NCFE wins EPAO of the Year and Learner of the Year at the FAB 2022 Awards

NCFE is proud to have received two honours at last night’s FAB 2022 Awards, taking home prizes for ‘End-Point Assessment Organisation of the Year’ and ‘Learner of the Year’. 

Now in its 7th year, the FAB Awards celebrates success across the industry by recongising the contributions made by awarding organisations and their employees to the education and skills sectors in the UK this past year. Sponsored by Creatio, the dinner and awards were held at the end of the first day of the FAB 2022 Conference. 

EPAO of the Year 

The FAB End-Point Assessment Organisation (EPAO) of the Year award looked to acknowledge the stand-out EPAO that has provided exceptional activity and made a difference to the lives of their centres, learners and employers over the past year.  

With more than 20,000 apprentices registered with us and with the provision of exceptional support to providers and these apprentices being at the heart of our EPAO activity this past year, we’re proud to be recognised as winners of this award in what was a difficult category. 

Attending the FAB Awards ceremony in Leicester, Suzanne Slater, Director of Operations for Apprenticeships at NCFE, said: “The EPA team has worked extremely hard over the last year – changing, adapting and reacting to our providers’ and learners’ needs within a challenging, post-COVID landscape.  

“The service and support that they provide to our customers is exemplary and continues to have a positive impact upon our apprentices’ achievements. Their determination, focus and commitment has been recognised through this award, which they truly deserve. Well done to NCFE’s EPA team!” 

NCFE colleagues celebrate receiving the EPAO of the Year award. Photo credit: @Awarding Bodies 

Learner of the Year 

The FAB Learner of the Year award recognises the outstanding achievements of an individual learner who has achieved a qualification from a FAB full-member organisation. Upon reading the full criteria for entry, it was immediately apparent that our own recipient of ‘Learner of the Year’ in the NCFE Aspiration Awards 2022, Juwairia Junaid, would be a deserving winner at the FAB Awards. 

Described by her tutors as a "truly outstanding learner", Juwairia is fully blind but does not let the array of different machinery, technology and software which provides her with access to her studies stop her from achieving. Her attitude to learning and engagement on her NCFE CACHE Level 2 Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care was infectious, and we’re incredibly proud to see her take home the FAB 2022 Award for Learner of the Year.  

Speaking on Juwairia’s Aspiration Award win, Tracy Jardine, Programme Manager at Leeds City College, said: “The award is a significant public acknowledgement of the hard work that Juwairia invests into her studies and I’m sure it’ll motivate her to go on to achieve greater successes in the future. She is such a worthy winner and we’re all so proud of her."  

NCFE learner Juwairia Junaid accepts her Learner of the Year award

A night to remember 

This year’s awards were independently judged by a panel that consisted of Shahida Aslam, Director of Operations at the Helena Kennedy Foundation, Louise Karwowski, Director of Education at Cognassist and Hannah Miller, Founding Director at Sidekick. 

Commenting on the awards, Tom Bewick, FAB’s Chief Executive, said: “Congratulations to the winners this year, who have all demonstrated excellence and commitment to developing high quality qualifications and innovative and inclusive practices. 

“All entries were of a very high standard and demonstrated the commitment of our members to learners and the sector. I am immensely proud of our industry.” 

The complete list of winners at the awards is as follows: 

• Awarding Organisation of the Year – Sponsored by Creatio: Gateway Qualifications 
• End Point Assessment Organisation of the year – Sponsored by RM: NCFE 
• Qualification of the year – Sponsored by Coelrind: Agored Cymru – Personal and Social Education (PSE) qualifications 
• Collaboration of the Year – Sponsored by Peridot Partners: Skills & Education Group – Working to Prevent Labour Exploitation 
• Learner of the Year – Sponsored by Eintech: Juwairia Junaid nominated by NCFE 
• Individual of the Year – Sponsored by Gordon Associates: Mark Child – VTCT 
• Innovation of the year – Sponsored by Advanced Secure Technologies: Gateway Qualifications – Enabling Digital Assessment of EDSQ in the Prison Estate 
• Exporter of the Year – Sponsored by TestReach: Chartered Management Institute (CMI) 
• Awarding Organisation of The Year for Delivering Real Impact on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Sponsored by PSI Services: Pearson 

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Federation of Awarding Bodies for this recognition, as well as congratulate our fellow nominees and winners, all of whom contribute to the incredible success of our wonderful sector. 

To learn more about our work as an end-point assessment organisation, you can visit the EPA area of our website.