Josh is one of our volunteer tutors – and has been tutoring in Physics for almost three years. As a clinical scientist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust his knowledge and expertise has been enormously useful to the young people he tutors – including his current tutee Kieran.
Paying it back
Josh went to a state comprehensive school. “My teacher gave me tutorials in my lunch hour,” he explained. Josh got into Oxford University – and studied Physics at The Queen’s College, one of our newest partners.
Part of his reason for signing up to tutor with The Access Project was to “pay it back.” “I want other people to have the same opportunities I had,” he told us. “I strongly believe in equality of opportunity – we need more people from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into higher positions, into decision making. They should have those opportunities as much as somebody who went to Eton.”
One of the things that Josh noticed when he went to Oxford was how much support young people at private schools get to help them get into top universities. “It would be good for all schools to have that help,” he said.
Josh’s tutoring journey
Josh is currently tutoring Kieran – who is in Year 12 – in Physics. “He’s very bright and a quick learner. He wants to study Computer Science and is interested in applying to Oxford. When he found out I went there he asked me about it and I’ve encouraged him.”
Josh didn’t have any teaching or tutoring experience but has found tutoring a “very enjoyable” experience. “It’s not a huge time commitment. It’s easy to fit into your week now it’s online and it’s a charity doing really good work.”
Our partnership with The Queen’s College
Josh is an alum of The Queen’s College – who are one of our newest university partners. Through this partnership we will be extending into four new schools in Cumbria and Lancashire from September 2022.
When we spoke to Josh about this partnership he said that he felt this was “really positive – and sounds like a positive opportunity.”