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Next stop Cambridge for pioneering boy from the East End
Tim Ross, Rashid Razaq and Miranda Bryant20.08.09
A-level students across London were celebrating their results today - or just the relief that the wait was over. And teenagers and their teachers said criticism of the exam system should not undermine their hard work and achievement.
Among those celebrating was a boy who grew up surrounded by knife crime and poverty in east London, but today won a place at Cambridge. George Weller, 18, is among the first to benefit from a partnership between Kingsford Community School in Beckton and £24,200 a-year Brighton College.
He is going to Emmanuel College to study natural sciences having achieved straight As in chemistry, biology, maths and further maths. George, from Plaistow, said: "You might think they might be stuck up or look down on you. But that changed when I went to visit the place. Everyone was really welcoming."
Brighton College head Richard Cairns said: "George has demonstrated the sky is the limit for every child in east London."
Students at St Francis Xavier in Clapham were jubilant as it remained top performing sixth form college in London with 22.6 per cent of its 450 pupils achieving A grades and 78.59 per cent getting As to Cs.
Maria Oreyelu, from New Cross, gained As in English, politics, sociology and history and a distinction for an advanced qualification in history. She will study politics and sociology at Warwick. For Ezme Bushell, from East Dulwich, As in English, drama and sociology won her a social anthropology place at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Gloria Ackah, from Streatham got straight As in maths, economics and sociology. She will study maths and economics at Royal Holloway College.
At private Eltham College there were record results with 70 per cent gaining A grades. Clare Palmer got straight As in chemistry, biology, history and drama and her place at St John's College, Oxford, to study experimental psychology has been confirmed. Sarah Martin - As in German, music and English - is off to Bristol University to study German and music
Reader views (1)
There's something wrong with the assumption that university is the only place for a bright young person to go, and equally that universities have a sort of droit de seigneur over the nation's brain power. Many young people want to start adult life, possibly get into business or join the services, rather than prolong adolescence at university. Education should be available at all stages of life, as and when we recognise the need.
We learned to accept over a generation that sorting sheep from goats at 11-plus was divisive and unfair; creating a sort of graduate brahmin class, based on status, is just as bad.Even the police offer accelerated promotion for graduates, which must be terrible for the morale of those who joined intending to rise by merit, rather than status.Our whole society has been distorted by the political pressure to create white-collar employment for a state-funded lumpen-graduate class, while we import useful skills from other countries. A lot of young people leave university and are still not adults, but expect good salaries by right: at last a reality-check is kicking in, but it's a harsh process for many who have been sold a false prospectus.
- Mdj E10, london uk
