Name: Pedro
Secondary school: Cotham School
University destination+ subject studied: Imperial College, Biotechnology and Computer Science PhD
Walking into the main hall for the first assembly.
Leading our team to victory in the regional Science Olympiad in Year 12. We’d worked for months on our project about renewable energy and winning felt incredible.
The rigid class scheduling system. It was sometimes difficult to take certain subject combinations because of timetable clashes, which limited some students’ choices.
The school provided practice papers which were helpful but I didn’t have much help apart from that.
It was ok, I could ask teachers questions but I was mostly left to my own devices.
No, it was a secular grammar school.
Starting the Coding Club in Year 11. We grew from 5 members to over 30, and even developed a simple app for the school’s sports teams to coordinate practice sessions.
There was no emphasis.
Yes, I volunteered as a mentor for current sixth form students interested in STEM subjects.
Once in Year 9 for forgetting my homework three times in one term. Had to spend an hour after school organizing the physics lab equipment.
Pastoral support options: Very comprehensive. We had:
• Form tutors who we saw monthly
• A dedicated school counsellor available three days per week
Fish because they emphasised being resilient to changing tides of life.