Testimonies – 2020 Session

I have a been a student at The 16 Plus for three years, and over the course of my stay, I have learned a lot. 

Teachers can either make or break any school because while some concepts are easy to learn, other concepts require a teacher who has mastered the art of teaching to drive the point home for each student. The best thing about my school is the teachers we have. The 16 Plus school boasts of experienced and dedicated teachers who are willing to go the extra mile to make sure you understand what is being taught. Combined with the school’s rigorous but efficient academic system, it is just a matter of time before you see expected results.

Two important things that my school has taught me are: 1) hard work is key and 2) practice makes perfect. For instance, at the start of my A levels, my physics was merely at a D, but now it has progressed to almost an A, with the teachers’ guide and continual practice.

The 16 Plus has also instilled high moral standards in me which I will make sure not to forget as I advance in life. Every time I achieve a milestone, I will look back at my time at 16 Plus, the school that made sure my foundation was sturdy and got me ready to face the world.

Appreciation

Looking back from where I started, I was sure that I was going to the US to study after my good WAEC performance. However, that did not happen as my parents enrolled me in The 16 Plus School, I acquiesced because I had gotten good enough grades to enter into a good university right away. I did not see the reason to stay back and do another year.

Little did I know what 16 Plus was made of, not only was I enrolled in 16 Plus I was moved into the hostels to now live in the 16 Plus, this was completely strange as my previous school was a day school. The 16 Plus classes began. The first month wasn’t easy for me because I thought it was business as usual, academically, but I got it wrong. A-Level was a different ball game and was quite challenging. The methodology of teaching in A-Level as it’s called is quite advanced but will bring out the best in you, as their motto goes, for me the extra year has helped me develop mentally and physically.

When the first continuous assessment came around, I got a C in one of my subjects, which was a wake-up call to me because it had dawn on me that my parents intended on me completing my A-Levels so I had to get serious, and with the support from my teachers this was very easy. In my next assessment this support reflected as I had all As in my subjects.

I was a couple of weeks from completing my A-Levels and travelling out to the US to further my studies, but the COVID-19 lockdown, prevented me from travelling. But thank God for the director of the 16 Plus School, Mrs. Ivie Okpanachi, who my mother contacted to discuss about the challenge I was having in securing a visa in time for my departure to the US. Within a very short notice she was able to give us an alternative solution, to study in the UK, which was perfect for me because I am an Irish citizen and did not need a visa to travel, which my parents hadn’t considered. The 16 Plus assisted in the processing of the exams and admission which I took all remotely online securing me admission into the University of Greenwich as a direct entry into the Year1. I am currently in the UK studying BEng Hons. Chemical Engineering, a course I would have done for 4 years, with my A-Levels I will now be taking for 3, thanks to all the teachers for their tremendous support and special thanks to the director, Mrs. Ivie Okpanchi for her unrelenting assistance.

Looking back at The 16 Plus School –Awomuse Iyanuoluwa

Education is more integral in our society than it is given credit for. Only through education can cultures be established which in turn, then, makes way for civilization and innovation. More so, innovation itself accounts for all that mankind has been able to achieve. Education, therefore, is the catalyst for every and any form of human progress. So why not get quality education? 

The emergence of a stream of providers of quality education is on the horizon and evidence to support this claim can be found in the fast pace of innovation in the present day society. So why not ride the wave? The desire to ride this wave to its zenith is what brought me to The 16 Plus School.

The 16 Plus School opened a number of doors that I never thought to exist. It also gave me a clear picture of what quality education should look like. Funny how I used the word “picture” because by my funny little way of drawing analogies, I find the learning system of The 16 Plus to have striking similarities to the picture-taking process. How so, you ask? Let me shed some light.

First, what is the first step a photographer takes in order to create the perfect image? He envisions what he would like to depict — pain, pleasure, joy, etc. Vision is something that I noticed in The 16 Plus, from my very first day, as shown by the school’s motto: “bringing out the best in you.” It might not be as wordy as the conventional institutional visions but it is a heavy statement of intent -for its student to be successful.

The next thing that comes to the mind of the photographer is the setting. The setting is ever so important because a blade of grass short could prove costly. The 16 Plus had that perfect balance between vision and setting. Learning took place in a serene and conducive environment and the students were assured comfort always.

Furthermore, the photographer picks out his apparatus. The apparatus is the make or break factor. Anything short of perfection in the photographer’s choice of a camera would render the lot of the process redundant. In learning, the apparatus is the staff and the teachers. And I must say, the school really outdid itself in this aspect. The joy of learning under quality teachers and professionals of their respective trades was an honour. It felt good to learn under people that you could not only call teachers but also friends; this, probably, was what did the trick for me. It was simply an honour.

Drawing closer to the business end of the picture-taking process, the photographer has to consider the tripod, the support that holds the process together. The 16 Plus School was set upon a tripod of its clear doctrine: discipline, hard-work, and dedication. On a daily basis, the students as well as the staff fed on these three values which proved integral and was truly the foundation on which the school firmly stood.

Finally for the photographer is the actual picture taking action, the capturing. Every photographer should have an understanding of the fact that in order to find the perfect angle, there will be a series of trials and errors. They should, however, not let these trials deter them but keep on trying until perfection is achieved.

Honestly, my time in The 16 Plus was not all a bed of roses; it wasn’t, by any means. To come out of it with my head held up high was no easy task. It involved countless sleepless nights, weariness and the urge to give up. And to say the truth, we fell a couple of times; all of us did, being only human. But what made us come out of it smiling at the end was the fact that despite all these trials, we had the strength to see it through. And strength, what a word; The 16 Plus gave me tonnes of it.

Anyone can achieve that perfect picture s/he envisions; one only needs the right photographer, and what a photographer The 16 Plus has been. And to think, all this and more came from a single question, why not ride the wave?