Adult Case Studies

Paul Stevenson

Studying at Cornwall College was an excellent experience. The staff at both campuses were outstanding and really went the extra mile to support the learning journey for all of us. The range of modules were excellent and up-to-date and highly relevant to my chosen profession.

After the course, I joined a SCITT programme and completed this alongside my PGCE to become a primary school teacher. I have now completed my NQT Induction year and am fully qualified. Since September 2017, I have been studying towards an MA Education as I want to develop professionally and academically.

I am a full-time teacher in a year 3/4 class in a primary school in North Cornwall and have a key focus in development strategies in Literacy. Working as a teacher is even more rewarding than I could have imagined, seeing those ‘lightbulb’ moments is such an amazing experience.

Completing my Degree with Cornwall College has provided opportunities and experiences that I could only have hoped for with another institution

Student writing mathematics formula on a whiteboard

Christian Dumbleton

“Before the pandemic i was a team leader cutting trees around powerlines but since Covid-19 I have been thinking more about my future. I’ve always been good with numbers and wanted to open new doors for myself for a more academic future as a maths teacher. I chose to study Access to HE Science: Maths and Engineering course to gain the qualifications I needed to study at university level. During my one year course I have achieved 18 distinctions and i need 15 for university. Thanks to Cornwall College Camborne and their well trained staff for providing the mathematics course to kick-start my new career, I’m off to study Secondary Mathematics with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) at University of the West of England!”

Luke Coombe

I have thoroughly enjoyed my five years studying at The Cornwall College Group. The teaching and support from the lecturers has been fantastic. I would 100% recommend studying here for anyone looking to start their career working with children. I have learnt so many skills on the courses that I now use day to day in my job role. I’m looking at lots of different options for how I want my career to progress, maybe becoming an Early Years Advisor, at the moment I’m keeping all my options open.

George Streeter

Studying at Cornwall College gave George the skills he needed to follow his passion and become an executive chef on board a cruise liner.

“The course has taken me all over the world cooking. Until recently I was Executive Chef on a 5 star cruise liner and here I got to create my own menus, meet and cook for appreciative people.

Going to college gave me the tools to travel around the world and to work with and teach different nationalities. I would highly recommend it and cruise ships are a great way to do what you love whilst seeing different countries. “

Clare Reed

Clare studied the FdA Early Childhood Studies and the BSc Health, Community and Social Sciences. She chose to study at Saltash as the course fitted in well around her work commitments and childcare needs. She enjoyed the opportunities that occurred during her time at the college.

” I managed to gain a Level 3 Paediatric First Aid certificate and attended conferences that I would otherwise not be privy to. I had the opportunity to fundraise for Childrens Hospice Southwest as part of a module and was privileged enough to visit Little Harbour, a truly humbling experience.

I went into employment as the Charity Coordinator and Youth Worker for TICTAC Liskeard. The setting is within Liskeard School and Community College grounds and I love that I have a broad range of experience with children and young people and that I am able to apply the knowledge achieved throughout my studies.”

Natalie Roberts

I originally enrolled on the Level 2 course purely to gain the qualification to become a reputable health and fitness journalist (after graduating with a journalism degree). But the course was so interesting, informative and fun that I couldn’t resist staying on to complete the Level 3! I didn’t even want to leave after that!

The qualifications enabled me to spend a few years working as a personal trainer and gym instructor alongside my writing work. And I know for certain that the knowledge and experience I gained from both the courses and my time spent working as a trainer has enabled me to write content at a much higher standard. It’s also helped when interviewing high-level fitness professionals for articles as I can actually understand what they’re talking about, which has given me a distinct advantage when pitching articles within the fitness industry. The knowledge has also improved my own training, so it’s a win-win!

Victoria Holdon

“I started my journey into the fitness world at Cornwall College over 5 years ago when I decided to train to be a gym instructor. From there, I went on to become a Personal Trainer and then completed a degree. After finishing my degree I started up my own Personal Training business called Inner Strength PT. I quickly discovered there is far more to personal training than just getting someone fit, it’s a whole package. So many different aspects were covered through my education at Cornwall College, from business management, to the psychological barriers that people have to exercise.

“The college really helped me gain the knowledge and the capabilities to be able to streamline my business to where I am now. This has helped immensely as I am able to work with each individual client, helping to build self confidence and self esteem, whilst seeing them get fitter not only physically but also mentally. We really are very fortunate to have such a great college on our doorsteps.”

Jack Sutton Basset

Completing my Degree with Cornwall College has provided opportunities and experiences that I could only have hoped for with another institution

Emma Dyer

My time at Cornwall College has quite literally changed my life. Completing the access course has allowed me to progress onto university and fulfill my dream of becoming a midwife.

I chose Cornwall College as the hours for the access course suited my family commitments. After attending an open day, I was also impressed with the support available to students.

The support I have received from my lecturers, my tutor and fellow students has been amazing. After being out of education for 15 years the access course has given me the skills and confidence to progress onto university. The learning curve over the last 9 months has been incredible and I will be forever grateful to those that supported me.

Lisa Allen

Lisa credits the reflexology diploma at the college as life changing, allowing her to now pursue her dream career. Having completed the course, she now runs a successful reflexology practice as well as wellbeing and yoga retreats.

“I had developed an interest in holistic therapies and wanted a career change into that industry. The college have a great spa and beauty department and the tutor for reflexology is a wealth of knowledge.

The mixture of theory and practical study kept the course interesting and engaging. This course completely changed my life, giving me a rewarding and fulfilling career as well as financial security.”

Wendy Rowe

After having a relexology treatment herself, Wendy found it fascinating and decided to study our reflexology diploma. Now she has her own therapy business in Cornwall.

“I find my work very rewarding and I’m keen to learn even more about reflexology. My tutor at the college was amazing and so knowledgeable and was able to teach the subject in an easy to understand manner. I found the practical aspect so interesting and really enjoyed learning about foot reading too.”

Izzy Eldridge

Congratulations to Izzy Eldridge, who has been offered a university place after completing the Access to Higher Education course at our Camborne campus.

With previous experience in sales and recruitment, Izzy wanted a career change, so decided to join the fast track Access course at Cornwall College.The one-year course is bespoke to allow students to prepare for their own chosen progression route, allowing our learners to study relevant subjects that will give them the best chance of securing a place at university.

Izzy is now looking forward to starting a foundation degree in Event Management.

Ben Ambridge

Ben studied professional cookery and after travelling the world, he has settled down in Cornwall working as the Executive Chef at The Longstore. One of his most memorable experiences at Cornwall College was being nominated for a City and Guilds achievement award by his lecturer. He went on to win the award, attending the presentation at Buckingham Palace.

“The course covered all areas needed to equip me with the knowledge to enter a professional kitchen. I traveled around the world with the skills I had learnt. I settled back down in Cornwall and have worked my way up to executive chef, overseeing 3 kitchens. I write menus, train staff, team building and quality control of all sites.”

Alex Ley

For the last three years, I have been working at Pivotal across engineering and product management on the Cloud Foundry open source project, which is having a significant impact on enterprises wanting to transform how they deliver software to their customers. Recently I have taken on a new role in Pivotal’s Labs division, working with our customers to help them re-platform and modernise their applications on Pivotal Cloud Foundry. My role requires me to understand a range of computing abstractions, from the hardware to the containerisation technology; the fundamentals I learned at Cornwall College are still valuable today.