Theparents whorefusedto believeEtonwas onlyfortoffs

They live on one of London’s toughest estates. But when their brilliantly gifted boy only got a place at a school once branded the ‘worst in Britain’, they took a bold gamble, with inspirational results...

measures and listed as one of the eight most challenging schools in England. One newspaper headline asked: ‘Is this the worst school in Britain?’ In 2007, it was named Britain’s ‘most improved’ school, only for standards to fall again by the time that Schuyler received his offer — although today, as an academy, the school appears to be improving. Harry and Stephanie rejected the offer and decided to home educate Schuyler, but say they received letters from the local education authority, warning of court action to force their son to attend the school after they refused a home visit to check on their provision. Harry says: ‘Given his academic proficiency, the school could not meet Schuyler’s needs. But it was the only one we were offered because it was the nearest. ‘There was no reason for us to agree to a home visit when I could demonstrate he was receiving an education appropriate for him and better than he would have received at the school they were offering.’ Schuyler’s parents organised English tuition from an author friend, supervised internet tutorials and educational events at Imperial College in White City. A self-motivated learner, their son often took charge of his own education, but now admits it was at times lonely. While in Year 8, Schuyler was offered a place at the highly regarded West London Free School, he left after a year to take up his place at Eton, after passing an interview and test to evaluate his academic potential. Stephanie says: ‘I don’t think it even came into my head that he might go to Eton, so I couldn’t believe it when he got a place.’ Harry adds: ‘When I told Schuyler there was a possibility of going to boarding school, he immediately said: “What do I have to do?” then: “When do I start?” I assumed there Going places: Schuyler (top, at Eton) is from the White City Estate would be some kind of snobbery, but I imagined the challenge of getting him there wouldn’t be unreasonably great. What I saw was a wealthy school that had lots of amenities and turned out boys with as good an education as anywhere else in the country.’ Schuyler says: ‘I enjoyed being at West London Free School — it was nice to be back at school — but, when Eton came up, I really couldn’t turn it down because of all the opportunities here. ‘I’m very thankful to my parents — it’s been hard work for them.’ Harry and Stephanie will never forget their sense of pride when they arrived by train with Schuyler the day before he started at Eton, enjoying a BBQ with all the other new boys and their parents. Harry remembers: ‘Schuyler is very confident and just took control of the situation, saying to the other boys: “Let’s get some food.” They looked more nervous than he did. When we left, I just told him: “Enjoy it!” ‘The only change in him that I have seen since he started is that he is now very contented.’ With the world his oyster, rather than his options limited because of where he lives, Schuyler is taking his time to work out what he wants to do in the future. Definitely university — maybe a science, possibly psychology. ‘It’s going well and it’s a lot of fun,’ says Schuyler. ‘It’s hard work, having to catch up with boys who went to prep school. There are certain things I haven’t learned, so it’s been a bit of a challenge. But nothing I can’t handle.’