The Adult Learning Awards are the Mayor of London’s annual flagship skills event, raising awareness of the transformational impact of adult learning, from the Londoners who have achieved great things, to the colleges and providers delivering high-quality opportunities, the community organisations supporting Londoners to take their next step, and the employers offering good work.

This award celebrates another amazing year for WAES with over 7,000 learners inspired by our motivational staff to achieving their learning goals through qualifications, apprenticeships and extensive community-based provision, across a wide-ranging and responsive curriculum offer.

Successes remarked upon in the nomination include the pioneering Green Live Learning Lab, working with Westminster City Council to engage local families with local low-carbon and retrofit regeneration and foster aspiration towards careers in the green economy, helping lead on net zero targets for Westminster and Greater London.

In addition, the pivot to deliver higher-level digital skills needed by London’s tech sector secured WAES’s hosting of the Westminster Digital Hub under the Mayor’s Skills Academies Programme, receiving its Quality Mark for Digital and training learners in cyber security, cloud computing, software development, full-stack web development, and more recently digital marketing.

Our learners are truly inspirational individuals often juggling their own challenges. At WAES they learn life and study skills that give them the confidence to thrive as lifelong learners whether starting, developing or changing careers. The learner representative system shapes our curriculum offer and affords learners the opportunity to undertake various roles to support their development beyond the classroom. As a result, learners are highly motivated to learn and progress, with a high achievement rate of 93%.

Arinola Edeh CBE, Principal at WAES said: “I am absolutely thrilled that we have been awarded the prestigious Distinguished Provider of Adult Education title at the Mayor of London Adult Learning Awards. It is a testament to our teams’ unwavering commitment to delivering a top-tier learning experience for all our learners. It celebrates our collaborative partnerships and the extraordinary dedication of our diverse learners, who consistently bring immense value to WAES.”

You can view the full list of winners as well as a livestream of the awards ceremony on the Mayor of London Adult Learning Awards website. You can also view the livestream of the awards ceremony below, with the WAES award at 44:52.