Student from Lebanon excels in English

A 16-year-old, whose first language is Arabic, received a top mark Grade 9 in English Literature less than a year after moving to the North East from Lebanon. 

Yara Abou El Kheir – a student at Cramlington Learning Village (CLV) – also achieved Grade 7 GCSEs in English Language and History, but despite her success in the Arts she plans to study Biology, Chemistry and Psychology at the school’s Sixth Form in order to pursue her ambition to study medicine.

That will see her follow in her dad’s footsteps who works at Cramlington Hospital.  “We came here to earn a good and safe future for my kids,” said Fadi Abou El Kheir, who also has two younger sons.  One is already a student at CLV and the other starts in September.

Their sister said: “At first it was a bit hard.  Back in my old school I would speak Arabic all the time apart from English lessons. Now I just speak English everywhere.  I adapted to it quite quickly and I’m so happy to be here.”

Megan Tait, who achieved eight Grade 9s, said:  “I expected one or two nines but I had fully convinced myself I was getting mostly sevens or eights.”  Megan is also staying on at the school, taking A Levels in in Geography, History and Sociology and hopes to become a human rights lawyer.

In the Sixth Form Alfie Rutherford will study A Level Biology, Chemistry and Maths and hopes to become a dentist.  He received three 9s, five 8s and one 7 in his GCSEs.  “I was quite nervous.  I didn’t think I would do as well,” he said.

As well as his academic achievements, Alfie is also a good footballer and hopes to break into Morpeth Town’s first team in the not too distant future. 

Co-Headteachers, Kim Irving and Jon Bird said: “The staff at our school are really proud of the hard work students have put in to achieve what are some fantastic results. A significant majority of our students can now progress to the next stage of their education and training. We wish them well for the future.”

The school’s successful GCSE results follow an excellent set of A Level grades which saw 80 students accepted by their first choice university with another 20 about to start Degree Apprenticeships.