Community is king as sixth form crowns student efforts with awards

One hosted an awards event with a difference by recognising some of the community achievements of students during lockdown.

The competition was set up in May and asked students and parents to send in nominations of young people from One who had made a positive difference to their communities during lockdown.

There were four categories - prospective students, year 12’s, year 13’s and those who had achieved good things as part of work experience.

Achievements included teaching first aid, participating in a sports challenge for The Teenage Cancer Trust, shopping for neighbours and one youngster shaved her hair for charity.

A team of tutors from One then independently decided on the results and the overall winner was Jake Lay Flurrie. Jake created his own business making facemasks for care homes, the community and local pharmacies.

He set up a GoFundMe page, used the money to buy equipment, has made over 500 masks so far and any funds left over will be donated to charity.

He said, “Getting to see the positive effects my help has given to those in the local community as well as keeping them safe in these uncertain times. It’s great to know that the college has an interest in the students outside of college. I am very proud to be a student at One.”

One of the runners up was Tallulah Ridley. The 17 year old from Ipswich originally volunteered to support her local ambulance station and has subsequently been offered a part time paid position with them.

She said, “Being able to support the community and welfare of the public has made me feel amazing.”

Curriculum administrator, Hannah Gentile said, “Ordinarily at this time of year we would be praising and showcasing the academic achievements of our learners. Whilst some events are set to take place in the coming weeks to focus on this, we wanted to create this occasion to champion some of our students and their community efforts. We had some wonderful nominations and there are many other unsung heroes who didn’t put themselves forwards.  All in all, I’m really proud of everyone, how they have adapted to these abrupt life changes and then how they reached out to businesses and the community by offering support, rather than just thinking of themselves.”

Ten awards were handed out in total. The winner (Jake) received a £50.00 Amazon voucher. Others received £10 and £20 vouchers for their efforts.