ESOL news

Case study: Kieran Hawes

Kieran Hawes enrolled onto the Graphic Design Higher Education course after completing his Level 3 BTEC in Graphic Design at City of Bristol College.

He said: “I wanted to get hands-on and continue to develop my skills as thoroughly as I could and the traditional approach felt like a step backwards for me. I was familiar with the GDIM course at COBC and its vocational, ‘down and dirty’ approach which better aligned with my way of learning.”

After completing his degree, Kieran was able to get a Junior Designer role and has worked with a range of creative teams across Bristol, with a personal highlight being working on global brands such as IBM. Kieran now works for Bristol’s best branding agency, Mr B & Friends. He said: “I met Executive Creative Director, Steve Richardson and then Midweight Designer, Nathan Crosby in my second year at COBC, working on our Corporate Identity module with them. They really made an impression on me, the agency’s ethos, client roster and way of working was killer. Becoming a B’er was immediately a goal of mine.

Three years later and here I am, a year in at my dream agency, working across Brand and Digital, for some truly awesome clients around the world. It’s crazy. I owe that to this course, alongside many an all-nighter and some serious LinkedIn lurking.”

Case study: Daniel Hunt

Daniel Hunt, aged 34, started his journey at City of Bristol College in 2018 when he opted to retake his GCSE Maths after struggling to earn strong grades in school.

He said: “My brother encouraged me to pursue a career in healthcare as he retrained as a nurse. I knew not having my GCSEs would be a barrier and I had always wanted to get them after not managing it in school.”

After securing a Grade 5 in his maths, Daniel then opted to move onto his GCSE English in 2019 – after completing his English Functional Skills Level 1 and 2 the previous year – where he earned the top grade of a 9 (A*).

After overcoming the obstacle, Daniel moved onto one of our Access to Higher Education courses at Ashley Down Centre, where he focused on Health and Social Care. The intense course created the perfect stepping stone for Dan to apply to UWE Bristol to study Paramedic Science. He said: “The access course was challenging but amazing! The teachers were great and I particularly enjoyed learning all about human anatomy and physiology. I have now managed to secure a place at UWE Bristol to study Paramedic Science. I knew it would be tough to get on the course but I wanted it so badly. The access course only confirmed I have made the right choice to retrain at this stage of my life.”