00:00This is Thomas Telford University Technical College and according to
00:04figures found by this gentleman Mr Avgil the principal this school is the
00:08second best in the whole country for disadvantaged students behind only a
00:13school in London. In fact you were telling me that the top ten is what was
00:17entirely London schools apart from here. Yeah that's right so I knew we got some
00:20brilliant results. We've had three years now we've pretty much had the best
00:23results in Wolverhampton and we've got a massive number of disadvantaged kids here.
00:27In fact that particular cohort those 58 percent of that cohort were
00:30disadvantaged and I thought well let's just do a little bit of research see how
00:32we've done nationally you know great in Wolverhampton we're all about against the
00:36rest of the country and so I did a bit of research and thought let's look at
00:41schools with 50-55% plus disadvantaged let's put them in order and we were
00:45second highest in the country. All the other schools were actually based in
00:48London and we were the only one that wasn't from London. And what does it say
00:51about the work that you do here? I mean obviously taking in students from all
00:55different areas but particularly from the disadvantaged areas around here? Yeah
00:59well I think the important thing is we've created a really aspirational
01:02environment so sometimes those kids from those slightly tougher areas don't have
01:06the same kind of ambitions as other families and the important thing then is
01:10they're not getting from the families make sure we create that environment in
01:13the school and our kids get that they really understand it and we've got some
01:16brilliant teachers here that makes all the difference as well and it's not
01:19just about academic achievements we've got a real big focus here on making
01:22students work ready so we're a UTC which is a university technical college this is a
01:26real focus on our specialism of innovate design and build we're really close with
01:30employers and I think that makes a big difference as well so as well as these
01:33amazing academic students we get some brilliant destinations loads of kids
01:37going on to higher apprenticeships universities about kids doing medicine
01:40one of our first first student last year went on to Oxford University that was
01:44amazing as well so it's the whole package really but it the really
01:48important thing for me is we've created a highly aspirational environment and it
01:52does say to students that you don't have to necessarily stay in your lane you
01:56don't have to say in a deprived environment you can just but you can
01:59achieve anything particularly with schools like this I think that's the most
02:02important thing and look we've got 40 odd languages spoken here incredibly
02:06diverse environment but the kids they interact with each is so well it reminds me a
02:11little bit my own family when I think back to my parents they came to this
02:13country about 70 years ago and they wanted to work really hard and get on in life and our
02:18families are like that their parents are really supportive of the school and their
02:22the kids work really hard and we've created this environment where you know
02:26they could they can achieve anything and the important thing they hear this all
02:28the time guys you could do anything with your life that's probably one of the
02:32most important things and not that you're competitive or anything but I
02:35imagine you're looking at being number one next we want to be more yeah we're
02:38not over competitive but you know it's not it's not really bad school it's
02:41about the children that go to school about creating those life
02:43opportunities so I suppose you know we just want to be consistent and stay up there
02:46obviously a high achieving school needs to have high achieving students and these
02:51are some of the students who have all come from disadvantaged backgrounds so
02:54I'll start with yourself what's your name Vincent tell me your background first of all
02:59where have you come from where do you live I live in Wolverhampton at what part of
03:03Wolverhampton Barn Green okay and so what since you've come to Thomas Telford what's
03:09this school done for you what's been what's been so good about coming here it's really helpful and
03:14nobody's mean to me like they were in primary school you've you found yourself
03:18with a group of people who you've become friends with and what you've what have
03:22you learned from here what's been what are some of the things you've achieved
03:24when you've come here since you've come here I've got better at maths was that the
03:30thing you were most looking forward to doing okay so what's your name and what's
03:35your background my name is and I live in Wolverhampton around Great Brooklyn all
03:42right so what was what's been so good about coming to this school for yourself
03:46it's really helped me build it's my confidence with its values such as
03:52aspiration I find that within lessons I aspire for my best ability with my grades
03:59and I suppose that's been the best thing about coming is that they've wanted to help you to achieve
04:03your best yes have you felt that for yourself what's your name my name Sophie
04:07and where what part of Wolverhampton are you from all right so coming from Heath town which is seen
04:14as a deprived area and coming to a school like this what has the school done to
04:17help you to achieve your best it's like like it's made me discover new things like
04:23new things I'm really interested in such as dancing and like I didn't know what I
04:28wanted to do until I came here and like it's like got really really good
04:32opportunities for me and I know exactly what I want to do while I'm here now and
04:36I hear the school's also been paying for your dance lessons yes they have which I'm
04:40really grateful for like I've been like I came here in year seven and like I didn't
04:45know what I wanted to do and then they gave me an opportunity in dancing and doing
04:50that has made me more talented and better for what I want to do in the future is
04:54that the same for yourself what's your name and yeah I come from Wolverhampton near the
05:00All Saints area okay and so tell me about what's been so great about coming here for
05:05yourself it's been so great the opportunities that I've been given this year for our year group
05:10we've been offered our GC dance lessons which has really helped me to develop for my future
05:14helping you to I suppose discover your talent almost yeah I didn't realize that I wanted to do it but
05:20now that it's been offered I'm just really grateful for this and you're amongst your
05:25peers in here do you feel that you can just sort of be yourself and develop your talents as part of
05:31the school with other people it's a really like open and friendly environment and really really
05:38amazing to learn in all right and last but not least what's your name and what part of Wolves are you
05:42from my name is Savi and I live near Low Hill all right so tell me a bit about your time here
05:47then what's been the what have you enjoyed about being at the school uh what I enjoy about being
05:52at the school is there are lots and lots of opportunities for example from the start of
05:57year seven you do business and construction and multiple other subjects that more or most other
06:03schools don't do so that's a great opportunity you found areas that really interest you in that case
06:08and um just speaking about this school in general how good has it been to be in a place that helps
06:14you to discover your potential um it's been really enjoyable because um through many situations
06:20you eventually find what you want to be and yeah
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