Paddington Students Meets Deputy Prime Minister
On August 24th, Shafik Mohammed Ali and Julia Kassem were amongst a group of students invited to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg at Number 10 to discuss the barriers faced by young people as they make the transition to adulthood. Shafik and Julia, who had both received a stunning set of GCSE results earlier in the day, were mentored by the organisation Arrival Education, which pairs people from the business community with Year 10 and Year 11 students in a bid to help them realise their full academic potential. Mr Clegg welcomed about 30 young people to Downing Street to hear about their experiences and concerns and asked them to give their views on how the Government can improve opportunities for young people. He said: “What we want to do here in Downing Street and in Government is to hear from you because you have achieved extraordinary things over the past year. We want to hear from you what you think we can do to make more successes for you and for other young people – not just when you are at school but when you then want to go from school into work.” Congratulating the group on their exam results, Mr Clegg said that the students, their families and their communities should be “immensely proud” of what they had achieved. Click on the link below to see Shafik speaking about Arrival Education on the BBC national news.