Alumni and Staff Delighted to be Selected as Finalists in She Inspires Awards

We’re delighted to share that a number of Sixth Form staff members and former students have been nominated for She Inspires awards and reached the finalist stage

The She Inspires awards celebrate the huge wealth of outstanding contributions women have made to Bolton in 18 diverse categories. The annual awards evening is due to take place on Thursday 23 November at Bolton Stadium Hotel.

Aamena Makkan, a former Bolton Muslim Girls School student left The Sixth Form this year after achieving Triple Distinction* in Vocational information Technology and securing a Software Testing Degree Apprenticeship at Fujitsu. She is a finalist in the Young Achievers Award category. Aamena volunteers as a sports coach for young girls in her spare time and supports the Bolton Mountain Scouts and Krimmz Girls’ Youth Club amongst other activities.

Anganile Kanthonga, a former Ladybridge High School student is a finalist in the Volunteer of the Year category. Anganile volunteers for a charity called Chiva, who raise awareness of HIV and work to remove the stigma around the condition, Alongside her work for Chiva, Anga also volunteers at Salford Royal Hospital, having completed over 350 hours of volunteering for them to date. She has also promoted world AIDs day at The Sixth Form, to raise awareness of the condition.

Sandra McManus, our Deputy Principal, is delighted to be a finalist in both the Lifetime Achievement and Agent of Change Categories. Sandra has worked in 16-19 education for the last 34 years. Her responsibilities at The Sixth Form are all related to the curriculum, ensuring its high-quality provision, supporting staff in their personal development and planning additional opportunities for learners to give them a wraparound experience for personal development and progression. Sandra’s developed our flagship Women into Leadership programme which has inspiring the next generation of leaders is at its heart, empowering them to think creatively, problem solve and support each other are all core principles of the programme.

Our Careers & Employability Advisor, Emily Dover, is a finalist in the Food, Hospitality & Events category. Emily is extremely passionate about empowering our learners and enabling them to access fantastic opportunities. For our annual Careers Day, she lead on employer engagement for the event, and in the past couple of years has doubled the number of employers attending. This year, Emily also implemented a new initiative of a ‘quiet half hour’ for our supported students. 

Emily is also joined by the rest of our Careers team: Chris, Jill, Paul and Sophia, as a finalist in the Education Team of the Year category. Our Careers team work hard to provide engaging activities that broaden our students’ horizons by exposing them to a wide range of careers and degree programmes as well as helping them to overcome any barriers to achieving their goals. They also support our students on a one-to-one basis by providing all students with the opportunity for high-quality careers guidance and in the last academic year, they supported an amazing 1003 students via careers appointments.

Our Marketing and Admissions Team are also finalists in the Education Team of the Year category. They are responsible for the entire applicant journey at The Sixth Form, from offering advice and guidance in schools, to leading on experience days at the college, to managing the whole application, interview and enrolment process. The team work tirelessly to inspire and motivate young people to research their post 16 options, always encouraging them to raise their aspirations.

Congratulations to all of our finalists and good luck for the awards evening in November!