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A Visit From MP Mark Francois!
South Essex Colleges Group welcome Rayleigh & Wickford MP and Shadow Armed Forces Minister, Mark Francois.
The MP visited the college after Curriculum Leader for Public Services, David Birnie, visited Parliament where he presented a petition in response to the exclusion of Further Education staff from the Government’s pay increase for teachers.
Mark forwarded the petition to MP Bridget Phillipson, and came to Southend City College to gain a deeper understanding of the vital role Further Education plays in preparing students for careers in the Public Services.
During the ‘Cold War’ Mark served as an infantry officer in the Territorial Army, including with the local Royal Anglian Regiment.
David said: “Mark has shown a genuine interest in championing Further Education and recognising the outstanding work we do in guiding students towards careers in the uniformed services. During his visit, we explored opportunities for collaboration in supporting pathways into the Armed Services, aligning with his role as Shadow Secretary for Security in the UK.
Mark told us: “I greatly enjoyed my visit to South Essex Colleges Group. In particular, as the Shadow Armed Forces Minister, it was great to meet and chat with students on the public services course, many of whom are aiming for careers in the Armed Forces, Police or Fire Service. The college provides very good education and training for those who want to serve their country in uniform, and I was very impressed by what I saw.”
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Success stories
The support at the college has been second-to-none. The staff here always go above and beyond especially the wellbeing team. They have helped me so much throughout my time here.
Despite facing the challenges of ill health, Aimee Glaze has excelled in her studies and has been named Public Services Student of the Year.
The 18-year-old from Basildon has stood out in her studies for her behaviour, standard of achievement and motivation to succeed.
Her tutors have recognised how much Aimee has progressed over the course of her two year programme. After her first year of study, it was unclear whether she would be able to progress on to the second year of her course, however, Aimee was determined to succeed and went above and beyond to accomplish her goals and is achieving distinction level grades in her assignments.
Her nomination citation noted: “Aimee is an outstanding student who uses her mature reflective skills to complete all assignments before deadlines to an outstanding level.
“Aimee also supports other members of her class and discusses class issues with her personal tutor in a mature and balanced manner in order to achieve the best outcome.
“Seeing Aimee develop academically and personally into a mature, committed and outstanding student should be something to be rewarded.”
Aimee said she was ‘incredibly proud’ of her achievements.
She said: “This year I have faced a lot of challenges but I put endless amounts of effort into my college life and my assignments. I put all my energy into this year so I could come out with the best possible outcomes.
“The support at the college has been second-to-none. The staff here always go above and beyond especially the wellbeing team. They have helped me so much throughout my time here, they helped me gain my confidence and walked me through my hard days when my illness was getting too much to handle.
My lecturers are always working hard to accommodate for all of their students and you can easily see how passionate they are about their job which makes learning so much more enjoyable.”
Aimee is now pursing her dream of becoming a prison officer.
