An “ecstatic” Clapham teenager who achieved a grade A (now known as a grade 7) in his maths GCSE, believes his term time stint on the Teens and Toddlers Programme, mentoring a toddler in a nursery, gave him a learning confidence boost ahead of his exams.

Nickiell (16) who spent Thursday afternoons being a role a model to a three-year-old child at Clapham Manor Primary School over the course of a school term, says his toddler mentoring experience helped give him the confidence he needed to seek help with his revision. 

At midday today The Lambeth Academy student joined scores of his classmates who collected their GCSE results from the Clapham-based school.

The 16-year-old, who has two younger brothers aged under-five, achieved a grade 7 in maths; a B grade in double science and C's in science, computing and Mandarin. He also achieved a distinction star in BTEC Business.

Nickiell, who is due to study A-levels in maths, physics and biology in the autumn, was thrilled to have achieved a grade 7 in maths.

He said:

I’m ecstatic and it’s awesome that I got a grade 7 in maths. I got the grades I needed to do my A-level options. My experience on the Teens and Toddlers programme helped me with the way in which I prepared for my GCSES. I remember doing my first mock GCSEs in Year Nine and being terrified at the time. The mocks felt so hard. They were intimidating.

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“In the lead up to my GCSEs there were times when I needed to ask people, including my peers, for help or knowledge or advice on certain things. Before I took part in Teens and Toddlers I was very shy and introverted inside and outside of school. If I hadn’t done Teens and Toddlers and learnt to be less shy and I would not have been able to muster up the courage to get the information or help I needed.  After I completed the programme I was introduced to a mentor who helped me explore different exam revision methods.

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“The actual GCSEs didn’t feel as hard as my mocks although my first two were nerve-wracking. For me the studying was the hardest part of the exams. Getting resources I needed to help me was the easiest bit. I live near Clapham Library and they have a decent range of books. I also found using past question papers and practicing them really useful. I’m really pleased with the results I got.