Celebrating our Future Leaders!

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Celebrating our Future Leaders!

15.08.2024

Congratulations to all of our Futures Leaders on Results Day!

Today marks a significant milestone in the lives of young people across the country. We have worked with many of our Future Leaders throughout their GCSEs and into A Level studies. It is a huge privilege to be able to see the brilliant achievements, growth in confidence and self-belief during this time. So, from the whole team at Villiers Park, we wish all of our Future Leaders, and young people across the country, our congratulations on your amazing achievements.

Villiers Park Chief Executive, Gaby Sumner said:

“Congratulations to all A-Level students on your incredible achievements. I have had the pleasure of meeting many of our Future Leaders at celebration events earlier this year, so I have seen how hard-working and enthusiastic you have all been. Regardless of the results, your dedication and passion has been truly remarkable.”

We are thrilled to share a few of the brilliant achievements of our Future Leaders who will be heading to university:

Congratulations to Rida from Swindon who has secured a place at the University of the West of England (UWE) to study Business and Marketing.

Congratulations to Abigail from our Tyneside hub who has confirmed her offer from Durham to study Law.

We also have a Future Leader who will be studying Sports Coaching at Liverpool John Moores University, another heading to the University of Gloucestershire to study Zoology, and Reece, who will be going into a Project Management and Digital Solutions apprenticeship.

For many this day will bring the confirmation of grades they needed to follow their chosen pathway directly. However, others are experiencing unexpected outcomes and we want you to know that your hard work does not go unrecognised, and that the Villiers Park team are here to support you to discover new opportunities, or new routes to reach your ambitions.

Remember that our online learning platform Launchpad is still available to Future Leaders leaving the programme. We will be keeping it up to date with resources for you moving into your next stage of education, an apprenticeship and more!

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Staff Spotlight: Meet Emma

By Bronagh Sumner • April 25, 2025

In September 2024, we were thrilled to have Emma Cross join our team as a Progression Coach in Hastings and Bexhill. Before working at Villiers Park, Emma worked as a teacher across multiple schools in East Sussex and internationally. What does your role entail? As a Progression Coach, my role involves supporting young people across Hastings and Bexhill ?" especially those from underrepresented backgrounds ?" in achieving their academic and career aspirations. I provide one-to-one sessions to help students develop confidence, resilience and goal setting skills as well as supporting students in identifying their strengths, interests and potential career pathways. This support could either be through university and apprenticeship applications, personal statements, interview preparation, internships or other alternative career pathways. I have also been involved in organising and delivering workshops around applying for university and managing exam anxiety. What did you do before coming to Villiers Park? I spent some time in Hong Kong studying and teaching English at a local primary school. Throughout my time teaching, I discovered a passion for learning about education in international contexts, so I decided to study a MA in International Education and Development at the University of Sussex. From this, I gained valuable insights on the impact of globalisation on education policy and practice. I also volunteered with the Hastings Sierra Leone Friendship Link, where I had the opportunity to travel to Hastings, Sierra Leone, and work with some amazing individuals, focusing on developing education and healthcare around the surrounding areas of Freetown. What is your biggest project at the moment? My biggest project now is supporting our Future Leaders with their Leadership Challenge projects. I spend a lot of time working with groups, supporting them with their project proposals and implementation. We have some great projects this year, such as a community beach clean, a research presentation around A-Level Law, teaching a Year 7 PE lesson and a whole school football tournament. What is the biggest challenge you are currently facing in your role? The biggest challenge I am currently facing is finding local and contextual apprenticeship and work experience opportunities for our Future Leaders. Hastings and Bexhill have a limited offering for these opportunities, so it makes it difficult for our Future Leaders to feel motivated and involved in apprenticeships. What is your favourite part about your job? My favourite part of the job is seeing the direct impact you have on students’ confidence and aspirations. Watching students grow and see them go from uncertain about their future to feeling empowered and motivated and building strong relationships with young people and being their trusted mentor who helps them navigate challenges. Also, knowing that your work is making a real difference in creating social mobility and giving students access to opportunities, like university insight days, they might not have had otherwise. What is a book you will always recommend? This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone ?" high science fiction meets with poetic love literary! If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go? It has always been my dream to go to Japan! I’m fascinated by the culture and landscape ?" and Japanese food is my favourite!? Or New Zealand to see all the different locations where they filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Who are your two dream dinner party guests? Wow! So many people I would choose... but I would have to go with Chino Moreno from the band Deftones ?" just so I can talk about all the things I love about his music! And Hakuri Murakami to talk all things literature. What would your perfect weekend look like? A perfect weekend would be brunch in my favourite cafe (must have good coffee!), a sunny walk around the South Downs with the dogs, ending up in a pub with good friends, food and a band!