Fareham College’s Annual Awards Ceremony took place at Ferneham Hall last week, recognising and praising the outstanding achievements of students throughout the 2016-17 academic year.’

The event highlighted and rewarded a range of successes, with categories including Academic Excellence, Outstanding Achievement, Exceptional Personal Endeavour and Contribution to the Reputation of the College, as well as an array of dedicated qualification and subject-specific awards.

Esteemed members of the Fareham community were invited to present the awards to the winning students, including Chair of Governors Russell Kew, Mayor of Fareham, Councillor Geoff Fazackerley, Fareham MP Suella Fernandes, and former Fareham College Principal Carl Groves. They all commended the personal and academic dedication, commitment and efforts of each nominee and winning individual who have performed to exceptionally high standards throughout their time at the College.

A range of Apprenticeship awards were also presented at the event, recognising the huge recent success of this route to gaining a professional qualification and valuable employment skills, whilst earning a salary inside some of the areas’ best companies.

Some of the evening’s awards were also sponsored by local employers who work closely with the College to offer Apprenticeships, including BAE Systems.

Gill Sommers, Director of Students and Recruitment and host for the evening said: “Our Annual Awards event is a fantastic celebration of everything we do. We are incredibly proud of our students, and it was a joy to hear the support from the audience last night.  Parents, employers, schools and teachers all joined together to congratulate all the nominees and winners.  We look forward to hearing about their continuing success as they move on to higher education and employment.”

The pinnacle of the evening was the announcement of Student of the Year, which was awarded to an individual who has shown outstanding overall dedication and commitment to all areas of their studies and to activities across the college in general, Level 3 Mechanical Engineering student Scott Heelas.

Fareham College Principal, Nigel Duncan, praised the hard work and exceptional performance of all students who had been nominated for prizes, commenting: “Every year our Annual Award Ceremony celebrates the success of students who have achieved so much in their time at the College. The awards reflect our broad range of technical and professional study programmes and Apprenticeships as well as our diverse community of learners. Their accomplishments give me immense pride in our teaching and support staff, whose dedication makes this College and its students so successful.  It is always a huge challenge deciding who the winners should be; but for those that are winners, it is an enormous tribute to them as individuals, as well as just recognition for the support they receive from their tutors, their families and their employers.”

Many congratulations to all the students who were nominated for an award and to the winners!