George Mitchell School Times NADIA’s BIG AMBITION Teenager wins top scholarship
EXAM RESULTS SPECIAL
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School celebrates success stories INSIDE
We’re one of the best – and still driving forward THE school is confident our GCSE results will once again put us in the top 200 schools nationally. Our Progress 8 predictions are comparable to last year’s results, where students scored on average half a grade higher than expected. Progress 8 measures pupils’ progress from when they begin school in Year 7 to when they leave after their GCSEs. In this year’s new-look exams, nearly 60% of pupils attained grades 4 and higher – the equivalent of A*-C – across English and maths, and more impressively, 42% achieved a Grade 5 or higher (equivalent to a B grade or higher). The figures suggest the school would maintain its position as one of the top 200 in the country and be among the best performing
in Waltham Forest. A fifth of grades were either A* or A grades while there were also very strong results in history, geography and RE. The star performer, with eight A*, one A and a B, was Nadia Hassan, who will go on to Marlborough College, whose alumni include the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and Samantha Cameron, wife of former Prime Minister David Cameron. This year’s GCSE students were the first to experience the new grading system in English language, English literature and maths, where instead of receiving the traditional A-E grades, they were marked from 1-9 with 9 being the highest score. The new marking system will be phased in for all subjects over the next two years.
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Headteacher Saeed Hussain said: “This has been yet another hugely successful year for pupils at George Mitchell. The progress made by pupils at this school is comparable to some of the best schools in the country. “Based on this year’s figures, we will be once again be among the very best schools in the country and in Waltham Forest. “Particularly pleasing is the amount of A*/A grades. These are the kinds of results that can make a life-changing difference in the lives of young people. “We are making rapid progress every single year but we know our job is not done. We will start all over again in September, aiming for even better grades and even more success for our pupils.”
Ambitious Nadia ready to take the next step Nadia’s top tips
Student wins a scholarship to prestigious Marlborough SMART Nadia Hassan is heading to the Duchess of Cambridge’s old school after achieving excellent results in her GCSEs. Nadia confirmed her place on a £35,000-a-year scholarship at Marlborough College after receiving eight A* grades and one A in her exams. The 16-year-old said that she was “relatively happy” with her results but “delighted” to be attending such a prestigious school. She said: “I’m really excited to be going to a school which has such an impressive history. “It’s an amazing place. It was quite intimidating going there for the first time, it was all a bit overwhelming but after the second time I visited I was more relaxed. “I was talking to other students there on an open day and they had all done Duke of Edinburgh awards and things and I hadn’t, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to get in, but thankfully I did. “The second time I went, I met one of the people who had interviewed me and they said they had put in a good word for me, so that was really nice. “They seem like nice people there and I’m sure I’ll settle in to the ways of a boarding school.” Nadia cites her mother Kaltun Bulbul, 46, as the inspiration for her impressive results. She said: “It has all been down to very hard
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work – something my mother instilled in me from a very young age. “She made sure I tried hard at school and she always said that how important education is. I had a tutor from Year 6 for maths because she thought it was important I did well in that subject. “My family always had belief in me and thought I would do well, so this just shows what hard work can do.” Nadia has high hopes for the future after her time at Marlborough. “I really like the idea of working in the intelligence services, somewhere like MI6. That would be amazing. I would really like to study in America. “Everyone talks about how incredible the Ivy League schools are so it would be great to get into one of those.” Headteacher Saeed Hussain said: “There could not be a more deserving pupil of this opportunity than Nadia. “She is without doubt one of the most outstanding students I have had the pleasure of teaching. “Nadia will experience and attend the same sixth form as royalty and the wife of a prime minister, thanks to her commitment, talent and dedication but also because she attended a school that believes that all children should have access to life-changing opportunities.”
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Nadia has very kindly revealed her top five tips for outstanding success in GCSE exams. 1. Create a Revision Timetable: It’s very important so that you have a structured routine. You should do this from the start of Year 10. Adapt it, change it, have a Week A and B – just tailor it to suit your needs. 2. Understand the way you that you learn: Are you a visual learner, a kinaesthetic learner or an auditory learner? In doing so, you’ll be able to find out what revision techniques work for you. 3. Know the GCSE you are taking: Read the specifications and exam reports. Your teachers can do their best but they may miss parts out or not cover them thoroughly enough. By knowing your specification you can go over it yourself and stretch your knowledge. 4. Practice, practice, practice: Try out past exam papers or sample papers. If you cannot access these, ask your teachers to make similar questions for you, so you are used to the exam layout and have some familiarity prior to mocks and exam season. 5. Have study breaks: A healthy body equals a healthy mind and a healthy mind takes care of business. Whether it be while you’re studying or on a day off, your brain and your body needs rest to take in what you have learnt. Eating well and sleeping well will help you study well.
Alongside another fantastic year for results at George Mitchell School there were some truly outstanding performances from our GCSE students. Here two of our best-performing students tells us about their time at the school, how they achieved such great results and their plans for the future…
Looking ahead after achieving strong results
Shirley’s praise for teaching support
Bright future for delighted Rithusa
HAPPY Shirley Man says support from teachers help her overcome “difficult” new GCSE exams. Shirley scored top marks, including a remarkable seven A* grades and will now attend the Six21 College in Stratford to study A Levels. She said: “I feel like I could have done better in music but overall I’m really happy. I feel like the exams were difficult this year compared to the past papers we did.” “The school ran lots of revision sessions and interventions to make sure we were able to cope with the new exams. It is their help that made the difference.”
STUDENT Rithusa Rathiyakumar said she was “over the moon” at her success after surpassing expectations in her exams. Rithusa narrowly missed on a perfect score card of straight As and will now study A Levels at Harris Westminster sixth form. On the new exams, she said: “It’s a new way of setting people apart, so it has its advantages. Personally, I did better than expected so I’m over the moon. “It now means I can study the A Levels I want to study and move forward with my education. It has been a good year.”
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We’ll still push for greater success Headteacher Saeed Hussain reflects on the school’s exam results... As we welcome students back to George Mitchell for a new term, there is a very strong feeling of positivity around the school. It looks likely that our progress measure (P8) will see the school being ranked among the best performing in the country and in the borough of Waltham Forest. We know our students can improve and this year we will be pushing our students very hard for even further success this coming year. There are a number of pleasing performances from students this year. Perhaps the most significant, however, is that of Nadia Hassan. Alongside fellow student Martin Woodrow, Nadia has become our first cohort of students to win places in prestigious schools through the school’s scholarship programme. She will be joining Marlborough College where she will follow in the footsteps of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and Samantha Cameron, the wife of former Prime Minister David Cameron. Education, as it is in many parts of this country, is of the upmost importance to the young people we teach. It can be the starting point to a very different life trajectory. The world opens up to them in a way it never could have without the right kind of education. Last year we ranked in the top 200 schools nationally. This year we have improved and next year we will do even better. Our students will be returning one day as lawyers, doctors, politicians and business leaders. They will be in a position to make a significant contribution not just to society but to their own community.
OUR Year 7 students model the new blazer and tie school uniform.
Top scholarship will help Martin follow his dream BRIGHT Martin Woodrow has scored top marks in his GCSE exams to secure his place on a scholarship at University College School in Hampstead, north London. Martin, 16, achieved a very impressive three A* and six As and will now take his place at the £16,000-a-year independent school’s sixth form. Martin also had to sit an entrance exam and get through two interviews before winning his place at the prestigious school, which boasts athlete Roger Bannister – who ran the first four-minute mile – comedian Hugh Dennis and writer Will Self among its alumni. He said: “I’m really pleased at the results. I feel very blessed and very grateful to have done so well. “It is a big relief for me because I finally learned to revise for exams. I was worried but the support I have received from the school has been amazing.” At UCS he will study A Levels in physics, computer science and chemistry and has set his sights on a place at either Oxford or Cambridge. He hopes to study for a computer science degree that will improve his chance of getting his dream job at NASA. He said: “I was really pleased to get in. There are some good sixth forms around here but this place is on a whole different level. “Although Hampstead is only a couple of
Moment of truth: Martin reads his exams results with Headteacher Saeed Hussain miles away, it is a million miles from Leyton in terms of its affluence. “I visited the school before I was accepted and I was really impressed.” On his NASA dream, he said: “This is a big dream for me. I would love to work at NASA. “I have been interested in computers from a
very young age so it would be a big dream to work somewhere like that, doing what I have always loved.” Headteacher Saeed Hussain said: “The opportunities afforded to pupils like Martin by attending these very prestigious schools will make a huge difference to their life chances.”
Ahmet Lushi (left) scored one A* and eight A grades in his exams while Hanzalah Kayat achieved six As, two Bs and a C.
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