Each year CIFE awards a number of prizes to exceptional students. This year Bath Academy students took three awards, and received their prizes from Lord Lexden, CIFE President, in a ceremony at the House of Lords this March.
Tom Price (pictured right) received the CIFE Value Added award. Tom was born in South Africa and moved to Britain in time for his secondary schooling. At Bedales School, medical issues led to his underperforming at GCSE and he later completed only one AS Level with a grade D. At Seaford School he restarted AS Levels, achieving grades D, E and U in Economics, Business and History. Ill health followed him at a London tutorial college where his results were equally disappointing. However, Tom’s determination and resilience have shown that, even with an unpromising start, the opportunity to try again can allow those with character and ‘stickability’ to show their true worth.
Tom came to Bath Academy for only eighteen months to study A Levels in Mathematics, Economics and History. He achieved grades A*AB, obtaining A grades in eleven out of the fourteen units. At the same time Tom has taught himself Chinese to a basic level, composed music, and started his own T-shirt designing business marketing his designs in South Africa. He has gained a place at the School of African and Oriental Studies at the University of London to read Economics with Chinese, where we are sure he will be a great success.
Ruqqaiya Inuwa received the Paul Kitchener Memorial Award for best Foundation course student at a CIFE college.At her previous college, Ruqqaiya was a member of the Press Club and also the Model United Nations. At Bath Academy Ruqqaiya was a mature and self-motivated student, especially in her approach to art and design. She had a good level of skills, and thought through her ideas and created a varied and high quality portfolio.
Bath college’s own CIFE Award went to Fanbo Kong. Fanbo completed 3 full A Levels and 1 AS Level in 5 terms. During this time he undertook work experience at the laboratory at the Bath Institute for Rheumatic Diseases. With a supervisor’s aid he carried out a small project on Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies (ANCA), which are usually observed in patients with vasculitis. Fanbo assisted with a presentation to help doctors understand autoimmune diseases’ diagnosis.
He is very interested in music, playing the accordion for more than 10 years as well as the trumpet and the ‘hulusi’. He composed songs for his class and directed a musical which had almost 70 performers.
Chenge Wu (Ada), seen here with CIFE President Pauline Perry, won the Paul Kitchener Memorial Award. Ada enrolled at Bath Academy coming from China and quickly established a reputation as a serious and highly focussed student. She showed herself to be a mathematician of outstanding ability, successfully demonstrating an excellent understanding of core mathematical principles by working her way through complex theorem, willing to help others in class and demonstrating alternative methods to solving problems. Having achieved 100% in the Core Mathematics module (at AS Level standard), she then achieved 81% in the Pure Mathematics course. She scored grade A in every unit of the University Foundation Programme and, having turned down the offer of a place at Durham University, she is currently studying Accounting and Finance at Bristol University.
Hope Moon (pictured right) won a CIFE college prize for all round contribution to college life. Hope received most of her secondary education at St Mary’s Calne, gaining a very creditable set of GCSEs before starting her AS Levels. After the first year of sixth form she went up to London to complete her A Levels at a new tutorial college – Bright Young Things, which she found very stimulating. Needing to turn her renewed interest in History into grades, she came to Bath Academy in January 2012 and with great determination drove her grade C up to an A* in five months. She ultimately achieved A levels of A*A*A and is currently reading English Literature at Kings College London.