ONE of the best A-Level results in East London has been the huge Tower Hamlets College in Poplar. The campus with its 2,000 sixthformers had 96 per cent overall passes with 57 per cent getting A to C grades. We look at what’s in store for six bright sparks after they opened their envelopes on Thursday—and still want to hear from others
By Gemma Collins
TEARS of joy and relief came from school-leavers in East London as A-level results came out on August 14.
They were queuing outside Tower Hamlets College in Poplar from 9am for the doors to open. Some were even awake at 6am to see a few of the results online.
Screams of joy could be heard when the results were given out at 10am as envelopes were ripped open.
Tower Hamlets College, the East End’s biggest sixthform campus, scored 96 per cent overall passes with 57 per cent getting A to C grades, a seven per cent increase on last year.
It also set a new record with 88 students being high-achievers, scoring 250 or more on their UCAS points. They notched up an impressive 100 per cent in 18 subjects.
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PANAMA AND LOTHIFA—TWO PEAS IN A POD
INSEPERABLE best friends Panama Jahm and Lothifa Khanom are both going on to study law at the same university after receiving exactly the same grades.
They have been close friends since primary school and studied the same GCSEs at St Paul’s Way Secondary in Bow Common, receiving the same grades, and both went on to study A-levels at Tower Hamlets College.
Panama, an 18-year-old from Bow, received As in English and Law and a B in Maths.
Her pal Lothifa, also 18, from Plaistow, also received As in English and Law and a B in Psychology.
The results have won them both places at University of London’s Queen Mary college in Mile End to study Law.
It is no surprise, then, that both want to be solicitors.
They were the only two students at Tower Hamlets college awarded a £6,000 bursary from Allen & Overy law firm in Spitalfields, which will help pay for their three-year course as well as provide two weeks’ work experience.
Panama admits: “I was so nervous about getting the results.
“This is just an amazing coincidence. Nobody believes us because they says we are joint at the hip and do everything together.
“But we tried so many times to separate and fate keeps pushing us back together.
“Now we’ll have each other at university. We will still mix with others, but it will be good to have a friendly face.”
A smiling Lothifa agreed about the fete. She added: “It is funny we both got a bursary when there were only two places available.
“We think alike. It is freaky.”
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IFTIKHAR SHOWS HE HAS GIFT OF THE GAB’
SCHOOL-leaver Iftikhar Ali, who has addressed the European Youth Parliament, celebrates A level success with three As in Maths, Economics and Law and a B in Government & Politics.
Now he plans to go to the School of Oriental & African Studies to read Economics, the first of his family to go to university.
The 18-year-old George Green Secondary pupil recently addressed 200 members of the European Youth Parliament at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about ways the EU could promote transport which does not harm the environment.
“I was also teaching A levels at George Green school,” he said. “I assisted students who needed a little extra help.
“But I’m relieved it’s all over and I’ve got the grades I need.”
He is currently in an internship at the Royal Bank of Canada and hopes to work in banking on the foreign exchange markets.
His sister Farzana, 16, who also goes to George Green Secondary at Cubitt Town, on the Isle of Dogs, plans to be one of the school’s first to study for the International Baccalaureate.
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WANNABE LAWYER MUSLEH OFF TO CAMBRIDGE
WANNABE lawyer Musleh Uddin was among the ecstatic students with his straight As, getting him a place at Cambridge University.
The 18-year-old received the top grade in English, Law and Government & Politics.
Now he is off to study Law at Cambridge, to follow his dream of becoming a solicitor.
Musleh, who came to the college two years ago with 10As and four A*s under his belt, even has a Simmons & Simmons law bursary to aid him through university.
But he is taking a year off before the big move to earn some money teaching English as a foreign language in Turkey for eight weeks.
Musleh, from Upton Park, said: “I was so relieved when I opened the envelope. I had been so nervous about it.
“I had never thought about applying to Cambridge until last year, when my teacher suggested it.
“The workload was quite immense. But it paid off.
“A-levels are definitely not getting easier. I just think people are getting better grades because resources are better.”
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’I JUST WANTED TO WATCH EURO 2008 ON TV’
BURSERY winner Sarwar Zaman received three As which won him a place at UCL to study Law.
But the 18-year-old admitted he was temped spend his time in front of the TV.
“It was hard work trying to revise every day in the past two years,” he recalls.
“I just wanted to watch the Euro 2008 games.
“But studying instead was worth every minute.”
Sarwar got stuck into Government & Politics, Sociology and Law.
It paid off. He has won a Simmons & Simmons law bursary to help with fees and give him a taste of the working world with a two-week vocation scheme.
His family had a lot to be happy about after his twin, Kawsar, also a Law wannabe who was a student at City & Islington College, received two As and a B.
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SHUHENA TURNS HER LIFE AROUND
Shuhena Bhanu enrolled at Tower Hamlets College in 2006 from a pupil referral unit.
She decided to turn her life around and make an effort.
On Thursday she was over the moon. Her efforts paid off. She was thrilled with her two As and a B.
“I can’t believe my results were this good,” she said.
“I narrowly missed having all A’s, but am still happy. It’s better than expected.”
The grades have won her a place to study Law at the School of Oriental & African Studies. That’s something she couldn’t have dreamed of just two years ago.
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