Nelson and Colne College climbs to the top of national performance table for A Levels!

Nelson and Colne College has climbed to the top of the national performance table of FE Colleges for A Levels.

In the newly-published Government performance tables, Nelson and Colne College places first in the country of all FE Colleges and is third nationally of all Sixth Forms and FE Colleges with a progress score of +0.42. This ranks the College as ‘well above the national average’ and means that students attain nearly half a grade better on average across their subjects than they were predicted to achieve.

Nelson and Colne College has consistently been one of the top performing colleges in the country and the new year-on-year figures show this is the highest place the College has ever been for the value added to the grades of students. Progress scores are calculated by comparing students predicted A Level grades based on their GCSE results against their A Level achievement when they leave College.

It was a spectacular year for A Level results for the College in 2019 as it bucked the national trend for students achieving the highest A* and A grades, while 58.5% of students at NCC achieved high A*-B grades, an improvement of more than five percentage points, and the percentage of students achieving A*-C grades also improved to 80%.

For those students who do not achieve successful GCSE grades in Mathematics and English at school, Nelson and Colne College has also placed respectively as the number one and number three FE College nationally for GCSE progress, with the results achieved by students who resit their exams in order to advance in their studies.

Principal Amanda Melton said: “I’m ecstatic at the new performance tables and this achievement sees us at number three of all colleges nationally for A Level progress. I take great pride in the fact that students who attend our College improve to achieve better A Level grades with us than they would have done at almost all other FE Colleges or Sixth Forms in the country.

“I would like to extend my congratulations to my brilliant colleagues on this exceptional result as it is testament to the high-quality teaching, support and progress monitoring that students receive here at Nelson and Colne College.

“Our GCSE resit performance is once again extremely pleasing too. Taking both tables of results as a whole, it means that the College can successfully support those who aspire to achieve the highest A Level grades and reach the best universities in the country, as well as having the capacity and expertise to support students to positive destinations who have not achieved their potential at GCSE level first time around.”

Katie Hill, 17, formerly of The Hollins in Accrington is currently studying A Levels in Biology, History and Sociology at Nelson and Colne College. She said: “I definitely made the right choice in choosing Nelson and Colne College. I love all of my lessons and if you need help with your studies here, the teachers are very supportive.

“I have found the College to be a friendly learning environment and the A Level Connect event held at the beginning of the year was a great opportunity to meet new people and make friends. The learning resources, study spaces and Refectory are also very good.”

Another current student Usman Muhammad, 16, formerly of Pendle Vale College, is studying Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics at Nelson and Colne College. He said: “College is really good. I’m looking to progress on to a Russell Group university like Imperial College London to study Medicine and I’m supported well to do that here.

“There is so much on offer at College to develop you through the extracurricular offer such as the Pre-Professional Programmes, and you gain responsibility and become increasingly independent here in preparation for university.”

Students who attend Nelson and Colne College can expect to receive outstanding A Level support, and this includes Pre-Professional Programmes to aid career aspirations in competitive sectors, specialist one-to-one guidance for Oxbridge applications, taking advantage of the College’s partnership with New College, Oxford’s Step Up programme, and the Realising Opportunities programme with the University of York.

Nelson and Colne College is the number one college in Lancashire for student satisfaction, based on the government’s FE Choices survey.

If you would like to apply to study at Nelson and Colne College, contact 01282 440272 or visit www.nelson.ac.uk.