Welcome to the 2021
Adult Learning Learner Awards.
Tonight is a celebration of the amazing
achievements made by our learners who,
despite the challenges they have faced as a result
of the pandemic,
achieved such exceptional outcomes this year.
This awards ceremony
is a great end
to an academic year
in which Adult Learning
won the National TES Award
for Adult
and Community Learning Provider
of the Year.
While online,
you can get involved in the excitement
of the evening by commenting in the chat
below or on social media with the hashtag ALAWARDS2021
Before we get
started with the awards,
we have a special message from Denise Saadvandi
our head of service here at Adult Learning.
Welcome to Norfolk County Council Adult Learning's
first annual learner awards,
celebrating the achievements of our
learners in the 2020 21 academic year.
And so here we all are online and hopefully
you are sitting comfortably at home with your family,
your friends or even your pets.
Looking forward to this very special occasion
Throughout the pandemic,
Norfolk County Council's Adult Learning Service
has been leading the way nationally as we have
completely transformed the way we work,
and it's been a really big year over the last academic
year as we've continued to teach our learners online.
We've also transformed the way we work
and hopefully making it much easier for our
learners to access the service and to learn with us.
And we are so proud because we have also achieved
national recognition as we have been awarded the title of
Adult and Community Learning Provider of the Year at
the Times Educational Supplement Awards 2021.
How exciting is that?
And no matter the difficulties that we've encountered,
we've never lost sight of the needs of our
learners and how best we can support our learners to achieve.
And tonight you are going to hear many inspirational
stories that will lift our spirits and celebrate the many
achievements of our learners.
Whether you are here as a finalist or not,
be proud of what you have achieved as a learner with adult
learning over the past year.
Each small step that you take is a step
closer to achieving your goals. So I'd like to say thank you.
Thank you to you our learners for staying with us
through these challenging times.
Thank you also to our staff for your total commitment
and dedication to our learners. And of course,
thank you to Norfolk County Council
for supporting the service through this journey that we've
been on over the past 18 months.
And before I hand over just remains to me to say all
the best to all of our finalists. And good luck.
Thank you, Denise. Remember,
you can cheer the nominees on by using the hashtag
AL AWARDS 2021 on social media. Now on to the awards.
We have seven categories this evening.
You can find out more about the nominees
and the Learner Awards over on the website
at www.norfolk.gov.uk/learnerawards
So without further delay. First up,
we have the Apprenticeship Learner
of the Year award. The nominees are Chris Newman.
Lisa Dale.
Matthew Wright.
And the award goes to...
Lisa Dale
Lisa joined her apprenticeship to gain
management skills that have had a significant
impact within her organisation.
Lisa gained a distinction despite the challenges
of her workload and has been able
to support her team to achieve their potential. Well done,
Lisa.
The next category
is for Community Learning Learner of the Year.
The nominees are Joanne Walker.
Helen Gilbert.
Sylvia Wesley.
And the award goes to…
Joanne Walker,
Joanne has demonstrated dedication to her studies
and a determination to not allow her personal
circumstances to prevent her from achieving her goals.
It is great to see how her confidence has grown over
the wide range of courses she has completed
with Adult Learning. Well done, Joanne.
Next up is the Family
Learning learner of the year.
The nominees are Emma Jones.
April Barnard.
Liz Heads.
And the award goes to...
Liz Heads.
Liz really embraced the four week helping your
child manage anxiety course and applied lots
of the ideas and resources from the course to support
her child.
Her belief in herself and motivation to complete
the course were inspiring.
It has also given her the confidence to continue
with her learning and achieve a great outcome
in other studies. Well done, Liz.
Now, before we move to the next awards
and then our final category of the overall
Learner of the Year,
we're going to hear from Ceri Sumner,
Director of Community Information
and Learning for Community and Environmental Services
at Norfolk County Council.
Good evening.
My name is Ceri Sumner I’m Director
of Community Information and Learning,
which is the area of Norfolk County Council
that Adult Learning sits within.
I'm also responsible for customer services,
trading standards and the Norfolk Library Service.
But I'm particularly close to Adult Learning
because I was actually interim head of the service
for a little while a few years ago.
So I'm always keen to see how they're getting on.
And Adult Learning is a really important part
of Norfolk County Council.
It provides a diverse range of opportunities for residents,
not only do people,
take courses that help them with their
skills and employment,
but also help them to form friendships and build their
confidence and believe in themselves
and really start to explore what they're capable of.
I'm incredibly proud of our Adult Learning service
and particularly how they've continuously improved their
offer over the last few years,
and that's been so apparent over the last 18 months
when we've had to radically change how we deliver services,
moving things online.
And I've just been blown away with how well everybody's coped,
how the teams have pulled together,
but also how well our learners have adapted to the different
ways of delivering courses and different ways
of learning in 2020 and 2021 have seen Adult
Learning go from strength to strength,
and it was great to see them awarded
with the Times Education Supplement Award
for being the adult and community learning
provider of the year. But it's not all about awards.
What really drives our teams to do what they do
is our learners, that's you. So your success is our success,
and that's why it's so great to have this celebration
tonight with the Learner Awards.
I know how hard some of you will have had to work to participate
in an Adult Learning course may be juggling jobs and child care
or other caring responsibilities.
So whilst not everybody will win an award tonight,
I do want to say well done to each and every one
of you for having the courage and confidence and commitment
to undertake a course with Norfolk Adult Learning Service.
And I'm looking forward to seeing how the next
year progresses and how the service continues to evolve.
I hope some of you will continue to learn with us
and whether that's to improve your skills
or employment prospects or just to try something out,
learn a new hobby or to relate to some new
people on a new course.
Thank you for choosing Adult Learning to learn,
and I hope to see you in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Ceri.
Moving on the next award is for Vocational Learner
of the Year. The nominees are Glen Purdy.
Abbie King.
Bonnie Pendlebury.
And the winner is Abbie King.
Abbie has undertaken an access to Psychosocial Studies
course this year,
along with doing the training for and being a volunteer
on the Samaritans helpline.
Abbie puts a lot of thought into her learning and always
gets her assignments in early.
Abbie is incredibly warm hearted and supportive
of her fellow learners.
She shares information she has learnt,
or things she feels may be helpful with the other
learners regularly. Well done, Abbie.
Next, we have the Personal Development
and Leisure Learner of the Year Award.
The nominees are. Joanne Barnett.
Hilary Archer.
Clare Sparling.
And the award goes to...
Clare Sparling.
Clare's artistic talents developed over her course,
and she remained positive despite world events
which had affected her personally.
Her classmates nominated her for the
Classroom Colleague Award due to her positive
outlook and good humour in class.
And now to the final award
before we announce the overall
learner of the year,
the Foundation Skills Learner of the Year. The nominees are:
Sandra Philibert.
Tina Davis.
Rajaa Safwa.
And the award goes to...
Sandra Philibert.
Sandra has shown incredible determination to achieve
her functional skills qualifications so that she can
progress into nursing,
and she has done this against a background
of a full time health care job.
She has actively contributed to classes and supported
her peers.
Well done to Sandra for her dedication
to getting qualified and for finding
the motivation to stay on track and never give up.
Congratulations, Sandra.
Now for our final award,
we want to say a massive congratulations to all
our learners,
our nominees and winners from this evening.
We are so proud of the hard work and dedication
that you have shown this year.
The overall adult learning
learner of the Year award
is chosen from the winners
of each category
from this evening.
Here is a reminder of who is in the running.
Sandra Philibert.
Lisa Dale.
Clare Sparling.
Joanne Walker.
Abbie King.
And Liz Heads.
And the overall Adult
Learning learner of the year is...
Abbie King.
Congratulations, Abbie.
Abbie’s journey with Adult Learning is truly inspirational.
She has demonstrated many outstanding qualities
in her determination to succeed against a background of really
challenging personal experiences.
She also has an exceptional willingness to support and share
with other learners. Also with her dyslexia,
Abbie has had an incredible journey that has taken
her from level one functional skills through to an access
to higher education qualification.
And now she's about to take up a place at university.
Abbie is a truly outstanding learner
and she is Adult Learning's Learner of the Year 2021.
Now we're going to close
this evening with another
message from our
head of service, Denise Saadvandi.
Wow, such inspirational stories,
and I hope that these stories have inspired you to either
continue with your learning or even perhaps
to take up learning for the first time as an adult.
A huge well done to all of our finalists and of course,
to our winners.
You should be really proud of your achievements and all
the best for your future, whatever that may be,
but also well done to every learner.
And thank you for placing your trust in Adult Learning
and for having faith that despite the challenges
that we've all faced,
we would be able to get you through
to whatever that outcome is that you want to achieve.
And last,
but most definitely not least well done to all of our staff.
Thank you for your enthusiasm, your inspiration,
your innovation and your dedication.
And keep up your amazing work.
Thank you, Denise. So that's it.
Thank you for joining us virtually for our first
ever yearly learner awards celebration this evening.
Congratulations from everyone at Adult Learning.
And let's hear it for our brilliant nominees and winners
for their exceptional achievements in the last
academic year. Thank you,
and we hope to see you soon for more learning
adventures this academic year.