Christopher Hopkins, a second year Wyke A level student studying Accounting, Law and Applied ICT, has won a regional scholarship with Kaplan Financial’s Accountancy Scheme.

Kaplan Financial is the UK’s leading provider of accountancy and financial training. It is worth £15000 to him and they will pay for all of his accounting training. Christopher and his family have been invited to Birmingham in July for a national awards ceremony and regionally he will attend an awards presentation to be held at Wyke in May. It is an extremely prestigious award as there are only 16 offered nationally.

Chris said, ‘I’d decided that I’d rather get straight into Accountancy practice rather than going to university and this has given me the perfect opportunity to do that.’

Dr Richard Smith, Principal at Wyke Sixth Form College, said, ‘We are proud of what Chris has achieved. He is a dedicated and talented student who deserves his place on this programme. It is a wonderful opportunity for him and he has grasped it with a full understanding of how significant it is. He had just one chance to impress and he took it because he is impressive.’

Christopher was interviewed by a panel of employers, including Dutton Moore, Smailes Goldie and Ideal Standard. They quizzed him on his financial and accounting knowledge as well as the reasons why he felt he should win the scholarship. The panel were so impressed with him that he has already received potential job offers from more than one of them!