Navigating the Path to Higher Education: Sherry’s Journey at Exeter College

Embarking on a journey toward higher education can be daunting, especially for those who seek a fresh start and a new direction. Sherry, a dedicated individual with aspirations of pursuing a career in Paramedic Science, found her pathway through the Access to Healthcare course at Exeter College after returning to education to retake her GCSEs. In an interview with the College, Sherry shared her experience, highlighting the pivotal role Exeter College played in shaping her academic and personal growth.

Sherry’s decision to enrol on a Access to HE course stemmed from her desire to unlock the doors to university education. Reflecting on her journey, she expressed; “I want to go to university, and because I’m a mature student, it’s my best option to get into university.”

Despite facing challenges during her GCSEs, Sherry persevered, recognising the need to strengthen her academic foundation. She shared, “I didn’t do very well at school…I didn’t achieve what I needed because I was in the mindset that I couldn’t do it, so I came back to College and achieved my English GCSE and my other GCSEs.”

A girl with blonde hair smiles at the camera wearing a black and white chequered shirt.

Driven by her passion for healthcare and enriched by her experience working as a Health Care Assistant in the accident and emergency department amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Sherry set her sights on Paramedic Science. The Access course provided her with a comprehensive platform to pursue her ambitions while balancing her professional responsibilities. Sherry explained, “I’ve been working in the hospital since the COVID pandemic,” emphasizing the seamless integration of her studies and practical experience.

Navigating her rigorous schedule, Sherry dedicated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to her studies at Exeter College, combining her educational pursuits with her work commitments. Despite the demanding workload, Sherry found solace and support within the College community. She remarked, “I feel like I’ve grown personally and academically…the College has pushed me in the right direction…everybody here has been very supportive.”

Central to Sherry’s success was her dedication to achieve. Despite initial apprehensions stemming from past academic setbacks, Sherry found herself excelling beyond her expectations. She reflects, “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it because I always struggled but I managed to get a higher grade than I thought I was going to get.”

As Sherry reflected on her experience, she wholeheartedly endorsed the Access to HE course at Exeter College. She attested, “It’s difficult and full-on, but it definitely sets you up for university…I’ve enjoyed it, there’s a lot of work but if you’re willing to put the effort in, it’s definitely a good idea to do.” Sherry’s testament echoes the sentiment of countless students who have found their future through completing an Access Diploma.

Throughout her journey, Sherry confronted various challenges, from managing her time effectively to overcoming self-doubt. Yet, with the support of her tutor and the support teams at Exeter College, she has emerged resilient. Sherry acknowledged, “All my teachers have been supportive…they see the best in you and want you to do your best. It’s been a fresh start.”

Sherry hopes to embark on the next chapter of her academic journey at Bournemouth University to study Paramedic Science (after applying for 5 universities and getting offers for all 5!). Her story illustrates the transformative power of education and highlights the potential that can arise from returning to the classroom.

If you are thinking about a career change or looking to find a new skill, then visit the next Adult and HE Open Event. Register today.

You can speak to our Adult Advice Team about all the Adult and HE courses on offer, including the Access to HE courses.

New support for mature students helping them to make the next steps to education or work

New support for mature students across Devon is helping them to make the move on to university and new careers. Experts from the University of Exeter and Exeter College are working together to provide access to specialist information and advice.

The new Mature Access Pathway allows them to experience what university life is like and polish their study skills through workshops, talks, and on-campus activities. There is also access to academic staff, mentors, and current undergraduate students who have given information, advice, and guidance they need to make an informed decision about their future.

The course was set up after University of Exeter analysis showed mature students can lack confidence in applying to higher education and often prefer to study for a degree locally. The review showed the need for mature students to meet those in the same situation and to get targeted information about finances and life as an undergraduate.

The Mature Access Pathway, which was set up this academic year, includes social events and advice about money and living matters. It also includes help on how to choose the right course and study skills. It forms part of the timetable of all Access to Higher Education students at Exeter College.

During the first year 83 students took part in the pathway, which is led by Roisin Quinn, Student Access and Further Education Relationship Manager at the University of Exeter, Marianne Readman, Adult Learner Experience Manager on the Exeter College Partnership Board and Suzy Bell, Access to Higher Education lead at Exeter College.

So far 35 of those who took part applied to the University of Exeter and they were given a guaranteed contextual level offer. University of Exeter mature students get extra support, including an enhanced induction programme and access to mentors.

Ms Quinn said: “Our aim has been to increase progression to university from mature students in Devon– to many Higher Education institutes not just the University of Exeter. We provide support and information to support them to progress to many institutions and courses.

“We hope this will now be a key part of the support for mature students in the South West which will give them the confidence, knowledge and support to go on to higher education.”

Participants take part in face-to-face sessions at Exeter College and the University of Exeter where they get advice on applying for university, study skills such as reading, note-making and paraphrasing, researching, academic honesty and referencing, academic writing skills and higher education assessment.

Ms Readman said: “This opportunity to collaborate with a partner university to support our learners to achieve their ambitions is a fantastic addition to all of the hard work of Exeter College staff to ensure a great experience for all our Adult Learners.”

Ms Bell said: “It has been a pleasure to work closely with Roisin and the University of Exeter to create and launch the Mature Access Pathway. It has been such a success in terms of supporting students making the transition to university. It has also enabled students to further develop essential study skills, find out about the types of support available at university level, and receive additional guidance throughout the university application process.”

Kay Botham, 32, is studying Access to Business. She has applied for Business, Management and Marketing, and Accounting and Finance at University of Exeter. She hopes to go into an element of marketing such as publishing marketing or events. Before this Kay had been out of education since she was 19 and says the pathway has been “greatly beneficial”.

“It gives you that extra insight which gives you a push. Being able to sit in lectures created such a spark at the right time as I was doing my UCAS application at the time. It confirmed it was what I wanted to do.

“Meeting people at the University of Exeter and being able to ask them questions was helpful. A couple of them had progressed from the Access course last year and they were so knowledgeable. We have had some nice honest conversations with them.

“It’s stressful. I have 3 kids, I work, and I do this. But as soon as I said I wanted to go to the University of Exeter I felt like all my tutors at College rallied behind me to make it happen.”

Leon Hill is 23 and studying Access to Humanities (English Literature, History and Politics). They are hoping to study Film at Falmouth University.

Leon said: “I chose Exeter College because I had friends who came here when they were 16 and really enjoyed it. It’s been worth me making the journey from North Devon which is one of the reasons why I appreciate the programme being incorporated into the course, rather than an additional thing.

“I found the visit to University of Exeter really helpful in demystifying the uni experience. I appreciated being able to go and realise universities are not as scary as I had imagined. It was good to get a feel for how things may feel if I went there.

“Going back to studying has been a challenge, but it is not unreasonably difficult. It is manageable alongside other life commitments if you do pace yourself. I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s been a very understanding, welcoming environment. It was a really good decision to come back into education and to do it at Exeter College.”

Exceptional Results for Exeter College Access to Higher Education Students

Exeter College’s truly exceptional summer of results has continued with the stunning success of their Access to Higher Education (HE) students, who are celebrating a huge 96% achievement rate.

The results mean that the vast majority of students on an Access to HE course at Exeter College now have the skills and qualifications to move on to fully-fledged degree level studies at universities throughout the UK.

“They truly deserve these incredible results, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll all go on to achieve next,”
Lucinda Sanders, Exeter College Director of Adult Learning

The outstanding results follow the news earlier this summer that the College’s International Baccalaureate students achieved a 100% pass rate. Over a third of students achieved more than 40 points, putting them in the top 5-10% of students in the entire world.

For many adult learners, an Access to HE course is a route into a higher level of study for those who don’t hold many formal qualifications or don’t meet the current entry requirements for university level education. Having completed their Access course at Exeter College, this cohort of students can now go on to make applications to study at universities, safe in the knowledge they have the required qualifications to make a successful application.

Exeter College Director of Adult Learning Lucinda Sanders said, “It’s hugely satisfying to see the success of our Access students, especially during what has been a unique academic year for their studies with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m thrilled that they’re celebrating their achievements in their courses. It will certainly unlock their future ambitions when it comes to university level study.

“It was great seeing the way students and staff adapted to the pandemic to continue teaching and learning at an incredibly high level during difficult circumstances. I want to thank all our teaching staff and students for taking to the new way of working so well. They truly deserve these incredible results, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll all go on to achieve next.”

Exeter College Access to Healthcare student Amy Mulvihill, 20, achieved an incredible 45 distinctions, giving her the grade profile to be accepted to study Midwifery at the University of Southampton.

“I’m so happy that I’ve got the results to go on to study at university. When I last studied, I just missed out on what I needed to get in, so I’m really pleased that I’ve got what I wanted.”

The student from Exmouth wanted to pay tribute to the Exeter College lecturers that supported her during her year-long programme of study.

“From the start, they found out about our entry requirements for where we all wanted to study and what we wanted to do at university. This meant they could support each of us in the right way for what we wanted to go on to study in the future, and that definitely made it all easier to understand and relevant to our interests.

“It has been an enjoyable and sometimes intense year, but everyone is really supportive. Someone is always there to help you if you need them.”

Find out about former Access to Higher Education student Anna Grayson, who used her Art and Design course to become a fully-fledged artist.

Find out about Access to Higher Education with Exeter College.

Discover Exeter College’s wide range of courses for adult learners.

The Exeter College graduate behind one of art’s biggest lockdown trends

An Exeter College art graduate has been the inspiration behind one of lockdown’s more unique art trends.

Since the Government’s lockdown of the country in March, a number of artists have been looking for an outlet for their creative flair and have taken to recreating classic pieces of art from the comfort of their own home using photography.

“Without the Exeter School of Art I would never have achieved what I have, and I am just so grateful. Just imagine, an idea on a college course ending up trending on social media during lockdown, and it all started right here in Exeter!”
Anna Grayson, Exeter College Access to Higher Education Art Graduate

But Anna Grayson, from Teignmouth, has been producing work like this for years, having originally experimented with this photographic art style while studying an Access to Higher Education Art course with Exeter College in 2012.

Now eight years on, Anna has amassed a collection of her often-humorous art recreations, which is due to be displayed at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM).

Anna, 67, said, “I shot the first of my photos in this style while I was studying at Exeter College. We were looking at portrait photography and I wanted to do something different that also explored art history.

“A lot of my work is about reimagining iconic works of art for the world we live in today, so quite a bit of it explores gender, women’s issues and society in general.”

Anna’s collection includes recreations of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (or Moaning Geezer in Anna’s collection), and a feminist recreation of Édouard Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe, along with around 30 others that are set to be displayed when RAMM reopens.

Anna’s art career only launched following her Access course with Exeter College, and she has already seen her work hung in the South West Academy and, remarkably, in the Royal Academy of Arts in London. In 2018 two of her pieces were selected by Grayson Perry to hang in his famous yellow room at the 250th anniversary exhibition at the RA. The making of a new piece was also featured on the Channel Four series, Grayson Perry’s Art Club.

As social media caught wind of the photographic style during lockdown, Anna has been looking on with interest as others attempt to reimagine famous paintings during lockdown, “I’ve been rather tickled to find myself a trendsetter for an internet craze!”

Anna said, “It has been great seeing everyone have a go at doing it while stuck at home. It’s a good way to explore art history and teach yourself about composition and lighting. But I always try to take it one step further by developing the meanings and interpretations of iconic works, but it’s so nice to see everyone getting involved in it!

“If I were going to give advice to anyone considering giving it a go, I’d say to think outside the box and don’t restrict yourself just to photography. You also need to beware of copying other people’s images directly put on social media – many are covered by copyright and intellectual property law. Also, make sure you credit another artist’s work if you’re copying or inspired by them – that’s just good manners!

“Without the Exeter School of Art I would never have achieved what I have, and I am just so grateful. Just imagine, an idea on a college course ending up trending on social media during lockdown, and it all started right here in Exeter!”

Anna’s exploration of using digital photography to recreate famous art started when, aged 60, she took on an Access course with Exeter College and started to explore different sides of art.

“I’ve been experimenting with recreations of famous works of art because I’m greedy and I want nice art on my walls,” said Anna.

“I knew I didn’t have the money to buy these works of art, and I certainly didn’t have the skills nor lack of moral fibre to steal anything, so I decided to go about recreating them myself. The more I made, the more I wanted to do.

“On a more serious level, I’m intensely interested in what becomes iconic in art. Why do some images, like Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers or Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini become so well known and recognised? Why do people engage with particular pictures?

“I also had this feeling that more people might get into with art if it was updated and reimagined for a modern audience, so that’s a big influence behind the background of this collection.”

Anna’s Journey

Anna’s art career hasn’t taken the conventional route, as the Teignmouth-based artist may be better known to some as the former presenter of the BBC’s Learn To Earn programme, where she regularly reported on the training opportunities for those aged 18 to 80. She also worked with the BBC for nearly 35 years as a producer, presenter, studio manager and journalist.

Inspired by her previous reporting on the importance of lifelong learning, Anna took on an Access to University Art and Design course with Exeter College as a 60th birthday present, 7 years ago. This proved to be the touch paper for the start of Anna’s journey into taking art more seriously; not just as a hobby, but as a career.

“I didn’t mean to make a career out of it, it just kind of happened!” said Anna.

“I thought when I did the Access course that it was going to be a bit of fun and a way to learn some new skills. While still on the course I copied the Arnolfini portrait from the National Gallery. The original portrait has a couple that doesn’t look obviously in love and clearly aren’t communicating at all. I thought as my husband and I had been married for nearly 40 years, we could fit the bill to recreate it in my photography! We dressed up, I photographed it, and I had a lot to say about it in terms of the symbolism and messages in the piece and it managed to get into the South West Academy.”

The exhibition coming to RAMM in the New Normal represents a coming together of Anna’s collection of pieces in the series. Shot in carefully matched locations, and with the same lighting conditions and compositions as the originals, Anna’s commitment to recreating the art in modern digital photography isn’t something she expected to come at the culmination of her Access course with Exeter College.

Indeed, Anna’s original degree had been in Geology at the University of St Andrews, so she originally felt most drawn to the ceramics side of her Access course with Exeter College. However, she quickly learned that photography was going to be her forte as she progressed in the year-long programme of study.

Anna continued: “I was already aware of how great an Access course could be because I’d found out so much about them while I was working on Learn To Earn with the BBC. First and foremost, I was amazed by the transferable skills from science to art. Because you do experiments in art, you have to write them out and observe things, and that’s incredibly similar to the scientific world.”

“Bearing in mind I studied Geology at one of the top universities in the world, the best lecture I’ve ever been to in my whole life was one on perspective drawing with Tony Martin at Exeter College. It really was a terrific experience for me and I’d do the whole course again and again if they’d let me!”

Anna’s work will be displayed at the RAMM when it reopens follow the current lockdown.

Find out more about Anna’s work on her website and on Instagram at #annagraysonartist

Find out more about Access to University courses with Exeter College.

Find out more about studying Access to Art and Design with Exeter College.

Art students’ work revealed in Exeter city centre as lockdown eases

From Monday 29 June – Thursday 16 July 2020, as the Exeter city centre opens up after lockdown, more than 30 students studying at Exeter School of Art will help to bring the city to life, as they show their most recent artwork to the public.

Exeter School of Art may be the only college in the country where art students are exhibiting their work in real spaces as well as the virtual space. Traditionally this is the time of year for graduating art students to exhibit their work; however, this year the vast majority of art schools across the country are making exhibitions online. Here in Exeter, dedicated students and staff from Exeter School of Art are brightening up the city as it wakes up after lockdown, and shoppers and workers will enjoy a more creative environment as they return to the city centre.

Emily Gibbon, Manager of retail, culture, tourism and business support organisation InExeter, said: “It’s so exciting to see the city coming back to life, people adapting to the new measures and bringing a buzz to the place once again. Having these fabulous pieces of art by the Exeter School of Art and Design installed for people to see and enjoy will add to the atmosphere and experience of visiting the city. It’s a great use of space, and I can’t wait to see more innovative ideas around the city in the coming months.”

The outstanding artwork on display in Paris Street, Awesome Art Space, and 6 Paris Street and Peacocks and Halfords in Sidwell Street was produced by Graphic Communication, Fine Art, and Photography students studying at University Level, as well as students on the Access to Higher Education (Art and Design) course.

The work exhibited is also from students’ final projects from years 12 and 13. The majority of the work was produced during the lockdown, which influenced what some students produced. Students did not have access to the college’s facilities and resources. They, therefore, had to adapt their ideas and be even more creative with the materials and technology available to them at home.

Presenting the finished work to the Exeter community is an exciting opportunity, particularly for students who were disappointed by the prospect of graduating without presenting their work in a professional way to the public.

Nigel Watts, Head of the Art and Design faculty at the Exeter School of Art, said, “We are very proud of the students who have worked so hard from home in the recent months to produce the excellent work you will see in the show. It feels great that we have had the opportunity to exhibit their work at the end of this academic year, something that did not seem possible a few months ago.”

Exeter College and the School of Art are very grateful for support from Awesome Art Space, Eat the Bird and Princesshay, in providing and helping them to access these exhibition spaces.

Michelle Menezes, Centre Manager at Princesshay, said, “We are delighted to host Exeter College and the School of Art on Paris Street for this exciting exhibition. The talented students have worked so hard, through very difficult times, to create stunning, thought-provoking pieces. All the artwork can be seen from outside the store. Everyone is welcome to visit the inspiring exhibition.”

Exeter School of Art is part of Exeter College, and the work on display is from students studying on courses validated by the University of Plymouth and AIM awards. Exeter College was awarded TEF Gold (Teaching Excellence Framework in 2019).

Exeter School of Art is now recruiting for all of their creative courses for September 2020.