Laura Forwood

A STUDENT whose close friend tragically died during the end-of-year exams is off to one of the most prestigious universities in the country after acing her A-levels yesterday (Thursday).

City and Islington (CANDI) sixth form college student Laura Forwood will study English at Cambridge University.

A-level students from London Screen Academy: Caine, Shan-Jay, Keira, Ned, Alice, Taya, Noah, Dolapo, Pablo, Bill and Bonniemaria

She was one of hundreds of teenagers across Islington nervously tearing open their results slips.

Ms Forwood, who got three A*s in English, fine art, and graphic communications, said: “Going to Cambridge is exciting, and to come out with these grades feels really interesting.

Highbury Grove students Eduardo and Aymen and, back row, Owen, Nevin and Naaema with Islington mayor Cllr Gary Heather and council leader Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz

“My friend didn’t get to do them, and I’m glad I did. She’s on my mind today. She was into the arts as well … and she really wanted to go to Cambridge.

“She died before she could do it, and before she died she changed her mind and said she wanted to do fashion instead. It was very like her to do that.”

Lawrence Doddo Andoh (right) from St Aloysius’ College with his friend Bubacarr Jammeh

She added: “She died in the middle of my graphics exam. It was a three-day long exam; she died on the second day, and my parents didn’t tell me until the end of the third day.

“That was all my art subjects finished, but I had English left, which ironically was the most important.

“The worst part is that it was like something out of a satire – all of the books I had to study were about people dying, while I was in shock at the fact she died.

St Aloysius’ College’s Vincent Murtagh spell out the results

“I knew her for 13 years. We’d known each other since we were four, because we’d gone to the same school for a few years until I left.

“Her funeral was two days before my first English exam. The worst part was I had to go and speak at her funeral, and then come home and study. That sucked.”

Year 13 students at St Aloysius’ College with their grade slips

Ms Forwood described the studying to get these grades as “very intense,” and young people shouldn’t be put under that stress.

“I was home-schooled until I was 14. My sister struggles with dyslexia, so my parents decided to take us out of traditional education so they could support her better.

Shock of the news: Highbury Grove’s Katherine and Lolita

“I ended up doing my English GCSEs when I was 13 because I was good at it, so my parents decided I’d do it early. That was much better because you got to focus on the subject that you’re interested in, rather than doing pointless, rote work.”

Highbury Grove’s Iris and Anna are happy to flag up their grades

Another CANDI student, Jada Dawkins, 18, is going to MetFilm school in Leeds to study acting for screen.

Her friend, Lyra Milana, 18, who notched up two Bs and a C, said she didn’t want to go to university and will pursue acting instead, adding: “I’m waiting for my drama exam video to come back. I’m going to apply to different agencies, and I’m considering modelling as well.”

CANDI students Makya Oketcho James, Maya Patru, Lyra Milana and Jada Dawkins

CANDI student Maya Patru, 18, said she wanted to become a horticulturist, adding: “At the beginning I wanted to do medicine, and then I thought I would do psychology. But then I realised that I don’t want to do psychology for three years to get myself into £27,000 debt, that I’ll still be paying off when I’m 60.”

City and Islington (CANDI) sixth form college students: Above, David Mihaly and Yigit Silahtaroglu; below, Nia N’Dour and Suzanna Meyer

At St Aloysius’ College in Archway, students bucked the national trend with a 20 per cent rise in A* to C grades on last year. Headteacher Paula Whyte, who took over the Hornsey Lane school in 2020 during the lockdown and conducted most schooling online for a year, said she was “exceptionally pleased” with the results. The Dubliner praised the “resilience” of her pupils, who missed out on two years of schooling due to the pandemic and had not sat a real exam until now after their GCSE grades were determined by teachers.

St Aloysius’ student Lawrence Doddo Andoh, 18, who got an A* and two As, was a touch disappointed not to have achieved two A*s after stunning his teachers two years ago with a clean sweep of Grade 9s at GCSE. He now plans to study medicine at Queen Mary University in east London and wants to become a neurologist. “I really enjoy science-based subjects. And along with helping people as well, I feel like it fits,” said the 18-year-old. He said his mum, a caretaker at UBS, screamed when he told her his results.