I chose College as I wanted to try something new. I realised I didn't really enjoy the structure of school and the lessons. When coming to College I have found that I can be much more independent, this is something that I didn't get when in school, which I felt would continue onto sixth form.
I found the Policing course when looking through the study guide. I’d often had the thought that I'd want to go into the police service in the back of my mind. Previously, I wanted to become a solicitor within the family sector so my grades were constantly being pushed towards Law, which is what I would have done at sixth form. Despite this, in the beginning of year 11 I decided that I would love to be a Police Officer and be able to actively support people.
Within this programme I have learnt lots of things. For example, in year one we studied equality, diversity and inclusion, this was easily my favourite subject to study as we touched on terrorism and the impacts on the victims of radicalisation and extremism. I found this to be very interesting as there were some amazing case studies that were accessible online. I really enjoyed reading these and seeing how the uniformed services and government deal with these scenarios. This year my favourite subject has been collaboration between the emergency services. This is because I feel as though my tutor, Darren, gave me a very difficult case study to use. I felt that this pushed me, and I learnt a lot about resilience and the use of confidence within this assignment. I completed this and received a Distinction overall which I was so proud of as I had really pushed myself to do it well.
My tutor is the best. He has supported me and my classmates immensely, so much so that I found myself wanting to apply to the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA). I felt this way because Darren allows us to believe in ourselves and he pushes us to do our absolute best in every single circumstance. He will never beat around the bush and will tell you where you went wrong but he will always show us a way to build on it. He is so positive, and I find that extremely beneficial because I am quite a negative person. The 'you can do it' attitude makes me believe I can succeed in whatever I put my mind to.
I wanted to join the police because I already had a desire to work within the law. I was worried that I might not get the grades to become a solicitor and also that I wouldn’t be as actively engaged with the community in that role. Growing up, I felt that being a police officer was a stereotypically man's job, however when discussing this with my parents in year 10 and 11 I realised that I wanted to be a form of representation for young girls and women – I wanted them to think, “if she can do it, so can I!” I feel like the power of representation is so important because it can make people have that ambition and something to work towards.
Joining the police is a very long process, I applied in February and I haven't heard about my start date just yet. The first stage is to send in my application and cover letter and really sell myself to the people who would be viewing them - with emphasis on the cover letter. The letter is your opportunity to show your interviewer how much you know about them, and what they should know of you. The second stage was the online application where you will be recording yourself answering questions to do with the police competencies which I found slightly difficult as I was talking to myself on the screen. Thirdly, I had to go into the senior interview where I discussed 3 things that I had dealt with regarding the competencies and 3 things that I would do in the future regarding the competencies. The most recent stage I’ve completed is the fitness and biometric test which goes hand in hand with the vetting submission. Within the fitness test we had to do the 15m bleep test and achieve a 5.4 score.
I managed to pass all but one of the stages so far - I am still waiting to hear back about vetting, but without Darren’s support and optimism for myself and fellow students we would not be in the position we are in now with a potential job in the police at 18 years old.
College has better prepared me for the outside world. Having been in school previously and now in college the difference between them is independence. I believe that College has made me become my own person with my own views with many strengths I did not have before - though I am still working on some, I do believe that I am a better person now than I was previously.
I wanted to quit college at the start because I did not want to commit to the work and I had become lazy, even in my workplace, but since seeing it through I have grown massively in resilience and gained a sense of independence in myself when at College and work.
If you’re thinking about applying to College, DO IT! College hasn't been easy, and it was massively out of my comfort zone - I'm somebody who likes things to remain the same and I'm not too keen on change, but this has altered my perception of change, and it has made it so much easier. I believe that this was the first hurdle of being able to get towards my goal. I was a very quiet person in the first year at the beginning but I have been able to grow out of that and I am now the first person to volunteer within the class. Just recently in the Crime Scene Investigation Unit, Darren needed a person to pretend they were the victim of a murder, so I was therefore “killed” for the task, everybody came in groups and was analysing me and the scene. I would hide if anybody even glanced at me previously! This has had such an impact on my mental health, I feel so much more confident and happy knowing I'm surrounded by people who are there for me and there to support me. I am on a programme with people who have the same end-goal as me, so it was so much easier to socialise with them because we all had the same interests. You can do it. I would say to use your fear and anxiety and turn them into something amazing towards your dream, just like myself and others on the course.
