AN ESSEX firefighter was able to qualify after receiving help from the Colchester Institute so he could achieve a GCSE pass in maths.

Ryan Murray, from Grays Fire Station, did not have the grades to become a wholetime firefighter. 

A determined Mr Murray signed up with Colchester Institute so he could get a C in Maths.

Mr Murray said there was a lot of work to do on the maths course, but the homework was not “scary” instead being about one or two pages each week.

He said his biggest challenge was fitting in the course with collecting his son from school but after telling the Colchester Institute about this they moved his class an hour forward.  

Mr Murray added: “I was a little bit worried coming up to my exam day that I’d forget everything that I learned.

“So, I requested a two-day crash course, and my tutor kindly arranged for me to have this so that all the stuff I learned was fresh in my head, ready for the exam.”

Mr Murray said anyone who wants to become a wholetime firefighter should not be put off by not having the qualifications.

He added: “It’s a short amount of time, and it’s not as hard as you think it’s going to be - it’s really accommodating to your needs.

“Times have changed and it’s not like the lessons you remember at school. And even if you’ve just come out of school, the classes are really tailored to your learning style.”

Firefighters need a good level of maths to understand heights and angles for pitching ladders, for calculating the amount of time they can wear breathing apparatus sets for and for working out how much water they have at an incident. 

Whole time firefighters need a C/4 pass in GCSE maths or have attended functional skills (Level 2) in maths and English as well as a full manual UK driving license.

Visit here to find out more: https://www.colchester.ac.uk/course/functional-skills-english-mathematics/.