An ambitious optician has her sight set on developing a career after picking up two awards for her performance in exams.

Fay Rice, who works in the family-owned opticians Jason Rice I-Care in Nuneaton and Radford, has spent the last three years completing a distance learning course for the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO).

She said: "It has been really hard work but very enjoyable. I am relieved to have completed the course.

"On top of it all I have been awarded the Carl Zeiss prize for Best Correspondence Course Student, and the ABDO prize for the Best Mark in the Combined Final Qualifying Exam.

"It is a great honour to be recognised in this way."

Fay added: "Now that I am qualified I am registered with the General Optician Council and allowed to dispense to children and low vision patients unsupervised."

She now has a Level Six Diploma which has taken 32 weekly assignments and two lots of block release, each consisting of two weeks duration, for every academic year. This work was followed by end of year exams with the finals being sat at Birmingham's Aston University.

Finals consisted of theory papers in subjects such as advanced ophthalmic lenses and dispensing; theory and management of refractive errors, in which Fay was marked at 97.3%; contact lenses; low vision and professional conduct.

There were also oral exams in prescription analysis; abnormal ocular conditions; communication; practical dispensing and order writing - single vision, bifocals and progressive lenses and frame repairs.


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