Adult learners across Essex opened their GCSE results on Thursday 21 August. This year, ACL Essex supported lots of adults to boost their career opportunities by gaining GCSEs in English, Maths and Science.
Sophie Willsher is 32, lives in Silver End, near Witham and is mum to a three-year-old girl. Sophie works as a Health Care Assistant in Surgical Neurology at Colchester General Hospital. Thanks to her GCSE in English, she’s now able to embark on a career in nursing.
This August she passed her English GCSE at ACL Essex after previously passing Level 2, Word and Excel in March, Level 1 Maths and Functional Skills in February and Level 2 Maths and Functional Skills in July. After passing all the courses in one year Sophie is delighted with her results. She says:
“Working and being a mum meant it was tough doing all the courses in a year. But I think when you’ve got the motivation for the end goal, it was worth pushing through. I wouldn’t do all of it in one year again though, with childcare, on my own, it was really hard, but I feel like it’s been manageable.
“Willpower and caffeine helped to manage everything! A lot of late nights and early mornings too, helped to balance things, but it was worth the headache.
“I’ve had really good tutors, so I’m happy. It’s been amazing, my English tutor, Angela, has been incredible, she’s been so supportive. She’s really helped me; I wouldn’t have managed without her. She even leant me a laptop to take home – thank you, Angela!
“I studied in person at ACL in Colchester and my daughter was in the nursery whilst I was in the classroom and the Digi Hub. I’d really recommend that parents did the same.
“I got a grade 4 GCSE English and I’m happy with that. The qualifications I now have mean I can go on to do my nursing degree.”
Has Sophie’s story inspired you? Take a look at our GCSE courses starting soon across Essex!
