My dad works at Tesco ... now I’m off to Eton £76k scholarship for working class boy
THE son of a supermarket worker raised in one of Britain’s most impoverished areas has won a place at Eton.
Stephen Geddes, 16, will swap the streets of Liverpool suburb Dingle for the prestigious public school after winning a two-year £76,000 scholarship.
He will take up a place to study A-level maths, chemistry, biology and physics next September.
Stephen’s 54-year-old mother, Brenda, is a carer and his father, Stephen, 50, works in the frozen food department at Tesco. He is the youngest of four children. He lives in a council-owned property in a largely working class area of terraced streets. Dingle was the location for the Carla Lane series Bread, as well as Alan Bleasdale’s gritty drama, Boys from the Black Stuff.
Yesterday the schoolboy admitted Eton – which has educated 19 former Prime Ministers – was a ‘different world’ from the one he is used to.
‘I went to Eton two or three weeks ago for the interviews, it was overwhelming,’ he said.
But the youngster, who passed a maths exam and impressed in seven interviews over two days to win his place, said he wouldn’t be phased by his posh surroundings.
He added: ‘ I’m not nervous about going because I know I’ve got there through merit.
‘[It’s] a different world, the facilities... Proud: The pupil with parents Brenda and Stephen en something I’ve never seen before. My mum and dad are made up. My mum’s not stopped crying since I found out. They are really proud, but never expected anything like this. My mum is scared of letting me go but she knows it’s an amazing opportunity.’
Stephen attends King’s Leadership Academy, where around 80 per cent of pupils are classed as being from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He is predicted A grades in his GCSEs which he will sit next summer. Ofsted said the school ‘required improvement’ during its inspection last year, although it conceded it was making up ground having been placed in special measures in 2014. That year just 14 per cent of pupils got five GCSEs with grades A to C.
He was encouraged to apply with the help of the SpringBoard Bursary Foundation and Hope Opportunity Trust, which has a partnership with his school to get top performing pupils opportunities which would usually out of their financial reach.
Stephen’s maths teacher, David Crosby, who is helping another four pupils from the school to get into some of the country’s top public schools via the scheme, said: ‘I was in tears when I found out that Eton wanted to take him.
‘ I imagined Stephen in the future, filling out his CV. When he comes to the section marked ‘education’ he would write, “King’s Leadership Academy, Liverpool” and then “Eton College”.’
Mark O’Hagan, principal of King’s Leadership Academy, said he had worked in challenging areas throughout his career but Dingle was different.
‘It’s a very working class area, with high levels of deprivation but the parents are very supportive,’ he said.
‘We have more families here who believe that IQ isn’t affected by their postcode. Aspiration must be the starting point.
‘What is so important about this scheme is ... it will affect the people around them.
‘They may not want to go to Eton but they might see what Stephen did and tell themselves to make the best of their education. Stephen is from a normal family, they are lovely people, not much phases him. He’s a fantastic work ethic and is incredibly bright.’