Kensington Aldridge Academy students celebrating “weird” A-level success

By Julia Gregory, Local Democracy Reporter

“I think lockdown has taught us resilience as things did not go the way we were planning,” said A-level student  Vicky Germanidou, who is celebrating after winning a place to study chemistry at Oxford.

The student, who attends Kensington Aldridge Academy, in Silchester Road, Notting Hill, said she was disappointed that students did not sit the exams they were preparing for this year.

“The whole point is showing what you can do,” she said.

The 18-year-old was awarded three A*s in chemistry, maths and physics.

Like thousands of other students she was worried what that might mean.

“I had to keep on pushing and pushing to make sure my future was not affected by this,” she said.

And she recalled that home learning felt strange at first.

She said: “It was weird not to have your teacher right in front of you.”

She used FaceTime to keep in touch with friends.

And after formal A-level classes stopped in April, she went straight from being a student to a key worker at Sainsbury’s in Finchley.

She said: “It’s nice, it’s something I did not think I would be doing at this point.”

However her dreams of a gap year travelling the world are on hold for now, and she’ll be starting university life sooner than expected.

Things will be different with small tutorials as normal, but no lectures in large halls.

Instead students will get lectures online.

“I was worrying that I will be missing out, but everybody’s in the same boat and next year will be different,” she said.

And her trip to collect her exam results was the first time she has seen many of her friends.

“It’s quite crazy but we still have to keep social distancing,” she said

Fellow KAA pupil Ibrahim Kosso is delighted with his place to study philosophy, politics and economics at King’s College, London.

“I’m very happy, I got an unconditional offer. I was really anxious about getting into university.”

Ibrahim joined KAA two years ago after he realised he had picked the wrong subjects for him when he first started A-level courses.

He had thought engineering was for him, but a work experience course showed him the subjects he was following were not for him.

He said: “When I first came to KAA I told Mr Pavey (the sixth form vice-principal) I was a bit lost.

“I started the best two years of my life at KAA. It’s been brilliant.”.

He earned an A in politics, a B in history and a D in maths, and is looking forward to going to university.

He’s thinking about a career in academia.

He said: “I’m passionate about the economy and may want to do a lot about the economy.

“At the start it was very weird. There was a bit of confusion. You did not know how it would be marked.”

But he said things evolved and everyone got more used to home working and video calls with friends.

“Getting my results today has been the first time I’ve seen some of my friends. It’s been amazing,” he said.

Despite the uncertainty about results this year, most of his friends also got what they wanted.

“At times the uncertainty was so hard. Before the lockdown all you care about is exam time.”

But he said there was something to be said about a lack of exams, which was more relaxing.

Now he is looking forward to the next challenge at university.

Pictured top: Vicky Germanidou (pictures by Vashti Turner)