10th March 2016 – A Remarkable Result
We have some amazing news. It’s brilliant. Hoped for but completely unexpected. Enough suspense-building?
Two of the Year 6 boys that have been part of our Tuition Programme for the last 12 months have been offered places at prestigious independent schools in Croydon, passing the entrance exams with flying colours.
Ubaydullaah Ajanaku sat the entrance exams for Wallington County Grammar School (WCGS) (in October), Dulwich College and Whitgift School (in January). He has not only received an offer of a place at Whitgift, but it comes with a much sought after academic scholarship which, together with a bursary, means that his very proud parents will only have to cover a very small proportion of the £18,000+ annual fees. His parents are, of course, chuffed to bits and describe Ubaydullaah as “delighted and humbled”. I am sure that’s a bit of an understatement.
Christopher Opuku also sat exams for Riddlesdown Collegiate, WCGS, Whitgift and, in addition, Trinity. And he received offers of places at Riddlesdown, Whitgift and Trinity. The Riddlesdown offer was positive as it gave him a very good backstop for the other schools and when he, like Ubaydullaah, didn’t get to the required level for the ultra-competitive WCGS (about 2,500 sitting the exam for 135 places), he excelled in the exams for Whitgift and Trinty and received offers from both. However, initially neither came with the offer of scholarship (he did try for a music scholarship given his prowess on the piano) or bursary. The Headmaster at Trinity informed me that there was always a chance that a boy with a bursary ranked ahead of Christopher might not take up his place. This was indeed the case and we heard earlier this week that Christopher has now been offered a place with a bursary. The whole family is “over the moon”.
We haven’t had a chance to talk to either Christopher or Ubaydullaah yet but can imagine that they are walking around with big smiles. They can be very proud of themselves. The Foundation will continue to support the boys during their secondary education at these schools. We are offering the parents financial support of up to £1,500 per year each to help cover those extra costs they will be facing (residual fees, uniforms, lunches, equipment, music lessons, school trips etc etc). We hope that this will be an annual grant, but that will be dependent on raising the funding.
If you wish to help us support Christopher and Ubaydullaah to make sure they make the most of this amazing opportunity, please Support Us with a donation.
Well done Christopher and Ubaydullaah. We are immensely proud of you too.