End of Year Student Awards 2026

Highly Commended: Nigel Berry Award for Braille - Chloe McGeough (not in attendance)

Chloe is recognised for her outstanding perseverance dedication and commitment to learning. Despite facing significant challenges throughout the year she successfully completed not one but two BTEC Braille courses. Her strong work ethic throughout her Braille studies makes her a very worthy highly commended winner.

Winner: Nigel Berry Award for Braille - Davide Nalin



Our overall winner goes to Davide Nalin who came to RNC using uncontracted Braille but in just two years has completed the BTEC Level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications - an amazing achievement bearing in mind he is working in his second language. He has shown an incredible work ethic and determination, taking on extra work whenever he could to improve his knowledge. His performance in the Level 3 exam was exceptional and was a testament to his hard work and dedication. The Braille team unanimously agreed that Davide is a thoroughly deserving recipient of the 2026 Nigel Berry Award for Braille

Highly Commended: Award for Endeavour -
Rico Amediku



Rico was nominated for his consistent demonstration of positive mental attitude and strong perseverance, with both his A&DT and sports sessions.

He always tries hard to achieve his objectives and puts a great deal of effort into everything he does - he approaches challenges with determination and remains motivated even when tasks are demanding.

Winner: Award for Endeavour - Amelie Ford




Amelie demonstrates a great attitude to learning, is determined and resilient and has built confidence almost beyond recognition! She has taken every opportunity available to her, staying positive and resilient (even when facing difficulties) and is part of a friendship group that not only supports each other but pushes everyone around them to be better. All of this has been balanced against competing as part of England’s Female Blind Football Team which is no easy feat! She puts in the extra effort, goes beyond her comfort zone and is a thoroughly deserving winner of the Endeavour Award.

Winner: Contribution to the RNC Community Award - Reisha Davies



Reisha has been a fun and chatty member of the RNC community throughout the three years of her placement. She is caring and considerate towards her peers, which she demonstrated further when she took on the role of a student ambassador, welcoming new students and helping others with a friendly manner. She is a dedicated and diligent student, a great team member and a joy to teach.

Winner: Contribution to the RNC Community Award - Jack Rooke (not in attendance)

Jack has been part of the RNC community for four years now and is leaving us this summer. He has made excellent use of his time at College and he will be genuinely missed. He always has a kind smile for staff and his peers and has been a pleasure to work alongside and support. We wish him the very best for his next steps.

Winner: Award for Progress - Jimmy Billam
(not in attendance)

Jimmy came here as a quiet student, unsure of communicating with her peers or staff, but has taken small steps to push herself out of her comfort zone to take on new challenges. She has a great sense of humour and has become a popular member of the College community.

Highly Commended: Award for Music - Amy Griffin



Amy deserves recognition for her perseverance with music composition and production, both areas she found challenging. She has overcome technical difficulties, and a lack of confidence at times, to create a portfolio of work that she would not have thought possible at the start of the year.

Winner: Award for Music - Aiden Murray




Aiden has developed his technical, compositional and production skills, to produce an extensive library of music which he hopes to promote after his time at RNC. Focusing on new software and instrumentation, his skills and remarkable composition rate has blossomed this year. He deserves recognition for his perseverance and determination, and how he has produced a plethora of music, which both calms him and brightens everyone's day.

Highly Commended: Dixie Dean Sports Award - Ana Vindberg



Ana deserves special recognition for her exceptional achievements in acoustic shooting this year. Winning both the Junior and Senior British Acoustic Shooting Championships is a remarkable accomplishment, made even more impressive by her outstanding score of 595 out of a possible 600 points.

Highly Commended: Dixie Dean Sports Award - Toby Williams



This year has seen Toby progress to represent England Senior Men's Blind Football Team and he recently helped his country secure victory in an International U23 Competition. He has been an integral part of both the EBFL and RNC League teams, contributing to a hugely successful season that saw them win the League title and the Brian Aarons Cup.

Highly Commended: Dixie Dean Sports Award - Amelie Ford



Amellie is recognised for the incredible progress she has made. Arriving with limited sporting experience, she leaves as an established England Blind Football player who has represented her country internationally. Alongside her sporting success, she has embraced the demands of being a TASS athlete while achieving academically, demonstrating outstanding commitment, resilience, and ambition. She has an exciting future ahead in sport and should be immensely proud of all she has achieved.

Winner: Dixie Dean Sports Award -
Rico Amediku



Rico has shown exceptional dedication, resilience, and commitment to sport throughout the year. A major highlight was achieving a black belt in Judo, recognising years of hard work and perseverance. Alongside his own success, he has also supported others by coaching within our weekly Judo programme. He has won medals at national and international Judo events while progressing on the GB Para Pathway with aspirations of representing Team GB at the Paralympic Games. Alongside this, he has also made a significant impact in Goalball, helping his team win the Intermediate Trophy.

Beyond competition he has demonstrated excellent leadership through sports coaching and community engagement - his achievements, leadership, and commitment to supporting others makes him a truly deserving winner of the Dixie Dean Sports Award.

Highly Commended: Award for Assistive and Digital Technology - Davide Nalin



Davide now has a well-established working medium, using JAWS, and a Focus40 Braille display. During his time at RNC he has shown incredible commitment to getting the most out of his ADT sessions; asking questions and trying different techniques to ensure his future success.

Winner: Award for Digital and Assistive Technologies - Skye Hueting



Skye has made outstanding progress since starting at RNC. She has grown in confidence with managing her own technology and explored a range of assistive technologies, including a QBraille to support her working medium. She is curious with asking questions, always supportive of others and well on the way to her future goals.

Winner: Lucy Burke Award for Resilience - Rose Phillips (not in attendance)

Rose demonstrated remarkable determination, perseverance, and commitment at RNC; and despite personal challenges, she remained focused on her studies, consistently showing resilience and a positive attitude. Her hard work resulted in excellent academic progress and offers from multiple universities, including three unconditional offers - a fantastic achievement that reflects her dedication and ambition. Rose's ability to remain committed to her goals while overcoming obstacles makes her a truly deserving recipient of this award.

Winner: Lucy Burke Award for Resilience - Humna Hussain



Humna has shown exceptional resilience during her time at RNC, making excellent academic progress, despite significant and ongoing health challenges. Following surgery and an extended period of recovery, she returned to RNC to complete her studies with an unwavering determination. Throughout her journey, she has faced periods where both physical and cognitive barriers have made learning difficult, yet she has persevered with an unwavering commitment. She is now set to leave with the equivalent of four A Levels and an EPQ - an outstanding achievement that reflects her quiet strength and determination.

Winner: Award for Jumping in with both feet - Madison Saunders



From the moment Madison arrived at RNC she has thrown herself into RNC life, embraced every opportunity with enthusiasm, and demonstrates a genuine desire to learn. She has an incredible curiosity for knowledge, demonstrates remarkable courage, resilience and determination, and has also become a valued and much-loved member of the student community. Her smile, positivity, determination, and drive make her a pleasure to work with.

Winner: Award for Progress in Mobility - James Bate (not in attendance)

From the very start of his RNC journey James has shown exceptional drive, focus, and commitment. Since starting with us in January 2026, he made quick and impressive progress with his mobility training - in a very short time, he learnt campus routes, local routes, mobilised around the city centre, and now travels independently by train.

Winner: Award for Progress in Mobility - Ella Crowley



Ella rejoined the Mobility programme in February this year. Her goals were to build confidence using bus travel, learn routes around the local town, and master the journey to a weekly work placement each Friday. She made fantastic progress, quickly developing her skills, and now travels to and from her work placement entirely on her own each week. It is wonderful to see her put everything she has learned into practice.

Winner: Award for Progress in ILS -
Alice Crockett



Alice started at RNC last September and has made exceptional progress on the ILS programme - completing laundry, and then preparing and cooking meals, with support initially and then completing the self-catering assessment by Easter - phenomenal progress! She is always on time for her lessons and demonstrates a keen interest in learning new skills.

Winner: Sheryl Cove Creative Arts Award - Jacob Tidcombe



Jacob consistently demonstrates creativity and a willingness to explore a variety of artistic mediums. He approaches new challenges with enthusiasm and imagination, producing thoughtful and engaging work. He is friendly and supportive with his peers, His clay models are particularly impressive, with carefully devised characters and creative storytelling elements. His work consistently showcases excellent artistic skill, attention to detail, and originality. His creativity, positive attitude, and dedication to the arts make him a very deserving recipient of this award. We will miss him in the art sessions next year.

Highly Commended: RNC Team Award - Level 1 Childcare Group



The Level 1 Childcare Group are Esperanza Carberry, Christina Perreira, Madison Saunders, and Emily Whittle. This team is described as 'always willing to take on new challenges'. Their communication and teamwork skills have developed throughout their programme, and they have demonstrated excellent childcare skills during their Every Day is a Learning Day project. We are proud of the progress they have made as a team, and they are highly deserving of this Highly Commended Award.

Winner: RNC Team Award - Acoustic Shooting Team



The Acoustic Shooting Team comprises Harvey Ford-Simms, Humna Hussain, Ruben Morris, and Ana Vindberg. The RNC Team Award is the result of an outstanding year of achievement - together they have demonstrated exceptional dedication and commitment to their sport, achieving remarkable results. One became the British Junior and Senior champion with an outstanding score of 595/600. One secured second place in the same Championships, with an impressive score of 594/600, just one point behind. Another member achieved a fantastic third place finish in the Junior British Championships, scoring 589/600, demonstrating sustained commitment and improvement. And finally, our fourth team member narrowly missed out on a medal position, despite only starting the sport in September. Together, these students have supported and inspired one another, creating a positive and ambitious team environment.

Highly Commended: Work Placement Award - Shabaz Mahmood and Jessie Levison



Jessie and Shabaz threw themselves into their work experience with great professionalism and left a really positive and lasting impression on their employer. They were ambassadors not just for RNC, but for inclusion in society, as they raised awareness of the needs of customers with vision impairments and other disabilities, including the delivery of what we hear was some very entertaining training to the staff.

Highly Commended: Work Placement Award - Millie Taylor




Millie not only had an ongoing internal placement, but also took part in the June Work Experience Week. With her Braille placement, Millie demonstrated outstanding commitment and the rapid progression of confidence when teaching, delivering engaging, and well-structured sessions. One colleague described her as 'motivating and professional!'. In June she enjoyed a worthwhile placement outdoors, spending quality time with her favourite animal, a horse.

Winner: Work Placement Award - Finn





Finn's commitment to his weekly placement was notable - the National Trust team enjoyed working with him, and commented that he had shown great positivity towards the placement, demonstrated by excellent preparedness, punctuality, and attendance, and his very good relationships with the rest of the team. He always completed tasks to a high standard and the team were so confident in his ability that they were happy to for him to lead a tour of visitors during work experience week.

Winner: Work Placement Award - Kai Codrington



Kai secured an ongoing weekly placement as a direct result of a very successful work experience week last February. Kai always shows kindness and support to his peers at College and transferred those qualities to a primary school who have reported that the children really benefitted from his presence, stating: 'We have loved having Kai with us - he is a star!'

Winner: DofE Going Beyond Award - Emilio Saavedra



Unfortunately, Emilio had to cut his expedition short last year after falling unwell, during a sweltering hot walk. It would, of course, have been easy to decide not to pursue DofE having had that experience, but he was determined to prevail. He was only required to do one night's camping and two days walking but, wanting to make up for his last experience, he requested to do two nights camping and three days walking, including the mammoth walk to the summit of Pen y Fan. He's an inspiration to us all.

Winner: DofE Camper of the Year - the whole DofE group



The DofE group were fantastic this year! They were hugely supportive of each other both around camp and on the walks. As always, it was a tiring few days with many miles walked, culminating in a final romp to the top of Pen y Fan. Incredible effort! It has been a real struggle to choose one person for this award... so we haven't.

Winners: Annual RNC Taskmaster Competition - Amelie Ford, Olly Johnson, Sharnie Mabey, and Lucja Wyrwantowicz



Taskmaster this year was a very close competition with three teams sharing joint second.

Teams this year had to (amongst other tasks) build a tower of shoes, create an advert for a 'boring' object, and throw a pack of cards into a box without stepping into an exclusion zone.

First place (18 points)
With an excellent endorsement for selling a wall from Dwayne (Olly) 'The Rock' Johnson.
Amelie, Olly, Sharnie, and Lucja.

Joint second place (16 points)
Ewan, Oscar, Toby, and Tom
Alleah, Danny, Ishaq, and Tegan
Abdullah, Dayzie, Elliot, and Humna

Third place (14 points)
Amy, Emma A, Jessie, Kai, and Vasilisa.