Britain's Brainiest School

Yay!

It's a little known fact

that the very best A Level results in the United Kingdom

are created here at Cardiff Sixth Form College.

Eight A star ratings.

Maths - A star.

Further Maths - A star.

-And Physics - A star.

-Whoo!

Well done, excellent.

You're going off to Oxford.

Yeah.

In fact, for six years in a row,

this fee-paying private school has topped the results tables,

with an astonishing 99% of their students gaining A star to B grades.

Every single student in this college has at least had one A.

I think that's brilliant.

Set up just ten years ago

and run out of an office block on Newport Road,

it's a family affair, headed up by 33-year-old Yasmin

and supported by her husband Nadeem and his cousin Manny Farzal.

PUPILS CHATTER

We've been granted exclusive access to the students...

BELLS RING

-..teachers...

-Argh!

..and the founders of the school

as we attempt to uncover the secret behind their success.

We are the best school in the world.

Understandably, everybody wants to know - how do we do it?

Why could we do it?

Why can't they do it?

HE WHISTLES But as students threaten revolt...

We don't understand! What new skills are we learning this time?

..how will the college maintain its precarious position at the top?

If it happens, we need to be prepared to pick up the pieces,

cos no-one else will do it.

All right? Fine.

So putting my scarf on every morning

is usually the last thing I do before I leave my room.

Second-year student Sakeena is from Botswana.

This one is...because it's Botswana's independence.

And I'm very, very patriotic.

The first thing I did when I moved into my room

was to kind of need a reminder of home,

so I hung these up and these are traditional Botswana artefacts.

If you realise your identity, then you never really feel homesick,

cos you can surround yourself with things that remind you of home.

Then you can take home with you wherever you go.

As one of her country's top scholars,

the Botswanan government awarded Sakeena a prestigious scholarship

that allowed her to study anywhere in the world.

She chose Cardiff Sixth Form College.

To be honest, I put it into the Google search engine.

I typed in "best sixth form college in the world"

and this is what came up.

HE YAWNS

Fellow scholarship students Sam and Hannah are from Wales.

They drive to college each day

from their homes 20 miles away in Newbridge.

Getting up at half five is still a bit of a struggle.

I don't think I'd ever get used to this.

This year, school starts earlier, at 8am instead of 9.

For some of the students, it's an unwelcome change to the timetable.

I don't understand, really, how...

I think it's cos we've got more teaching time.

-Right.

-We've got extra lessons, haven't we?

-Further Maths students have got an extra two hours.

-Yeah.

-Biology's an extra hour.

-So is Physics, so is Chemistry.

I had a conditional offer of eight A stars to come

and opening my results on results days

was THE most tense moment of my life.

I had eight, I had the eight A stars.

I also had an A and a B...

..um, which are OK, I suppose.

It's an early start for co-founders Nadeem and Yasmin Sarwar too.

Lots of trips coming up, isn't there?

There's Latvia, then it's Hong Kong.

Going to be a busy term.

'We started the college with nothing,

'we started the college with no facilities.

'I wanted to tutor a few students,'

so I thought, "What's the best way? Just make some leaflets,

"go around the neighbourhood,

"put the leaflets through the doors and see what happens,"

and that's what I did, really.

There was just a dream to do the best we can with the students.

It was a dream to make a difference,

to make an impact in somebody's life.

That naivety I suppose helped, because it didn't hold me back.

Yasmin and Nadeem have grown their enterprise

from a home tutoring service into an A level college

with over 300 students,

charging fees of £34,000 a year

and attracting the world's brightest and best young minds.

THEY GREET EACH OTHER

And teaching them are some of Wales's most brilliant teachers.

OK, so we started the Calvin cycle.

Just to give you an overview of what we're going to be doing today...

Nothing until you get to this point, and then we see a cream precipitate.

Same with this one, but you've got trig as well.

So we've learned that we get water,

we get water that's split up into oxygen.

OK, you will get asked these in exams.

And with ours, that one should have worked even better

if water was better.

These are the inverse trig functions.

You've got that equals sin X, so to get X on its own,

you're doing sin minus 1 of 0.5.

BELLS RESONATE

The longer school days make room for an expanding curriculum,

including lessons in mindfulness,

where the students are taught to meditate

-and relax.

-..comfortable, close your eyes.

Just focus your torchlight of attention on your breathing.

But not all of the students are going with the flow.

I think right now, where everyone is,

I think we're not worried, really, about mindfulness.

We can just find out what's happening in our minds,

but with kindness and curiosity.

I think later on in life,

I think maybe people might understand how it was helpful,

but I don't think it's important to us at this stage in our life.

Those hit hardest by the early starts are the local students,

who unlike the boarders, must travel in from home.

What time did you two get in this morning?

-We had to be in for eight.

-You were in for eight as well?

-Yeah.

I have to get up at five.

You just have to make sure you get to sleep earlier,

but that means in the evenings, you'll have less time to do stuff.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

-Everyone's OK?

-Yeah.

-Cool.

Head girl Hannah and her team of deputies ask Yasmin and Mr Farzal

for a meeting to air their concerns about the new timetable.

I've heard from teachers that they are having trouble

keeping the class's attention.

I think breakfast has become a serious problem.

You get people who have to rush between class and they come back

with a piece of bread or a sandwich or something like that

to eat during lessons and things to keep awake.

The reason why there's an eight o'clock start

was because of the teaching contact time that we do.

If we could start it at nine o'clock, we would have.

We understand that we pile on the work, yeah?

And sometimes you might not be finishing work or your homework

until midnight, but that is part of life.

Right? When you go to university, you will get given mounds of work.

Especially the kind of universities that you're all aiming for.

Not something that we wanted to do.

Um, you know...

it's hard enough as it is.

8am means that everybody has to come in at 8am, not just the students.

You go to bed, it probably takes you an hour,

two hours to wind down cos you're still on your phone,

you're twittering away on Facebook or something.

It's gone two o'clock before you've actually tried to go to sleep.

Yeah? Then if you're waking up at seven o'clock in the morning,

of course you're going to be tired.

'I'm the director of studies and staff at the college,

'so I basically make sure'

that the students are achieving the grades that they need to achieve.

'They all know that they're expected to work very hard

'and so as far as they're concerned, it's part of the parcel.'

We're being as cooperative with the student body as we can.

We'll look at it again and we'll try to see what we can do,

but it may not be possible.

'This is not a popularity contest.'

What I'm looking for is I want to reach the outcomes

and I don't mean just outcomes in terms of academic excellence.

I also mean in terms of those characteristics of being resilient,

being able to have a vision of making an impact in the future.

Any leader will tell you, anyone running any organisation,

that when you make decisions, it's very, very difficult.

OK.

This is called Fleming's demonstration.

Power supply, positive and negative. It's just like a battery, it's DC.

'Usually, you're in a situation

'where you're trying to get work off people.'

Here it's generally a question of how fast you can feed it to them.

It's very refreshing after coming from the state system.

Boom!

The difference is usually the motivation.

This is Fleming's left-hand rule.

We've got a field, we've got a current and we've got a force.

First finger - field.

Second finger - current.

Thumb is the thrust. You'll probably remember this forever.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you very much for coming tonight.

-Before the GCSE result comes out...

-It's tough to get into this school.

First of all, I want to congratulate all of you for receiving the offer

to come and study at the college, so well done.

It is very competitive.

We do like academic merits, so congratulations, well done.

Each of these students holds an offer from the college

for a full scholarship worth £30,000.

But places will only be awarded to those

that gain eight or nine A stars in their GCSEs.

We are a different institution.

We are very unique in how we approach things

and you will find it very different to what you're used to,

but with that comes a lot of excitement, challenges ahead.

The idea of coming to the college is in order for you to ensure

that you get the best possible grades

to get to the best possible universities.

So there's going to be a lot of hard work.

If you think this is unachievable,

then let me put you out of your misery.

It is not - if you're coming to this school, then your aim should be

in obtaining the best possible results and that is A star.

'We wanted to create the best of the best under one building.'

The best of the best from all around the world,

so whether they are from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Russia, Azerbaijan,

and the reason why we have started off with the Welsh scholarships

is because we want the best of Welsh students to be learning

with the best from all around the world

and also it's great networking for the kids.

You could be sitting next to someone

who's going to be a future president of Botswana.

How great is that!

INDISTINCT CHATTER

I like to think that I'm both an academic person

and a creative person, but...

Seren is one of the students hoping to study at the college.

At the school I'm at,

because I'm quite focused and I like to read a lot,

I was a bit of an oddity, whereas coming here,

you sort of get the sense that you belong to it somehow.

In the schools I'm in,

I don't really get on with that many people

because I'm so focused and driven

and a lot of people just go to parties every weekend

and I'm not like that at all,

so I know, meeting some of the students from here as well,

they're just so dedicated to their work and I feel like I fit in here.

Somehow I feel like... I don't know.

I don't think I'll get the grades to get in

and I haven't applied anywhere else.

I'm so nervous, I can't even cope.

When I was in Year 7 or something,

I got 85% on a maths test and I cried.

It explains why none of the other kids liked me.

Apart from those on local scholarships,

the college students come from all over the world.

Yep, fabulous.

And it's accommodation manager Paul Fletcher's job

to meet the new students at the airport

before the academic year begins.

It's not quite like you see on films,

where they come running out the terminal and you meet them,

cos there's just so many people

that you have to basically stand here patiently with a card

and just look for students who might look like they're lost

and they may be yours.

I left Cardiff at 2:30 this morning.

I expect to be back in Cardiff about 11 o'clock tonight.

So long day, yeah.

Hiya, mate, how are you, OK? I'm Paul.

I'm in charge of the transport for the college

and I arrange all the pick-ups.

-Evan, yeah?

-Yes.

-That's correct?

Fabulous.

'I'm the first face of the college they see,

'so I always have to be nice and friendly.'

OK?

Even after 16 hours, you still have to smile and make them welcome.

MOBILE RINGS

Hello?

OK, I'll come over and see you now and tick him off my list.

We've just had an arrival from Terminal 5,

a couple of students, so...

-Hi, Brian. All right?

-Nice to meet you.

-I'm Paul.

We've got lots of students arrived already,

so if you can just get to know them.

-OK.

-I'll come and speak to you shortly. All right? See you soon.

17-year-old Brian is from Hong Kong.

He scored 11 A stars at GCSE.

-So you guys all new to the UK?

-First time coming to the UK.

Yeah, it's pretty much exciting.

-You guys all know each other?

-Um, for two hours.

-Yeah, a couple of hours.

-Oh, you guys got here a while ago, then?

I'm doing triple Science, and Maths.

-What about you guys?

-Biology, Chemistry and Economics and Maths.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

I'm going to start gathering everyone together now.

They've got their luggage ready, so we're literally ready to go.

Now, you'll have to excuse my pronunciation, all right?

Hung...Sun Lai? Yeah, fab.

Just go round with the luggage, mate, please.

OK, Jenna, Janna? Janna Lung?

My gosh, three cases.

You're not going home soon, are you?

-OK, Fiona?

-Yes.

-We've been looking everywhere for you, Fiona.

-I'm really sorry.

-Hungry, were you?

-Yeah!

-OK, not to worry.

Let's go. If you could follow me...

OK, if you'd like to get on the coach, please.

Thank you.

There's a lot of luggage.

As you can see.

That's it, job done.

APPLAUSE

No students missing, that's the most important.

All going on to Cardiff, so that's it, time for a cuppa now, anyway.

Someone who understands what it's like to travel so far from home

is Yasmin.

She came to the UK from Malaysia to study

when she was just 17 years old.

I arrived some time in January, I think. It was cold

and I was blowing into the air,

cos that was really something different for me.

It was very exciting.

It was also very frightening and anxious

and that's why I relate really well with the students,

having been through that journey myself.

I've learned a lot about the education side of things in the UK.

I've been able to compare it with my education back home.

I've been able to see the cultural differences.

In Asia, it's a lot about academic and results,

whereas the Western education allows you to be open,

it allows you to be approachable, it allows you to question,

it allows you to communicate and with this college,

we've tried to embed things that could be done better

within the British system

and as well as things that could be better within the Asian system

and combine those two elements together

to try to achieve something different, something unique.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Cardiff Sixth Form College.

Some of the students holding scholarship offers from the college

are phoning in with their results.

Do you know what your offer letter said?

You needed to have nine A stars, didn't you?

OK, but you only received six A stars.

Right, so you didn't, I'm afraid,

reach the offer on the terms.

-Congratulations, my dear!

-Thank you.

-Well done!

Others have come to share their news in person.

-Best in the school, I hear.

-Yeah!

Ten A stars with distinction in maths.

-Thank you.

-Well done. I'm so pleased for you.

Well done, you worked very, very hard.

Looking forward to the challenges in A levels now.

-Yeah!

-Yes?

-YASMIN CHUCKLES

So you're all right?

Yeah.

OK.

Just want to make sure you're OK, really.

-Yeah...

-I want you to be pleased with it.

-OK.

Seren has her results too.

She's come with her mother to discuss them with Yasmin.

I'm hoping that we can persuade her.

I wouldn't say that. To be fair, they asked for nine A stars.

I got seven.

So, I mean, I...

I've still done well, I've just not done well enough.

We'll see. We'll see what she says.

How much of your soul are you prepared to sell?

SEREN SIGHS

It's a bit of a weird metaphor to use for just going to a sixth form.

Well, that's good, then, cos if it doesn't feel like that,

-that's good to know as well.

-But, like, 20%.

-LAUGHING:

-Really?

You're so close.

Hi, Seren, how are you?

-Congratulations.

-Thanks.

Well done. Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting.

I had another... I had another parent as well, so apologies.

Um... Because of the huge number of people applying for scholarships,

we have to be very careful in terms of how we make that decision,

because we are held accountable

in terms of how we deliver the scholarships and things like that.

I don't know if you saw the bit about making the case

in terms of the background of school that Seren came from.

The, um...

She's top in her year with those results.

-Wow, OK. Did you study in the Welsh medium?

-Yes.

-Oh, OK.

-Which is the other thing -

her father and I don't speak Welsh at all,

so she's not had any support from us educationally.

It's all her own work.

We're going to have a meeting and then we'll be able to finalise

in terms of the scholarship provisions and so on.

If Mel takes you upstairs for some lunch

and then in an hour's time, we should know, OK?

Thank you very much.

As tough for us as it is for you!

I don't envy you at all.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

So before we actually go on to the next thing,

we are going to do two questions. A little bit harder than usual.

OK, so you've got your normal implicit,

but now we've got E involved as well.

We set the bar high.

I'm going to do this again!

Every child is expected to do well.

Every child is expected to get an A or above.

Aim for the stars,

cos at least you'll fall amongst the clouds.

I think it's something like that.

"Inverse" means...?

-PUPIL ANSWERS

-No, no.

-ANOTHER PUPIL ANSWERS

-Very good.

"Inverse" means reflection across the line Y equals X.

Hi, Nanny.

I got seven A stars and four As.

But it's not really good enough to get the scholarship they offered me.

Just two A stars short of her scholarship offer,

Seren and her mother are waiting for a decision.

She's the best student in the school.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

She wants to do...?

She wants to do Maths, Chemistry, Biology, English Literature.

In fairness, she didn't make the offer.

Yeah, she didn't make nine A stars.

What was her offer, is it nine A stars?

That's on a full scholarship. She got seven, so...

What did she get in Biology?

-A star.

-Chemistry - A star.

-English Lit?

-A star.

-Mathematics?

-A star.

What have we got in her file in terms of her extracurricular

and things like that?

She's obviously an active student.

She's a member of the water polo team.

Bronze award with DOE, Grade 6 in piano, Grade 3 in trombone.

Member of the orchestra.

Well, I think she should be maintained,

just on the basis of the fact that she was top in her school.

180 students.

Judging from everything in her file,

she probably should have achieved the A stars

in the other subjects as well.

-Please, take a seat.

-Thank you.

Sorry for the wait.

It's just taken a while to collate all the information

and to put things together.

We're very impressed with your achievement

as the top student in your school.

We think you've got the spark

and we think you've got the potential

and we're very pleased to let you know

that you do receive a scholarship to come to the college.

-OK!

-So congratulations.

-LAUGHTER

-Sorry, what? Um...

So you've got your scholarship, so congratulations.

-Really?

-Yes, yes.

-Like, the full one?

-Yes.

We're very impressed with the fact

that you've maintained your top position,

so congratulations.

-OK!

-OK?

-Thank you.

-Well done, yes?

-Thanks!

Congratulations, well done,

and I look forward to seeing you in September.

OK, can I give you a hug?

-Yeah, sure!

-LAUGHTER

I was thinking about giving you one...

'As soon as my father explained to me

'what the idea of a university was,'

I sort of asked him what the best ones were and he said,

"Either Oxford or Cambridge."

I was like, "Right, I'll go there, then."

Hi, Nanny, it's Seren.

'I think that kind of ambition has always driven me'

and I think it's largely that ambition

of going to a prestigious university

and trying to do as best as I could that made me decide

that this would be a good place for me to go.

Um, I got in.

SHE GIGGLES

Love you too!

Bye!

This is a Power Patrol...!

This is a Power Patrol car?

Oh, I see.

The history of this house - it has a bit of history -

it was actually built for the manager of, um...Elton John.

-No, Tom Jones!

-Tom Jones, sorry, Tom Jones.

It's been a busy time for Yasmin and Nadeem.

As well as running the college,

they're parents to toddler Adam.

Adam, what is this?

-What is this?

-Dinosaur!

You think it's a dinosaur?

Are you sure?

-I think it's a monkey!

-I think it's a monkey.

We speak to him in Hindi, Urdu.

We also speak... We try...

Well, we're trying to teach him a bit of Chinese, Mandarin,

and obviously English.

We started doing flash cards when he was just a baby,

then after that, on the laptop, he was recognising pictures

and diagrams and things

and he picked up the animals, he just loved animals.

I try to squeeze it in when I come back.

Sometimes I come back very late, so that becomes a problem,

but whenever I can,

I try to squeeze it in.

-Nee-naw!

-Nee-naw! It's not a policeman car!

-Nee-naw!

-This is not a policeman car!

This lifestyle is a far cry

from Nadeem's experience of growing up in Newport.

We moved around a few houses anyway.

Lived in a terraced house,

to a slightly smaller terraced house,

then my father bought a shop, then he lived on top of that,

then it all went horribly wrong, then we moved to a council estate

and I spent a large chunk of my life there.

It really motivated me to work quite hard.

HORN BEEPS

The aspirations we have now -

I'm just happy he gets a degree from Oxford or Cambridge,

I don't care what degree.

If he gets a degree from one of those places,

I'll be pretty pleased.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Beef Stroganoff.

-Yeah, what's that? Beef...?

-Beef Stroganoff.

Yes, please. Can I have some of that and...?

And I don't know what else.

And some wedges, maybe?

It's lunchtime and Paul has a special delivery to make.

We're going to take a portion of food over for one of our students

who's got chicken pox and she's been on quarantine.

Not exactly sure what she eats,

but I'm just going to get a selection of everything.

Ooh, it looks good enough to eat, don't it?

HE CHUCKLES

It happens, occasionally,

we've got students where they're too ill to come to college,

for whatever reason,

and we supply free food in the college, as you can see.

Thank you very much. Cheers, thank you.

And so,

occasionally we actually deliver it ourselves.

It's not on my job description,

but we've got this parental care we supply to our students.

As you can see now on the walk,

it's not so bad today, it's a pleasant day,

but if it's bucketing down with rain,

and you're feeling a bit under the weather,

you don't want to be walking all the way to the college.

OK, we're all right.

KNOCK ON DOOR

"Clare Bear, feel better soon."

How are you, Clare? How are you feeling?

-I'm fine.

-You sure?

I've arranged for the doctor to pop in this evening,

so any time between seven and eight, he may pay you a visit, OK?

-All right.

-If you've got to stay here for any longer than a few days,

we'll have to bring you some work over.

-There's your food.

-Thank you.

-Enjoy.

If you need anything in the night,

don't be afraid to phone the wardens if you don't feel well.

Anyway, I hope you feel better soon. I'll speak to you tomorrow, OK?

Bye-bye.

These students work very hard and even little gaps,

three or four days of illness,

can really put them behind for the academic year,

so even times like this, they still need, even if it's only revision,

to get their heads in the books, read some books.

It's not very often in your job

you can care for people in such a way that we do.

And also seeing good results at the end,

when they get A star A Levels,

it's quite rewarding for us as well as the students.

HE WHISTLES

OK, right.

How are we doing?

All right?

Faced with ongoing dissent over the earlier start to the school day,

Mr Farzal has reached a decision.

Some of the students have come to me and asked

if we can just further explain why the timetable

is at 8am in the morning.

-Now...

-LAUGHTER

I can't see you get out of this one.

Mate, watch me work my way out of this one, it's fine.

Don't worry.

Essentially, right, this year...

Essentially, this year,

we've added a lot of extra things into your timetable.

There's speaker sessions,

there's this mindfulness,

there's the compulsory societies, yeah?

Yes.

We had some good scores, yes.

-PUPILS:

-Ohhhhh!

SCATTERED APPLAUSE

I know people are bent on mindfulness, cos it is...

you maybe don't see the fruit,

you're not thinking you're going to see what the outcome is,

but what we're trying to get at with doing this mindfulness

is coping mechanisms.

You guys will be able to better cope with those things, yeah?

With exam stress and with all the added work.

What new skills are we learning this time?

There are skills that you will always learn, yeah? In life...

yeah, you may think you know everything - you don't.

PUPILS TITTER

It's as simple as that.

What that means is, some of you have 8am starts

and that's it. 8am - get a good night's sleep.

PUPILS JEER

'The kind of students that we deal with, they're very strong-minded.

'They often come to the college and they think'

that they know exactly what they need to do already

in terms of their studies and things like that.

Get a good night's sleep.

Yeah? That's all you've got to do.

You have to lay the law down - you've got to say,

at the end of the day, this is it.

If you don't like it, then you can go to another institution

and be the best there.

Yeah? But if you stay here

and you're not necessarily the best here,

you'll still be better than anywhere else.

OK, let's go through some of them.

I won't go through all of them, but they're all very thought-provoking.

First-year student Brian is settling in to his studies.

Why is it important, do you think,

for a culture to retain or keep its identity?

'There are some compulsory sessions, like critical thinking,

'effective communication.'

At first, I was kind of thinking, like,

"Why do we have to do this?"

I think it's always good to have diversity in the world.

Like, we're all different, from different backgrounds,

and that gives us our own personality

and makes us unique,

which is essential, because otherwise,

everyone in the world would be exactly the same,

-which would be quite boring.

-Yes.

'After I think about it, I kind of realise that it'll definitely play

'a huge role in the future, because whatever profession or career

'you want to choose, you'll need to communicate.'

It's definitely important to train your mind.

You're all from different parts of the world,

so you should all have strong opinions about this.

The college has come a long way

since its humble beginnings in a church hall,

where Yasmin and Nadeem tutored a handful of students.

This brings back memories.

-INTERVIEWER:

-How long is it since you've been back?

Oh, a long time. Since we left, really.

This used to be Yas's room, and common room.

And IT room.

Yes. We used to have computers all along here.

When we first came, this room looked so big. Now it looks so small.

So we would have board and, um...

..chairs here.

Sorry, I just...

No, don't film me, I just...

I just remembered how limited we were.

There was no scope to do anything here,

but we still managed and they still got good grades.

We didn't know where it was going. We just wanted to do it.

It was just so much more about passion,

of wanting to do well with the kids and wanting the kids to do well.

You know, the kids knew that they could rely on us.

And I think that was a special time.

As a teacher, I think, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I don't think anything has changed.

All the marks are in the same place.

Yeah, "9 + 10 = 21."

I miss teaching.

I miss teaching.

I just don't have the scope now because of all the management

and moving the college to a different level,

but I miss just doing the simple things, that's what I miss.

Exam season.

With university places

and future careers resting on the results of their A Levels,

it's critical for final year students Milind, Geofrey

and Megga to perform to their very best.

I'm hoping to go to Oxford to study engineering.

I'm hoping to get an A star or an A because my offer is one A star

and two As.

I usually tend to take two pens

and two pencils in case something runs out in the middle of the exam.

Just to be on the safe side.

I try to sharpen all my pencils

and make sure my pen is working right before the exam.

I suppose that's more of a lucky ritual than anything else.

I feel like the school itself prepares you very well for AS,

so I just did honestly what the teachers told me to,

I listened to my teachers, I asked them a lot of questions and

I ended up getting 100% in Biology, Physics and Chemistry in AS.

So, yeah, it worked out.

I feel like A2 is a lot more difficult

in terms of getting the actual 100 per cents. I tried my best,

hopefully things will work out, but my aim is to meet my offer

for my university, Cambridge, which is an A star and two As.

I have a very weird schedule compared to my peers.

They study mostly in the evening

and I prefer to study during the morning,

so I will sleep very early, around seven or eight o'clock,

and then I wake up around 2am, so I wake up in the morning

and then I start my studying and revision until 8am,

when I take a shower, then go to school.

I think that is a better way for me.

Two years of intensive study will be put to the test in these exams.

-How did you find that?

-I'm not really sure.

It started off OK,

but the last part was really long for the time, I felt.

Hopefully it will be enough. I guess we've got a lot going for us.

-As long as you meet your offer.

-Yes. What's your offer again?

-Two A stars?

-A star, A, A.

-Same.

-Great.

-Hopefully it will be fine.

Geofrey has finished his exams, too.

I'm not the best of clothes connoisseurs,

but I do feel the colours of the tie and the shirt go hand in hand,

so I think it looks quite good. So I have decided to go with this colour.

This colour looks good. It looks fine.

There is one last thing to prepare for. The graduation ball.

Everyone is coming out in full force with the best clothes.

And obviously with phones to take pictures and everything.

The culmination of two years in Cardiff Sixth Form College.

So I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to it.

I haven't seen my mum for almost two years now, I think.

I just feel like my life is in a bit of suspended animation back at home

because I feel like everything has stopped there, whilst I am here.

Because I can't even imagine it continuing without me.

So I'm very eager to go back home.

How is it? That's fine, is it?

Ladies and gentlemen, it feels like it was only yesterday that you came

into my life, and now our babies are ready to tackle the world!

We are your first home in the UK.

If you are ever in need, we are your first home

and we will always be there for you. Please do remember that.

And I don't mean just call us when you run out of money!

God bless you, everyone,

we've learnt a lot from each other and I thank you for that.

Thank you very much, good luck, God bless you, thank you.

APPLAUSE

As well as managing the day-to-day demands

of the college, Yasmin faces the challenge of ensuring

a steady intake of the world's brightest young students.

Moscow is just one stop on a punishing schedule,

promoting the college at British education fairs around the globe.

Hello. Hi, hello.

As any school that recruits from overseas market, there is

a need to keep in touch

and engage with your local partners in every part of the world.

So, yes, we do go out for marketing events

so we can talk to parents as well as prospective students.

-Do you know much about the school?

-Not so much.

-Not so much, OK.

What subjects do you enjoy?

English, um...

maybe, er, Geography.

You don't like Maths or Physics? You like Maths?

Physics, no. Maths, so-so.

'I'm very passionate in the college,

'I'm very passionate in the education we offer to the students,'

and when I do go out to marketing and parents see me,

they do see me as the mother figure,

'they do see me as somebody who they can trust their children with,'

but they also see that it is the best school in the UK.

So, yeah.

It's also a chance for Yasmin to seek out the kind of students

that will thrive on the college's maths and science-based curriculum.

If she does Maths, Chemistry, Biology

and, say the fourth one is Physics,

she can go into medicine, health care,

she can go into psychology, she can go into humanities.

She can go into law, she can even go into economics or finance,

so I don't think you should look at the subjects, I think

you should look at the career progression.

And then you work out where is the intersection,

because there are lots of intersection of subjects she can do.

'You don't need to know at the age of 12 you're going to be'

a doctor or engineer, but there has got to be a yearning

for learning, there's got to be questions they want answers for.

This evening, Yasmin is visiting one of their Moscow agencies.

-She's got some news she wants to deliver in person.

-Hello!

Good evening! How nice to meet you again. Hello, ma'am.

Please take a seat.

15-year-old Boris is hoping to attend

Cardiff Sixth Form College next year.

I'm sure you're eager to know the decision of your application

-to Cardiff College.

-I wanted it so much, and I hope I got it.

So, I've got the decision letter.

And, Boris,

I would like to say

congratulations, you have a place to come to Cardiff College.

Thank you very much.

Excellent, brilliant. This is your offer letter. Congratulations.

Incredible. Fantastic.

International students hope that Cardiff Sixth Form College

will be their passport to the world's top universities.

And for many, Oxford's dreaming spires are the ultimate goal.

INDISTINCT CHATTER

Scholarship students Hannah and Sam are aiming high too.

They're visiting St Anne's,

one of the 38 colleges that make up Oxford University.

-This is the centre of the college, there's our motto.

-Which means?

If I remember rightly it's "purposefully and boldly".

It's like the idea you've just got to focus

and get out what you put in, at the end of the day.

It's a happy coincidence that the student showing them

around is also from Wales.

People joke about my accent a lot.

I do have to remind them that it's not actually that strong.

Have you been encouraged by your school to apply?

I think the reason you go to our college is you're aiming big.

If you can go to Oxford or Cambridge,

then there isn't really any other choice.

I hope to study medicine at University

and hopefully become an orthopaedic surgeon.

'Oxford is amazing, the facilities, the colleges are gorgeous.

'There is a real sense of wanting to do well about the place.

'There is a real sense of pride in achieving a place there.'

It's interesting, but I'm not sure it's supposed to be art.

'It's quite daunting, really, looking at the place'

and what they achieve, the students.

It's really daunting to kind of imagine even applying,

never mind actually studying.

-So it's definitely first choice, Oxford?

-Absolutely.

-This is definitely my first choice.

-Is it? Why?

-I love it.

-I love everything about it.

-Everything? The city?

The city, the colleges.

-The punting.

-Of course!

We're going to look through your entire application with you today.

If Sam wants to get to Oxford, top grades won't be enough.

Have you done any sort of preparation,

any short courses or intensive courses,

-like a summer programme?

-No.

To beat the competition he will need to make sure

his university application stands out from the crowd.

-This is an opportunity wasted.

-OK.

-It really is.

So you rack that big brain of yours harder,

and you find anything that you've done, even if it's a two-day thing.

What have you done in terms of your preparation for medicine?

-I came to school every day!

-Good lad.

We are essentially a stepping stone for them

to achieve that final goal and that final

aim of getting into a course for university that's going to

help them get to the career they want,

'become a doctor or become a dentist,'

so the UCAS application is probably the most important document

they complete whilst they are here, other than their examinations.

It's not just Sam who must nail his application.

The deadline for all students is fast approaching.

The college has assembled a crack team of experts to help.

Yasmin and Mr Farzal are joined by careers advisers Miss Taj

and Mr Hammond.

What do you mean by society's hamartia?

Um, people that can't afford lawyers and legal services will lose out.

OK.

'I feel a great sense of responsibility.

'These students have worked incredibly hard

'and this is very important to them.'

One mistake and it could alter their life path.

Hamartia usually applies to a character,

so it's a fatal flaw in a character

which leads to their downfall, often in tragedy.

So I think we have to change that particular word.

So, yes, have a think about an alternative whilst I read

through the rest of this.

But as the deadline approaches,

students are keen to make sure their application doesn't get overlooked.

One of my friends, she sent it off,

like, it must have been two weeks ago, she has two offers already.

Already.

It's notoriously difficult to get a place to read medicine.

And each wannabe doctor must develop a strategy based on how

they've scored in specialist exams.

-Benton?

-My UKCAT is 2,720.

Students are encouraged to avoid risk by choosing a sensible

range of backups in case they are rejected by the first choice.

-You're bang on that borderline. It is risky.

-I will take that risk.

-Yes?

-Just stick with it.

But Yasmin is concerned with Benton's selection.

You're applying to two BMAT universities?

That's silly, you've got a good UKCAT scores,

why are you applying to two BMAT?

You know medicine could be straight rejection.

But I want to take some risk.

Be aware that we've given you all that information now,

so if it happens, you need to be prepared to pick up the pieces

cos no-one else will do it. OK?

Cos you can get four rejections very easily. All right?

'It's hard, it's very hard.'

We need to make sure we're advising them appropriately with

regards to which universities they should be applying to.

Because they work so hard for this.

'They work so hard, their parents' expectations are'

so high on them, they've got a lot banking on this.

-Students and staff alike burn the midnight oil.

-Is humility a skill?

-Should it be an

-8? Well, it should.

-It should be an 8, shouldn't it?

Shouldn't be a doctor otherwise, should you?

-And over 100 applications later, the deadline is in sight.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you, Mrs Sarwar.

OK, three left. Three left.

I'm going to check. I'm sure it was sent off last night.

Benton is still considering his options.

You are already applying to Cambridge and UCL,

-so you already have so much risk, why take even more risk?

-I know.

But that's up to you, you decide, OK?

-OK, I'm going to submit your application, then, yeah?

-OK.

OK, cool. Done.

Benton's sticking with his decision,

but now he wants Yasmin's sign-off on the rest of his application.

It's a really good personal statement,

you've got everything in there.

If I were you I'd be worried about the choice of university

more than your personal statement.

-OK.

-OK? Thank you, Benton. Yours is done, OK?

CHATTER

-OK, you are the last one.

-OK.

-Good.

-Well done.

-Oh, my gosh!

-Oh, my God.

-That's it!

-Hug!

-Well done! Well done. Good luck.

-Well done.

-MR FARZAL:

-'They are very good, young people,

'who will go on to do fantastic things,'

and if I can be part of that,

if I can be somebody that they look back in their lives

and they remember and say, well, "Mr Farzal," or, "That Farzal,"

or whatever they call me behind my back, and say,

"He actually really did care, and he really did help,"

then I like to think I made a difference.

-Thank you for spending hours and hours...

-UCAS!

-Thank you!

Thank you so much!

I am like a mother to the students,

and I would say they think the same as well!

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, guys. We weren't expecting this.

I really want to make a difference in their lives and I really

want them to make a difference in other people's lives,

so I think the only way to make a difference in somebody's life

is by creating that trust and creating that sense of,

'if you need me I am here for you because I care.'

Thank you, thank you very much. I'm actually becoming quite emotional.

There is an element of feeling like you're in Hogwarts or somehow

when you walk in through the doors you step over this magical threshold

into a place where everyone works extremely hard

to be academic or be high-flying.

But you get the sense that coming here isn't about getting

a nice car or a nice house, or getting a high-end job,

it's about trying to change the world, not to go on to being rich

or having a nice car, but to making a difference to people's lives.

I notice that towards the end of your argument you referenced

the fact that as we intercepted the radio waves, they probably already

know that we're here as we already have evidence that they know

of our existence, then there's nothing to lose

-from sending them a message.

-BELL TINGS

-Permission.

-Denied. For all we know they could view us in the same way.

Why are you assuming that their intentions are possibly hostile?

These are the best minds from all around the world under one roof.

We have them for two years.

In two years we are trying to change the world, and that is a big task.

The Brazilian rainforests are declining,

the ice sheets are disappearing.

We don't even know if the Earth is habitable to them.

The only people who can make a change

and make differences in the world moving forward is going to be them.

SOMBRE SINGING

While he was studying in Cardiff, Geofrey's grandmother passed away.

The memorial service was delayed

until his return home to Botswana so the family could grieve together.

Now he's about to find out

if his two years of study away from home have paid off.

So, it is in the morning of Thursday

so the letters are probably coming out,

so in a moment I will know.

I'm a bit anxious but I am excited as well to see my results.

So fingers crossed.

-Hi, Miss Sarwar!

-Hi, Geofrey! Are you anxious?

-Yes.

I am, I am.

I couldn't sleep last night.

Aw, bless. Let me put you out of your misery.

Maths, Geofrey, you have had A star,

567 out of 600, so well done.

-Are you serious? Is that Chemistry?

-Maths, Maths.

-Thank you so much.

-Are you happy?

-And for chemistry?

For Chemistry you've had an A, fantastic,

543 out of 600. Well done.

Oh, my gosh. Are you serious?

-I am serious!

-SHE LAUGHS

Biology, that's an A star.

Wow! So I believe the University College London is fine, then?

Yes, definitely, you're going to UCL.

-Let your parents know, of course. Thank you.

-Thank you so much.

Thank you, Geofrey, congratulations, well done.

I've been looking forward to this all summer.

Oh, brilliant, what a relief!

Fantastic. Three A stars.

Brilliant, well done, well done, excellent, excellent.

OK. Yeah, I'm happy.

Congratulations, I'm very proud of you, well done.

-Well done, excellent, excellent.

-SHE GROANS

You're crushing me to death!

Four A stars. Well done. Excellent.

-OK, that's good. Big smiles.

-CAMERA CLICKS

'I have so much more to give. I have so much more that I want to do.'

My father always had this saying,

don't be afraid of running or walking,

be afraid of standing still - and I don't want to stand still.