Article in summary
The article describes the CIFE academic awards, how recipients are chosen, the awards ceremony proceedings, and the individual CIFE Awards 2011 winners' achievements and backgrounds.
Article in detail
Each year CIFE awards a series of prizes to students who have achieved outstanding results. To qualify for consideration students generally have to have gained full marks in several A-level units. Many have a string of successes including exam-board awards awards for results in the top ten nationally. Prizes are awarded in several subject-based categories, with a CIFE Gold Award for the very best student of all. The annual prize ceremony in the House of Lords is conducted by CIFE's President, Baroness Perry.
Seventeen students who gained outstanding A Level results last summer were presented with awards for academic excellence at the House of Lords on Wednesday 23rd March. One exceptional Foundation Course student and one outstanding GCSE student also received awards.
Baroness Perry, former Chief Inspector of Schools, is the Honorary President of the Council For Independent Education (CIFE). She said: "It is a great pleasure to celebrate the wonderful achievement not only of these outstanding young people, but also their parents for supporting them, and all their teachers and colleges. CIFE has excellence at the heart of everything it does and proof of that is here today represented by these prizewinners." All of the award winners are now studying or have places to study at top UK universities.
The Gold Award winner, Xenia Dethlefs, studied for eighteen months at Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies. She achieved four A*s and one A grade in five A level subjects. She is a talented mathematician, who is fluent in three languages, including German and Japanese. She said: “For me everything comes down to opportunities and how you embrace them. I am extremely grateful to my parents who have always invested in my education, to my teachers who have always given me every support and to institutions such as CIFE that reward students’ hard work.”
Chairman of CIFE, Steve Boyes (pictured above with Xenia Dethlefs), said: “The results of these Academic Awards winners are extremely impressive. Many of the A Level award winners achieved scores which put them in the top 10% of all candidates in their subjects. Some of them have also gained national awards for their performances. They have achieved an academic standard which is well worthy of this celebration and have justifiably gained places on extremely competitive degree courses at UK universities.”
The 2011 CIFE Award winners are pictured above.
Richard Smart Gold Award,
This, the top honour, went to Xenia Dethlefs, of Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies.
Paul Kitchener Memorial Foundation Course Award
Arisa Autchayawat (Bath Academy)
Award for Excellence in Economics
Ruby Wenzhen Rui (Cambridge Tutors College)
Awards for Excellence in Humanities
Mikayla Henry (Cambridge Tutors College)
Hoang Vu Tam Thu (Ashbourne College)
Chulachat Kanjana-Oransiri (Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies)
James Woolsey (Collingham)
Award for Excellence in Literary Studies
Polina Hristova (Davies Laing & Dick College)
Award for Excellence in Modern Foreign Languages
George Taylor (Collingham)
Awards for Excellence in Science
Yau Mun Lim (Cambridge Tutors College)
Selina Chin Hui Men (Cambridge Tutors College)
Nattaphong Rattanavirotkul (Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies)
Weerapat Satitkanitkul (Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies)
Sky Wen Tian Zheng (Cambridge Tutors College)
Award for Excellence in Creative Arts
Alexandra Metcalf (MPW London)
Andrew Osmond Mathematics Awards
Jack Chen Hu (Cambridge Tutors College)
Hoang Truc Phuong Nguyen (MPW London)
Melly Minh Trang Duong (Cambridge Tutors College)
Award for Excellence in GCSE
Erika Kemi (Bosworth)