Jonathan landed work experience there after writing to one of his favourite sports writers on the paper.

The Reading University graduate has just passed his first set of exams at Up To Speed, which is based at the Daily Echo in Bournemouth.

There are still some places remaining on Up To Speed’s next fast-track course in Sports Journalism, which starts on September 24th.

The Sports journalism course at Up To Speed is taught by Rick Broadbent, Athletics Correspondent of The Times.

The  Up To Speed course is based at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

Use the “week” tab and move forward to September 25th for full details.

Liz Wainwright and Debbie Yawetz were on different fast-track courses at our training centre in Bournemouth, but got together to stage the show at Calumet Photographic in Euston.

There is an open evening on Thursday, May 3rd which is an ideal opportunity to pop in and see the work of two talented young photographers.

You can read full details here.

The calendar for the NCTJ News Reporter course at Up To Speed is online now. There are limited spaces remaining on this accredited journalism course, which starts in Bournemouth on September 24th 2012.

The  Up To Speed course is based at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

Use the “week” tab and move forward to September 24th for full details.

The calendar for the NCTJ Magazine Journalism course at Up To Speed is online now. There are limited spaces remaining on this accredited journalism course, which starts in Bournemouth on September 24th 2012.

The  Up To Speed course is based at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

Use the “week” tab and move forward to September 24th for full details.

The calendar for the NCTJ Sports Journalism course at Up To Speed is online now. There are limited spaces remaining on this accredited journalism course, which starts in Bournemouth on September 24th 2012.

The course is taught by Rick Broadbent, Athletics Correspondent for The Times.

Use the “week” tab and move forward to September 24th for full details.

If not, then you may have been taking time to wonder if the Education Secretary’s letter calling for A-Levels to be toughened up is on the right track.

Should Michael Gove encourage us to go back to the days when everything hinged on a fortnight of revision after two years of study?

Should top universities have more of a say in the exams to bolster their academic rigour and encourage a greater capacity for original and critical thinking?

A vigorous debate tackling these questions, and others, on BBC2’s Newsnight on Monday night was chaired, appropriately, by the University Challenge host Jeremy Paxman.

The general consensus appeared to be that creating young people who are fully prepared for the intellectual challenge of university is fundamental to Britain’s future prosperity and success.

And yet we all know someone who scraped through school, and sometimes university, only to prosper and succeed in the ‘real world’.

There were two excellent examples on television earlier that evening. In Modern Spies on BBC2 Peter Taylor revealed that both the CIA and the Secret Intelligence Service have worked out that setting an Ivy League preppy or an Oxbridge aesthete on the trail of a home-grown jihadi from Washington or Walthamstow may not lead to excellence in espionage. The programme included interview clips with home-grown spies who probably didn’t get straight As in their A-Levels.

But the best reflection on grades and education came from the subject of Channel 4’s Damien Hirst: The First Look.
The programme replayed the controversial artist’s acceptance speech after collecting the 1995 Turner Prize.

‘It’s amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw.’

Up To Speed student Liz Wainwright is planning to use the skills she has honed on her NCTJ Photojournalism course in a new role with a charity.

Liz will use her web, writing, photography and video skills in her new job with Community Health Global Network.

CHGN provides links, support and training for community-based health programmes all over the world.

Liz has just completed the NCTJ Fast-Track in Photojournalism at Up To Speed and passed exams in News Writing, Media Law, General Photographic Knowledge and Photographic Practice.

In her second term at Up To Speed, which is based at the Bournemouth Daily Echo, Liz spent time with Rockhopper Television, a documentary production company, and with viral video producer Adelia TV.

Liz has an MSc in International Development and she has previously worked for a charity in Zambia and as deputy editor of an environment magazine.

The next NCTJ Photojournalism Fast-Track course at Up To Speed starts in September, 2012.

Dom has been doing regular freelance shifts after impressing the sports desk during a work placement.

Dom joined Up To Speed in January, 2011, and took our fast-track NCTJ course in Sports Journalism based at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

He passed with flying colours including the 100wpm shorthand exam and now regularly writes pieces about premiership football.

The decision to abandon an offer to study politics at university and take an NCTJ Diploma course has allowed Dom to take the fast-track to his dream job.

He has worked in both news and sports since passing his diploma.

Dom said:  ”I will never forget Up To Speed as being where I truly knew I had chosen the right career.”

So, she put the time to good use and produced a short stop motion clip to mark the moment.