners got an onsite lesson every other week for that subject. Currently, these learners are experiencing another week of online learning (starting Monday 20^th September 2021) following a pocket of positive COVID cases in the department. 

For all online lessons, teachers endeavour to adapt sessions, and associated teaching resources, to enable learners to engage with the syllabus in a distance learning capacity. This has involved many teachers having to learn new platforms for delivery whilst trying to keep learners engaged with the new style of teaching, in addition to assessing how well learners were coping with the mental health pressures of lockdown. This skill development is ongoing, with the recognition that there are always new and innovative resources and activities that can be included, but these take time to learn, develop for teaching, and integrate effectively into lessons. 

For subjects that require practical activities (the three A level sciences, Media, Photography, Art), issues with decontaminating equipment used by learners put significant constraints on completing these practical activities. For equipment that cannot be cleaned using wipes or sprays, it needed to be left for a minimum of 72hours, as per the CLEAPSS guidance, thus reducing the frequency it could be utilised by learners and impacting on the rate at which certain practical activities could be completed. As such, there is significant pressure on these subjects to complete the missed practicals sessions in their second year to ensure all elements of the syllabus are covered.

An additional constraint is the fact that, in order to limit the number of learners on campus, individuals were not allowed to come to college outside of their timetabled classes to utilise facilities to support their progression on programme.

These measures were employed by Harlow College to meet government COVID-19 guidance for FE institutions whilst also reducing the chances of a large-scale outbreak, which would result in all sessions being delivered remotely. Although this policy maximised the chances of continued onsite teaching, it is clear that such measures created repercussions for the learning process; staff reported that they were proceeding through the syllabus at a slower rate than under normal conditions and learners were receiving less direct attention throughout all sessions, whether onsite or online. This means staff are now endeavouring to cover the additional topics in the second year to ensure learners are not disadvantaged going into the exams Summer series. Despite these challenges, learners and staff alike have reported that they appreciated the policies designed to keep them safe, including the break in online delivery currently being employed to limit the spread of infections, and all recognise the desire to ensure onsite sessions can continue, even if in a reduced capacity.