Past Student Success

Over the past few years, St Philip’s School has held alumni events so that former students can return and catch up with current staff and students.  These events are always really well attended and provide the school with an opportunity to learn from ex-students and find out what courses and colleges are suiting our young people.  This in turn helps to shape our careers programme and ensures that advice we are giving is current and accurate.  Current students also find the event inspiring and enjoy hearing what ex-students have gone on to achieve since leaving school.  Their stories always leave the staff team with a huge sense of pride.

Sammy, a former student of four years, was unable to attend on the alumni day so he came for a visit recently.  His story was so impressive we thought we would share it more widely in the hope it will inspire others.

Sammy’s favourite subjects were maths, Design Technology, mechanics at Community Motors and English.  He remembers finding things difficult at first as he moved to St Philip’s from a mainstream secondary school having had a negative experience.  Sammy said “the small class sizes allowed me to follow the curriculum and I really enjoyed the more personal approach”.

Sammy left St Philip’s in Year 11 with the qualifications to get him into Merton College where he continued to study maths and English alongside an engineering course.  Sammy started at Merton College on the level 1 engineering course and left four years later with a triple distinction in engineering at level 3.

This year Sammy will be starting a three year degree course at Bolton University in Motorsport Technology.  He will be living in student halls for the first year and described feeling excited and a bit nervous. Sammy had the following message for any current St Philip’s students:  “If you want to do something, keep at it.  If you work hard enough and use the support on offer you will be fine and you should never let anything hold you back.”