Finalists across the awards’ eight categories – accompanied by their guests and colleagues – attended an afternoon tea reception in the Cholmondeley Room, hosted by the awards’ patron, The Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan.
The event, in its third year, was once again sponsored by NCFE and FE Associates, with FE Week as media partner.
Awards were presented in a range of social impact categories, including Student Volunteer of the Year, Staff Volunteer of the Year, Individual Fundraiser, Team/College Fundraiser, Volunteering Project of the Year, Accreditation Excellence, Inspirational Role Model, and Long Service.
An esteemed judging panel selected the winners, delivering moving citations for each finalist before presenting each award. This year’s judges were: Shelagh Legrave CBE, Dame Sally Dicketts, David Hughes CBE, David Gallagher, Katerina Kolyver, Phil Packer MBE, Lesley Davies, and Jo Maher.
An Overall Winner was also chosen and presented by the Rt Hon Baroness Nicky Morgan. This went to Queen Mary’s College, in recognition of the team’s remarkable fundraising efforts – engaging 1000 first year students, who raised over £30,000 for 100 charities
Opening the event, host Baroness Morgan welcomed guests and congratulated finalists. She said: “I am delighted to be here today, celebrating all your incredible achievements. FE is an inspirational sector and we need to spread the word!”
Dr Sam Parrett CBE, Group Principal and CEO of London South East Colleges (part of Elevare Civic Education Group), and co-founder of Good for Me Good for FE spoke about the movement and thanked everyone involved. She said:
“I am so proud to be standing here, for the third year, celebrating the very best of the FE sector.
“Good for Me Good for FE recognises the vast amount of social impact activities that students and staff are doing, at colleges across the country, to support their communities. The collective impact of this is immense and we are incredibly grateful to everyone involved.
“A huge thank you to our sponsors, the 150 colleges involved with the campaign, our guests, our judges and of course, our finalists and winners. This is such an important event that is now firmly established in the FE calendar – recognising some truly exceptional individuals, teams and colleges.
“Congratulations to you all and please do keep up the amazing work.”
The Good for Me Good for FE campaign was founded in 2021 by London South East Colleges, Loughborough College and East Coast College. It aimed to connect staff and students with their communities and create a sustainable programme of fundraising and volunteering at colleges across the UK.
With c150 colleges now on board, millions of pounds of social value has been generated to date, along with thousands of pounds raised and thousands of items donated to foodbanks. Visit www.goodformegoodforfe.co.uk for more information.
Picking up the Overall Winner award was Queen Mary’s College. Principal Mark Henderson and colleague Victoria Renault said:
“We are so proud to receive this award, but it is all about our first-year students. They absolutely shattered our expectations, putting in huge effort and raising an amazing amount of money. It just shows what young people can do when you give them an opportunity and put your trust in them!”
Lewis O’Callaghan was named Staff Volunteer of the Year, having supported the Sheppey Sea Cadets and the South East Coast Ambulance Service for over 17 years. He has completed more than 600 volunteering hours this year alone, helping young people to develop skills and confidence. He said:
“This award is such an honour. I volunteer as I want to give back what I was given as a child. I joined the sea cadets aged 10 and want other young people to get the same experience. As an engineering tutor at Mid Kent College, I see the many benefits of supporting young people to volunteer, as it introduces them to the real world and teaches so many skills.”
USP Colleges won the Volunteering Accreditation Excellence Award. This recognised exceptional engagement in the Good for Me Good for FE Accreditation pilot – supporting the development of the new volunteering ‘Changemaker Qualifications’. 22 learners completed modules and volunteering hours for bronze accreditation – with over 100 students contributing 1080 hours to community projects, which has laid the foundation to expand volunteering across the college. They said:
“We were delighted to be involved in the pilot programme as we think that students’ volunteering contributions should be recognised more formally. These qualifications give the students something tangible for their hard work and many ended up doing far more volunteering hours than were required, which was fantastic. Our student union is amazing and we are really proud of how proactive and hard working they are – and this award celebrates them.”