Part 1: Luca Trevena – Finding His Voice Through Photography and Dance
This year, Aced Qualifications is proudly celebrating not one, not two, but three of our learners being shortlisted as finalists in the 2025 NCFE Aspiration Awards. Each learner represents the heart of what we stand for: flexible, supportive, and empowering education for those who learn outside of the mainstream. In this three-part blog series, we’ll be shining a spotlight on each of our incredible finalists. First up, meet Luca.
Luca Trevena has been named a finalist in the prestigious Learner of the Year category. Luca’s story is one of bravery, transformation, and extraordinary personal growth.
Luca left school at the end of Year 8 after experiencing severe bullying and struggling with academic pressure. His mother, Samantha Trevena, shares:
“At the end of Year 8 Luca left school after being bullied and struggling with his work at school. Things got so bad he spent most lunch times in a toilet cubicle alone and struggled with the work and felt so overwhelmed. Luca’s mental health deteriorated and he became so withdrawn and stressed. Luca was scared to tell anyone he loved to dance and always had to hide his true self and what he loved at school.”
Since leaving school, Luca has been diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, Anxiety and a Moderate Learning Disability. But with the right environment, his confidence has soared. Today, he dances over 20 hours a week, recently achieving his RAD Advanced Foundation Exam in Ballet—equivalent to 28 UCAS points—and has secured scholarships at both Rambert School and Central School of Ballet.
His love of photography also flourished through his studies with Aced Qualifications:
“Luca’s photography has been an outlet for his creativity and he loves to push and immerse himself in every module. He is so pleased to be working on something he enjoys so much and can see positive reward after many years of feeling that he can’t keep up with his peers academically. Photography is something I know that Luca will carry on with in the future. In his words, ‘dancers need another skill and I love this, it’s fun!!’”
We are beyond proud of Luca for using creativity as a platform to express his voice.
It’s amazing what you’re doing at ACED. There are so many sensitive, creative and highly talented young people out here who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to get recognition for their unique strengths and vision. Well done Luca! This is just the first step. x
Thank you for your kind words Io- we really believe that creative courses should be more accessible and learners should most certainly not be excluded from creative courses due to exams or ‘controlled assessments’! We think what all our learners are doing is what is really amazing! 🙂