COLLEGE Students have celebrated after securing the all-important GCSE results that will open doors to exciting futures.

Dozens of students visited the Furness College Channelside campus to get their grades for English and maths this week after resitting their exams.

They included Students’ Union President Josh Olliver and hairdressing student who praised his tutors for encouraging him to keep trying to succeed, paying off with a grade four in maths.

He said: “I didn’t do well in school because I didn’t turn up and it showed in my results.

“At college I had the encouragement of my tutors which inspired me to keep trying.

“I sat my maths exams many times and during this time built my confidence up and ran for the elections. Now I’m president of the SU, I’ve passed my maths, I’m in my third year of hairdressing and I’m making student life better."

Friends Josh Ramsay, Dan Herbert and Daniel Steel were relieved to pass their GCSE maths with Josh and Dan now planning on applying for roles in BAE Systems.

Josh said: “I’m happy because I can apply for BAE Systems now and maths was the only thing holding me back,”

“I learned more in the few months I was here than I did during the whole of secondary school.”

Eric Nelson, Brooke Duxbury, Adam Howard and Ellie McAteer secured grade four in their English GCSEs

Eric said: “I’m overwhelmed thinking about it and now I’m happy it’s a weight off my mind.

“Thank you to my tutors for helping get through I was really worried and now it’s all done.

Brooke said she was ‘buzzing’ and can now start to apply for apprenticeships in brickwork while Adam pledged to work hard to pass his maths in future.

Head of Maths and English Hilary Johns congratulated everybody who achieved a grade four or above and wished them luck in the future.

She said: “These young people have had an incredibly disrupted education over the last two years and we really wanted to offer them all the opportunity to experience a formal exam sitting and support them through this anxious and difficult time.

"We will continue to encourage every student to reach their full potential whilst studying English and maths at Furness College."