2022 Post-16 Exams Top Performers

Case Study: Graziele P

Graziele started her secondary education at Capital City Academy in Year 8 having moved to the UK from Brazil. She enjoyed her time at Capital and decided to continue her journey into Sixth Form due to the relationships she had built with her teachers who were always really supportive and willing to help, even during their lunch breaks.

Graziele has just received her A-level results achieving fantastic grades – A in Chemistry, A in Maths and A* in Biology. She is delighted to accept her place at Imperial College to study Medicine.

Reflecting on her achievements, Grazielle says “I’m really happy, I was waking up several times in the middle of the night, and just praying that everything would be okay. I’m so relieved!”

Case Study: Mohammed A

Mohammed joined Capital at the end of Year 7 having moved to England from Syria. He spoke no English on arrival which he remembers being a significant barrier to learning, making friends and most other things. He recalls being embarrassed to try to speak English at first in case he got it wrong. Thankfully he had the support of “mentors and lots of teachers who were willing to help. Whenever I needed anything, I could go to a teacher and ask them, they were very helpful.”

Mohammed also had support from Salusbury World and the EAL department as part of a club for refugees. “We were able to take part in a lot of performances to build up our confidence including one at the Royal Albert Hall where each of us read a poem we wrote about our own country. It was a brilliant experience and I even got interviewed by the BBC which made me feel famous!”

Mohammed has just received his Applied Science grades and has achieved great results – Distinction* Distinction* Distinction. “I am very happy with the results I got. I’m excited to go to uni and start a new experience. I will be going to Queen Mary to study Aerospace Engineering. I hope to be in the aviation field one day, to be a commercial pilot flying 737s, 747s and A380s!”

Reflecting on his time at Capital his favourite things were, “making friendships, the amount of diversity in the school and how much you learn. In these 7 years, I learned so much.”

Case Study: Oskarius S

Oskarius joined Capital in Year 12 for Sixth Form as part of the Basketball Academy after hearing lots of positive things about the program, development and sports facilities. He felt it was a good way to be supported to excel and show what he could really do.

Originally from Lithuania, Oskarius came to the UK when he was 7 with no English. It was definitely an extra hurdle to face especially as his parents spoke no English either. In addition, getting a good balance between basketball and education was a challenge. 

Oskarius has just received his much-anticipated results achieving – Triple Distinction in Sport. He is looking forward to the next, very exciting, chapter playing professional basketball in Italy. He also secured four unconditional offers to university but decided the time was right to pursue his dream.

Oskarius' highlights of Sixth Form were being able to enjoy a balance between training and studies, as well as the atmosphere and teachers!

Case Study: Selma A

Selma started her journey at Capital City Academy in Year 7 from Brentfield Primary School, following in her brothers’ footsteps. She enjoyed taking part in essay competitions and clubs to do with politics and charity work. Selma decided to stay on for Sixth Form due to really liking her teachers. This was important to her as she suffers from extreme anxiety which has previously affected her a lot. Despite this challenge, Selma has excelled having just received a brilliant set of A-level results: A in English Language & Literature, A in History and B in Art.

She has accepted a place at SOAS to study Language, Culture and Arabic which will involve learning two languages, Arabic and Indonesian. Selma hoped to go into academia and become a professor!

Case Study: Yash J

Yash moved to England from India joining Capital City Academy at the start of Year 10. He spoke no English which meant starting during his first year of GCSEs was very challenging. He remembers having to memorise a lot of things to get by and was thankful for the students and teachers who supported him. Sadly, in 2020 when Yash was doing his GCSEs, his mum passed away. This was an extremely difficult moment in his life with him having to return to India half-way through the year.

Despite these huge challenges, Yash continued on to study A-Levels at Sixth Form and has just received an impressive set of results – A in Biology, B in Chemistry and B in Maths. He plans to take a gap year now, working part time and having some time out. After that Yash wants to apply to study Medicine in the hope to become a general hospital surgeon one day.

Reflecting on his time in Sixth Form, Yash says “My main highlight was being awarded ‘Student of the Year’; it was a proud moment. I also found the other students and facilities great, and the teachers are really nice.”