Celebrating staff excellence at CAVC Staff Awards 2018
Just before the College broke up for the summer, CAVC celebrated its third annual Staff Awards – a chance for employees, their friends and family to come together across the College.
The yearly event celebrates staff achievement, recognising those who go above and beyond to make CAVC the success it is and enhance to learner journey. Staff were nominated for the awards by their colleagues.
Entrepreneurship and Enrichment Co-ordinator Lisa Anne Jones won the Rising Star Award for the opportunities she has taken to develop and grow within her role. Lisa co-ordinated the College’s first ever musical performance – We Will Rock You – and under her direction 20 learners went on to receive the Platinum Level Youth Achievement Award from Youth Cymru.
The Exceptional Employee Award went to Welfare Officer Jameela Muckbill for her work in overseeing some of the most challenging students in the College. Jameela’s compassion for every single Junior Apprentice and their praise and respect for her marked her out for this award.
E-Learning Manager Hannah Mathias won the Innovation Award for her instrumental role in driving digital transformation across the College. Hannah has introduced the Microsoft Innovative Educator pathway and engaged with staff in a number of TEL experiments to explore and encourage the use of technologies to enhance teaching and learning.
The College’s Unsung Hero for 2018 was Customer Services Advisor Margaret Cunningham. Previously based at Eastern Business Park and now at Eastern Community Campus, Margaret is much loved by staff and students alike and played a key role in making the transition to the new working and learning environment as smooth as possible for all.
The Health and Care Team won the Team of the Year Award, also in part for their central role in the transition to Eastern Community Campus. The team were also recognised for their focus on the learners and the quality of their learning and the way they all pull together and remain positive and enthusiastic.
The Excellence in External Engagement Award went to the REACH Team. A hugely successful pilot project that engages with a number of external organisations on a daily basis, REACH acts as a referral point for all organisations across Cardiff, linking all ESOL delivery partners.
Lecturers Geoff Shaw, Emma Fussell, Victoria Jenkins, Linda Burns, Huw Thomas and Rio Judson all won Teaching Excellence Awards. These awards recognise members of academic staff who have demonstrated outstanding practice is in their teaching and learning over the last 12 months.
The Outstanding Leadership Award was won by Humanities Lecturer Allison Owen-Jones for always putting students at the heart of what she does and her work guiding a team to ensure more learners achieve their Welsh Bacc qualification.
Accounting Lecturer Mike Webster won the Scholarly Activity Award for his work in developing his knowledge and professional understanding of his job. The award recognises Mike’s excellence in academic progression and his recent Lifetime Achievement Award from AAT.
Head of Additional Learning Needs and Wellbeing James Donaldson was presented with Principal’s Award. James has been instrumental in driving transformation across the College in a number of ways, including organising events such as Teachmeets and encouraging staff to think outside of the box when it comes to teaching and learning and improving performance. The support he provides also ensures that the College supports individuals to develop and improve their skills and life chances.
The Awards ceremony also recognised the achievements of this year’s Learner Choice Awards, voted for by students. They were: Non-teaching Staff Member of the Year Mary Davies, Lecturer of the Year Darren Oakley and Teaching Assistant of the Year Andrew Evans.
Finally, Mike James presented the Chief Executive’s Award to the Marketing and Communications Department, which came as a bit of a shock to them as they had organised the awards and had absolutely no idea of what Mike was planning.
