Spotlighting Success: Learner of the Year Awards
At Aspire, we take great pride in the success of our learners, and we believe in celebrating their hard work and dedication. With that in mind, this year we had our very first Learner of the Year Awards. From inspiring stories to outstanding achievements, this event was the perfect opportunity to recognise those who have gone above and beyond in their learning journeys.
“It was definitely a surprise and completely unexpected, I’m honestly so thankful to receive such an honour.”
Numerous nominations
A few months ago, we opened nominations across the company. Staff submitted and, when voting closed, a winner was chosen for each category based on the number of nominations and the powerful reasons that accompanied them.
The categories and winners were as follows:
Level 1 Learner of the Year: Nazmin Ali
Level 2 Learner of the Year: Bethany Bright
Level 3 Learner of the Year: Tina Malena
Learner with Additional Learning Needs of the Year: Sophie York
Most Inspirational Learner of the Year: Lee Pemberton
Then, during our Training Week in August, we hosted the Awards Ceremony, where the winners were announced to the Aspire Team.
Tina Malena
Meet Tina: a qualified teacher who completed Aspire’s Level 3 Certificate in the Principles of Special Educational Needs to update her skillset and get back into the world of work after a hiatus.
Reason for reward:
“Tina was just an overall fantastic learner. She went out of her way to support others. She was out of her comfort zone on some of the assessments but didn’t let that stop her from completing them to a great standard.
Tina showed amazing progression in all her ILP targets and is a role model to all learners. By the end of Week 5, Tina was successful in obtaining a role as a TA in a SEND unit/school.”
Lee Pemberton
Meet Lee: A Teaching Assistant at a Secondary School who completed Aspire’s Level 2 Certificates in Understanding Behaviour that Challenges and Understanding Safeguarding and Prevent, as well as the Level 3 Certificate in the Principles of Special Educational Needs.
Reason for reward:
“Lee suffered a stroke in the past and now has difficulty with his memory, tiredness, and mental health. Although he has these difficulties, he successfully completed his Level 3 course and completed fantastic assessments, which always blew me away with their creativity.
Lee reached out for support when he needed, which is a great attribute to have. Not only has he been an asset to the Level 3 Cohort 12 group, he also uses his experience of having a stroke to help others, sharing his story with press and offering support to the wider community.
Within our sessions, Lee was very open about his experiences, which helped learners understand more about men’s mental health.”
Well done once again to all our amazing winners! We look forward to seeing what this academic year brings for our new cohorts and celebrating their success.
If you, like Tina and Lee, are looking to update your skills and get back into the world of work, sign up to one of our courses today.
And follow along on our socials to see more about what life is like at Aspire Education Academy.