Ahmed is 15 and sitting his GCSEs in June. He is really bright, and his teachers believe he has the talent to get the grades needed to go on to study biology, chemistry and psychology at A-level. His GCSEs are the first step to achieving his dream of going on to study medicine and ultimately becoming a doctor.
If Ahmed succeeds in getting into university, he will be the first in his family to do so.
Since he was 14 he has been receiving extra support from The Access Project, our charity that’s working in partnership with his school. A key part of the programme is a one-to-one tuition session, once a week, with a volunteer tutor.
“My Mum and Dad are really keen I do well and encourage me all they can, but they can’t help me with studying so I’m really grateful to my tutor Oscar for his support.
I chose to study biology because of my interest in the human body and how it works and how we can prevent and cure diseases. The amount to learn in biology and medicine is endless, you can keep on studying and never finish – I think this makes biology a really good subject to study.
When I was first paired with Oscar I wasn’t really sure what to expect. When I first arrived at his office I was blown away, computers everywhere, pictures of future building plans on every wall and the sheer magnificence and structure of the building was unimaginable.
My favourite tutorial so far was on digestion because it’s really cool and fun to learn about stomachs and intestines and about enzymes and specialised cells.
Oscar has really made a difference to me because awkwardly, he lets me ask lots and lots of questions without me looking stupid and the way he explains the content makes me understand it instantly. Thanks to him wanting to teach me I got an A* in my end of year examinations. He is really inspiring and shows me that with hard work you can achieve anything.
I will always be glad that Oscar gave up his time to help me and I thank him very much.”