Story: Ben Kirby
16 year-old Adeel Zaman of Page Hall is a very happy young man, having passed all ten of his GCSEs. When he moved from Fir Vale School to Firth Park School in the November of his final year, he found that he only had a short time to prepare for his GCSE exams.
“When I started my new school, I found out that I had to begin a different curriculum. It was really difficult. I had to change all my courses, except history.”
Because he had already achieved an A* in his history coursework at Fir Vale, it was decided that Adeel would continue with his original curriculum. However, Adeel had to work by himself.
“My teacher supported me, but the school only had limited resources to offer, because I was learning an entirely different course.” With other subjects Adeel was starting from scratch.
“On the first day of school I was fighting deadlines straight away; I had loads of coursework for each course because everyone else’s was done in Y10.”
Adeel puts his exam success down to his hard work, and the support of his family and school.
“My dedication and hard work paid off, but my family’s support was really
important too.
My dad made a schedule programme for every 7-8 weeks. The headteacher at school really motivated me; she wanted people to achieve – she was firm and fair.”
Adeel was so committed, he even missed the final of the Champions League because he was revising for his French exam the next day! Even so, the results still came as a great surprise to Adeel and his family, as his dad Malik explained;
“We feel he did exceptionally well. We were hoping for at least four GCSEs, and never thought he was heading for ten. To get what he got was incredible. The school was fantastic – we are really grateful. All credit to him – he balanced his studying with friends.”
Adeel is now working for Sheffield City Council in a permanent post, doing a Business Administration NVQ Level 3. He plans to go on to do a degree, and also progress his career in the Council. Malik, who has worked for the Council for 18 years, is proud Adeel is following in his footsteps.
“As parents we have done all we can to support him. As his dad I’m extremely proud of him.”