A-Level results: Refugee student to pursue medicine dream after securing place at King’s College

Mohammad Aalshammary, an 18-year-old student, at Woodhouse College in North Finchley achieved ABB in his A-levels, securing him a place to study Foundation Medicine.

Mohammad was 13 when he came to the UK with his family in 2018 as a refugee.

He was born in Kuwait but was denied citizenship there. His family moved to Iraq before coming to England, where the UK government gave them a residence permit.

Mohammad faced many struggles in the UK education system due to the language barrier.

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“I was in Year 8 when I started school in England. I only knew very basic English at the time like the alphabet and simple sentences, so I couldn’t keep up with what my teachers were saying at such a fast pace,” he said.

“This really affected my education. I got low grades and was put in the bottom set for everything.

“I felt very lonely at school. As I couldn’t speak the language, I couldn’t make friends. It took many months for my English to develop and to start forming connections with people.”

Last year when he was in Year 12, after seeing it on TikTok, Mohammad signed up to free social mobility technology platform Zero Gravity, to help him with the university application process.

Mohammad will be the first person in his family to attend university. He explained: “Even though my parents never went to university, I always wanted to try going for it. My parents always wanted me to have the opportunity to study at a world class institute.

“I’ve worked so hard for my A-levels and they were so difficult, so to see my hard work is paying off and getting accepted into my firm choice university is an amazing feeling.”

Mohammad’s ambitions for the future after university is to be a doctor in the NHS.