Celebrating a Year of Success at Loughborough College

2023 has been a huge year of success for staff and students at Loughborough College. With outstanding achievements across the College, and ground-breaking highlights to remember, this year will be one we won’t forget.

Championing T Levels
At the beginning of the year, we were joined by Skills Minister, The Right Honourable Robert Halfon, MP to officially open our state-of-the-art T Levels Centre. T Levels, a key part of the government’s reform to revolutionise skills and technical education have been hugely successful at College, with learners going on to apprenticeships, employment, and higher education.

Among those T Level alumni is Harry Disney, who earlier this year was named NCFE’s Learner of the Year at the annual Aspiration Awards. Harry’s advocacy for alternatives to traditional qualifications, alongside his volunteering with both St. John’s Ambulance and the NHS First Responder team was what earned his nomination and inspired a second win as part of the first annual Good for Me, Good for FE Awards.

Charity Giving
Alongside Harry’s win at the Good for Me, Good for FE Awards, the College was nominated for three other titles. Team 1909, who raised over £2,000 during a gruelling 106km walk across the Isle of Wight were highly commended for the Fundraiser of the Year Award, community charity partner PACE were also highly commended for the Charity Partner of the Year Award. Curriculum Manager for Hospitality, Travel and Tourism also received a Special Recognition nomination for his outstanding fundraising achievements for the Polycystic Kidney Disease charity.

Celebrating our Staff
Staff from across the College were honoured at a glittering ceremony as we celebrated the RISE Awards. The awards, which identify and celebrate the staff who most personify our College values were presented in April, with a staggering 179 nominees across business and support teams.

Student Success
As for our students, we have had a year of incredible achievements, as our GCSE, A Level, T Level, and Vocational learners received fabulous exam results across all educational pathways. We were thrilled to see a 94% pass rate amongst our A Level and T Level students, and were so proud of our GCSE learners and their impressive 95% pass rate.

More student success came from our degree programme learners in Team Tiaki, who after winning UK Young Enterprise of the Year in May, went on to fly the College flag on the international stage, winning the prestigious JA Europe Innovation of the Year award at the annual Gen-E Expo in Istanbul.

Sporting Achievements
In the world of sport, we had incredible achievements from current learners and alumni. The NFL Academy saw several athletes announce their commitments to college football across the United States, including record-breaking defensive end, Emmanuel Okoye, and offensive linesman Daniel Akinkunmi, who received over 35 Division 1 scholarship offers.

International football superstar, and College alumnus Jude Bellingham also continued to make history on the pitch in a ground-breaking transfer to Spanish titans, Real Madrid, making him just one of a few elite British players to be signed to the team.

Making Connections
The College has continued to make long standing and important connections, both locally and nationally, including the development of the highly anticipated East Midlands Institute of Technology, and the Memorandum of Understanding, signed in partnership with Loughborough College.

We were proud to partner with Motorsport UK and Williams Esports to deliver new opportunities in the Esports sector, leading an initiative that will cultivate an exciting and unique educational partnership.

Award Recognition
We are also thrilled to have been recognised for our excellent and innovative Space Engineering programme with the National Space Academy, receiving a prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize in November for our one-of-a-kind qualification. This came just a few months after attaining a royal charter from the Chartered Institute of Further Education in June.

New Appointments
Finally, earlier this week, we announced the appointment of Corrie Harris as the new Principal and CEO of the College. Corrie, who joins us from Moulton College, will be starting her new role in May 2024, but has already received a warm welcome to Loughborough from staff and governors.

What a great year of terrific memories and successes to build upon for the next twelve months!