20 Aug 2024
Oaklands College – known as a training ground for some of our top Olympic athletes and sporting heroes – is inviting 16-year-olds who receive their GCSE results this week to find out more about the 300 courses it offers.
Students who are unsure of the future will be able to sign up to a course at the college on the spot at Thursday’s open day, which is from 9am-1pm.
The college is known for its success in the world of elite athletes, including Daryll Neita, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist who was also part of the successful GB relay team that secured silver at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. Daryll, who recently narrowly missed out on the bronze at the Paris Olympics for 100m final, attended Oaklands 10 years ago and trained with the colleges elite Oaklands Wolves Athletics Academy.
The college is also demonstrating excellence in its vocational courses, such as training some of the finest aircraft engineers in the UK.
It recently had three of its L3 engineering students accepted onto one of the UK’s most sought-after apprenticeships schemes after beating off stiff competition from 600 other students from around the country.
Heath Richmond, 19, and Alexander Mason, 18, have secured places on aircraft engineering apprenticeships scheme with TUI, the UK’s leading holiday company, while Jamie Orfeur, 18, will be starting on TUI’s aircraft engineer workshop apprenticeship scheme – a brand-new programme. Both courses are four years and will be based at the TUI hangar at Luton Airport.
Claire Dolan, deputy principal, said: “We are welcoming those who have changed their minds and now would like to see what Oaklands has to offer, as well as those who did not get the GCSE results they expected and would like to chat about their options with someone.
“There is more than one route to success in life and Oaklands’ students’ achievements demonstrate that. We pride ourselves on offering a wide variety of courses in addition to A-Levels – many of which are valuable vocational qualifications, as well as our high-level athletics and sports development programmes.
“We want to get the message out to young people, especially those who are worried about their future, that we offer many pathways here at Oaklands, and they are welcome on Thursday to find out more.”
