Competition Winners

Learning Assistant recently ran a competition to all our Assessors asking them to nominate Learners
they felt deserved special recognition for their efforts. We were inundated with entries and quite
moved by many of stories of individual Learner achievement. Unfortunately, we had to narrow it
down to three winners, with each winning Learner and Assessor receiving an Apple iPad as top prize.

Dannie's story

Learner: Danusia Mielczarski
Award: City & Guilds - Sales Level 2
Assessor: Helen Coogan
Provider: The Manchester College

Dannie works for Aviva Car Insurance, where she is responsible for convincing non-Aviva customers to place their insurance claims through her company, rather than their own insurance provider. In order to help Dannie (and her colleagues) achieve this objective, Aviva work with The Manchester College to deliver City & Guilds - Sales Level 2 qualifications. Dannie's story is particularly impressive as she achieved her award in record quick time - the importance of which, she explains in her movie!

Helen Coogan was Dannie’s Assessor throughout the award. Helen's team within The Manchester College are responsible for delivering a variety of NVQ within Sales, Retail, Customer Service and Management sectors. Within her movie, Helen explains the positive effects the Learning Assistant system has brought to their delivery.

Jordan's story

Learner: Jordan Warren
Award: City & Guilds - ITQ/ Key Skills
Assessor: Mike Thompson
Provider: ITEC North East

Jordan always wanted to be a web-designer but did not want to go through a typical academic route to gaining qualifications. Instead, he decided to undertake an apprenticeship with ITEC North East, completing his City & Guilds ITQ level 2 at the age of 17 before progressing to the Level 3. Since achieving the level 3 qualification, Jordan has gone on to found his own web-design company. In his movie, he describes how his course "covered everything he needed to know about computing, while preparing him for business"

Mike Thompson was Jordan's Assessor for both level 2 and 3 awards. A self-confessed "techie", Mike works within a team at ITEC North East to deliver apprenticeships for young learners in IT, Business Admin, Management and Sales. Within his movie, Mike explains why he feels Learning Assistant works for his organisation and the young Learners they work with.

Johdi's story

Learner: Johdi Young
Award: OCR – Health and Social Care Level 3
Assessor: Saskia Robinson
Provider: Priory Group – Eden Grove School

As a care worker at Eden Grove School, Johdi is responsible for the day-to-day care of boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties. In response to his demanding role, he was keen to undertake the NVQ in Health and Social Care to help him develop his skills and progress in his career. He started his qualification using a traditional paper-based portfolio but found that after a few months he was struggling to progress as quickly as he would have liked. His Assessor suggested that he switch to an e-portfolio with Learning Assistant.

Saskia Robinson is Johdi's Assessor for the Level 3 award. Her team at the Priory Group deliver a variety of NVQ's in Health and Social Care specifically for Children and Young People. In her movie she explains why she feels Learning Assistant has helped Johdi (and other Learners) to progress more effectively compared with traditional methods.