Education Feature: City of Westminster College - GSCE Results
Published: 1 September, 2011
THERE was an atmosphere of nervous anticipation at City of Westminster College (CWC) as students came to collect their GCSE results. But for many there was good reason to celebrate.
The College offers a core selection of subjects – some as Fast Track options – giving students the opportunity to catch up on education they’ve missed or retake and improve on existing grades.
Sisters Sara and Yasmin Hasan, 18 and 17 respectively, are originally from Somalia.
After enrolling at CWC to study GCSEs, each achieved three As and two Bs and are now moving on to A-level courses at the College, taking them one step closer to their shared goal of studying Medicine.
The sisters put their results down to teaching staff and a lot of individual study.
Yasmin says: “These results are better than I expected because I missed a year of schooling.”
Her older sister Sara says: “I’m very surprised and very happy!”
Inus Ali, 33, from Westminster, came to the UK from Bangladesh at age 17 and found it hard to progress because he didn’t have qualifications, so he decided to improve his career chances by enrolling at CWC. Now he’s the proud owner of an A* in Maths and two further A grades.
Inus says: “I plan to study A-levels – I’m especially interested in Maths – and then gain a professional qualification, possibly in Finance.”
Lorena Romero, 19, came to the UK from Ecuador four years ago.
After studying English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), she enrolled on a GCSE course.
Her five B grades are excellent results – especially considering English is her second language.
Her goal is to become a marine biologist and she is staying on to study Access to Higher Education Diploma in Science – an accredited one-year intensive programme that will enable her to apply to university.
Lorena says: “I had hoped for an A grade – I’d say I studied a lot but not enough! I’ve already recommended CWC to my brother and friends.
“This place is different. It has a mix of cultures and I’ve learned a lot from the people here, both students and teachers.”
City of Westminster College still has places at GCSE, academic, vocational and professional courses beginning this September.
Full enrolment details at www.cwc.ac.uk