East Lancashire Learning Group

A talented Art and Design student has painted a positive picture in this year’s national BTEC Awards. Aleena Nadeem, 19, from Nelson and Colne College, has been awarded Highly Commended in the Student of the Year category, after impressing judges with her College journey and ability to overcome cultural and language barriers – having moved to the UK from Spain. Aleena joined Nelson and Colne College in 2015 without any formal GCSE equivalent results following her relocation and with English as her fifth language. Her hugely promising portfolio combined with a steely determination during interview saw her accepted into college on an exceptional basis. She has flourished since, and is on course to achieve D*D*D*, the highest possible grading, in her Level 3 Extended Diploma in Art and Design. Alongside her BTEC pathways, Aleena has also worked extremely hard to achieve her GCSEs in English and Maths, achieving her Maths C grade in 2017 with her English grade C in sight this year. Aleena, who has secured a conditional offer from UCLan to study Fashion Design, said: “I am feeling so lucky. It’s my third year at Nelson and Colne College, and I feel that I have developed myself every year. The college has given me a lot of opportunities and all the support I needed."

A former catering and hospitality student at the College, who now works at The Hinds Head, a Michelin starred hotel owned by Heston Blumenthal, recently returned to the College to demonstrate his cocktail making skills. Daniel Wright left Nelson and Colne College Sixth Form in June last year and since then he has gone from strength to strength. He completed his Level 3 qualification in Hospitality Supervisory, during which time he worked in the College’s fantastic restaurant and bistro, Farringtons. Farringtons is open to the general public during term-time and enables Catering and Hospitality students to develop their customer service and general restaurant skills in a real-life kitchen environment. This places the students in a strong position to find employment in established restaurants once they have finished their studies, as Daniel found to his advantage. Since leaving the College, Daniel has been working for top celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal at The Hinds Head, a 15th century Michelin-starred restaurant in Berkshire.

Jonathan O’Connor, from Kelbrook, has graduated from the University of Hull with a First in his Masters of Chemistry in Nanotechnology, and is now in Germany at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology Europe to complete a PhD in Microfluidics. Computing class between 2011 and 2013 and have thanked the college for helping them get to where they are today. Jonathan, 22, who previously went to Ss John Fisher and Thomas More RC High School, said: “My research is in the Microfluidic area of Chemistry and I work under the supervision of Professor Andreas Manz, who is highly respected in his field as being the creator of the lab-on-a-chip which revolutionised modern laboratory analysis. “I aid in other projects as well as my own and being the only chemist in the group, I’m busy with different and varied challenges on a daily basis. Through my PhD, I’m also getting the opportunity to attend interesting international conferences and I keep up to date with the latest advances in my field."