Sixth Form students at UTC South Durham celebrated their A-level results on Thursday 20th August 2020. All students passed their A-levels and equivalent qualifications, and every student has secured or is in the process of securing employment, an apprenticeship (higher or degree), or a place of university.
Principal Tom Dower said: ‘We are delighted for all our students and wish to congratulate them on their results. The results are testimony to the hard work of our exceptional students and commitment of our teaching staff.
This year has been difficult for many of us, but particularly for students in Year 13 who have faced a great deal of uncertainty with regards to their education and future. We are incredibly proud of their academic achievements, but also of them as the confident and driven young professionals we have seen them become.’
A number of students have secured apprenticeships with companies based in the North East, including Joe Allen and Oliver Trowell who are joining civil engineering company Costain, Stephen Henry is now working with BTS Fabrications, and Will Barker has joining Teescraft Engineering as an engineer in quality.
Kirsten Parr, who studied Maths, Further Maths, and Physics, is due to start a degree apprenticeship with accounting firm Ernst Young in Newcastle, and Felicity Nkomo is due to start with international design company Hanson as a degree level design apprentice. Other students have secured employment further afield, including Finn Trewhitt who is working as an Installation Engineer in Italy.
All students who applied to university were successful and all are going to study STEM degrees: Jack Clarke is going to study Engineering at York University, Tom Shepherd is heading to Loughborough to study Product Design Engineering, Ben Miller and Sam Hall have secured places at Northumbria to study Mechanical Engineering and Foundation Engineering respectively.
This year, as exams were cancelled because of the pandemic, students’ grades were based on teacher assessments, supported with evidence of their work which was submitted to the exam boards.
Based in Newton Aycliffe Business Park, UTC South Durham is a STEM focused Sixth Form and school for 14-19 year olds. Sixth Form at UTC offers a range of STEM A-levels and equivalent Level 3 courses, in addition to a pre-apprenticeship Engineering Technician course.
Photo above: UTC student Felicity Nkomo is starting a degree apprenticeship in design with Hanson
Front page: UTC students (from left to right): Stephen Henry, Ben Fidell, Ethan Lawrence, Tom Shepherd, and Kirsten Parr
