Whilst we're always very proud of our high pass rates at Kaplan, it's particularly pleasing to see our students awarded the top honours by the institutes. Prize-winning students are those who have performed outstandingly in their exams, going the extra mile and achieving some of the highest marks in the world in the process.
For a relatively small centre, Kaplan Norwich has had a lot to celebrate over the last year. Back in the December 2016 sitting, Lauren Day of local firm Larking Gowen was awarded the ACCA Gold Medal for the highest scoring Global Affiliate in that sitting, hot on the heels of her P2 award in June 2016. In the same sitting Jonathan Gray, an employee at Lees Accountants, was awarded the P1 prize, whilst Charlotte Ruffles, of GT in Ipswich, was the recipient of 1st place in the ICAEW order of merit for the Advanced Case Study examination in November 2016.
When the ACCA prize-winners for the March 2017 sitting were announced, we were thrilled to see that Jonathan Gray had won another award, picking up the Silver Global prize for his P papers.
Most recently, ACCA's list of Global Prize-winners for the June 2017 sitting saw Norwich celebrating again, with Dominic Smith picking up an award for his P2 paper and Georgina Lemmon achieving the Silver Global Prize - her second time as a Prize-winner!
So what is it that makes Norwich so special when it comes to producing global prize-winners?
"Obviously, it partly comes down to having some excellent students coming through" explains tutor Belinda Wargent, "but also I really think that Kaplan Norwich has some excellent tutors who work hard to really understand the exams they teach and nail how to pass. We create a very friendly and engaging classroom environment that aids learning and development."
Centre manager Tim Howes agrees that the environment the tutors in Norwich and Ipswich are able to create helps to produce successful students.
"We're are a small centre but with the small size of everything comes the real difference, which is that students are individually known to tutors and the support staff. Whenever we have visiting tutors come here, they always remark about the 'friendliness' of the groups they teach."
Two time ACCA Prize-winner Georgina Lemmon was full of praise for the tutor team, explaining "all of the tutors have an approachable attitude and they all seem down to earth and relatable with their subjects."
Both Tom Bulman, another tutor at the Norwich centre, and Belinda agree that the tutors take an exam-focused approach to teaching from the start. "We offer solid tuition" says Tom, "encouraging the students to start thinking towards their exams early and doing mocks, followed by lots of question practice in the revision phase."
"We ensure students know along the way how what they are learning could be examined and how it fits into the exam structure" adds Belinda. "During the tuition phase we concentrate on making sure that they grasp the basics, then on the revision phase we ensure that we expose students to exam-style questions and a lot of exam technique."
Kaplan Norwich runs AAT, ACCA and ICAEW courses, whilst the satellite centre in Ipswich offer AAT and ACCA courses. Both centres are located centrally, in close proximity to the rail stations and with good transport links.
"Students should choose Kaplan Norwich because of our excellent tutors, friendly classroom environment and our proven exam success record" says Tim. "We consistently have the best pass rates in the country across the board".
If you are based in the local area, find out more about Kaplan Norwich.