Vocational Students Celebrated at End of Year Awards Ceremony

Cronton Sixth Form College and Riverside College came together to celebrate the outstanding achievements of vocational students over the past 12 months at the annual ‘Vocational Student of the Year Awards’ ceremony.

Awards were presented on the night by senior college staff and guests who included Chair of Governors Wesley Rourke and Councillor Tony McDermott. The prestigious overall award winners were presented by Mayor of Halton Councillor John Bradshaw, Mayoress Councillor Marjorie Bradshaw and Mark Shotton who represented the Alan Carr Shotton Memorial Trust.

The awards celebrated the wonderful achievements of students from each curriculum area at both colleges. Special recognition went to two students who took home overall student of the year awards:

Level 3 Sport student Francesca Lee, previously from Penketh High School in Warrington, took home the ‘Centre of Excellence Sport’ and ‘Overall Cronton Vocational Student of the Year’ awards after excelling throughout her time at college. Francesca has consistently produced work of a high standard and has achieved distinctions in every unit. She dedicates her spare time to coaching gymnastics locally and is now preparing for university to achieve a career in sports rehabilitation.

Level 3 Game Design student Connor Thompson, previously from The Grange School in Runcorn, was awarded the ‘GCSE English’ and ‘Overall Riverside Vocational Student of the Year’ awards. Connor has worked his way up from Level 2 to now being set to study at university. He has shown particular prowess in robotics, game development and design concepts; producing work that has well surpassed required standards. Connor will now go on to study a degree in Computer Animation and Visual Effects at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Principal Mary Murphy said “This year’s awards ceremony has been a wonderful event; it is one of the key events in the college calendar where we can celebrate the incredible efforts of our vocational students during their time with us. We wish each of them every success as they now start new journeys to Higher Education and begin promising careers.”

Guests were entertained throughout the ceremony with musical performances by the talented students from the Centre of Excellence for Performing Arts. The students performed songs from their upcoming production Evita which takes place at Riverside College on Thursday 5th July and Friday 6th July.

Award Winners

Centre of Excellence for Hair & Media Make up: Rebecca Gallagher
Centre of Excellence for Beauty and Nail Services: Anna Hudson
Centre of Excellence Catering and Hospitality: Csilla Sipos
Functional Skills English: Sandor Gyenge
Functional Skills Maths: Thomas Pittam
Foundation Studies: Niall Williamson
Occupational Studies: James Corby
Construction (Built Environment): George Walters
Construction (Plumbing and Electrical): Caroline Murphy
Motor Vehicle & Motor Sport: Keatlea Wilkinson
Access: Kathy Rowlands
Engineering – Riverside: Beth Ashworth
Engineering – Cronton: Christopher Abbott
Business – Riverside: Natasha Jenkins
Business – Cronton: Ella Prince
IT – Riverside: Nathan Newsum
IT – Cronton: Sean Bedson
Early Years and Education – Riverside: Kaitlyn Hennie
Early Years and Education – Cronton: Alice Pickles
Health and Social Care – Riverside: Ellie Hughes
Health and Social Care – Cronton: Michael Lomax
GCSE English – Riverside: Connor Thompson
GSCE English – Cronton: Tim Jones
GCSE Maths – Riverside: Sean Kinsella
GCSE Maths – Cronton: Anna Marsh
Centre of Excellence Sport: Francesca Lee
Uniformed Services: Alex Kirkbride
Centre of Excellence for Performing Arts: Elsie Cornish
Creative Art & Design: Katerina Diakou
Performing Arts (Dance, Music and Drama): Chloe McDonald
Applied Science: Oliver Boulton
Animal Management: Sarah Capes