Our congratulations go to second year student Justin Nye, who after overcoming lots of adversity in his personal life, is thrilled after three retakes to have finally passed his GCSE Maths exam! Justin, who came to Varndean from Longhill School on a Level 2 programme in 2018, just couldn’t quite secure the Grade 4 he needed in his Maths, despite having achieved a Grade 5 in his GCSE English, a Grade 4 in Biology and a Grade B in his HPQ project.

Justin is now however, finally delighted to say goodbye to any further Maths exams and is looking forward to focusing on his two Level 3 courses, BTEC Business Studies and Applied Law, which he started at Varndean in September. Next year, he hopes to be able to add BTEC Applied Biology to his programme as well.

Justin (aged 18), who comes from a family with six older siblings, says that after college he wants to go into criminology or forensics and hopes to follow a foundation degree. He has already been on several college trips to different law courts, is a regular attendee at the College Politics Society, as well as coming second in the College’s 10k run back in the summer.

Outside of college Justin is a very keen sportsman; having obtained a Black Belt in SAMA karate, as well as participating in boxing and kickboxing and in the Spring taking part in the Brighton Marathon. Well done Justin, you are a shining example of resilience and hard work paying off.