Mander Portman Woodward (MPW) Cambridge

Alvin won the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award. Alvin joined MPW from Hong Kong for our two-year A level course in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. He achieved grades A*A*A*A*, meeting his conditional offer from the University of Cambridge to read Medicine. Alvin decided instead to pursue his university studies in Hong Kong.

MPW is ranked among the very top sixth form colleges in the A-Level results table with an extraordinarily high rate of 40% of candidates obtaining A*/A, according to the Telegraph. Being situated in Cambridge, a place widely pervaded by an academic atmosphere, MPW ought to be an ideal place for studying. These were my considerations when choosing a college: academic performance and location. And, that was why I chose MPW.

Indeed, MPW is not in vain that it bears the place in the table. I received high levels of holistic assistance covering my academic aspect as well as university guidance from the teachers. Joel, my personal tutor, did not only help me with my application but also voluntarily used his spare time to mark my extra homework as an experienced philosophy teacher. My class teachers, Toby, Nick and Neil, were all equally excellent explainers on the abstract concepts of philosophical arguments, mathematical formulae and economic problems respectively in spite of the limited time of the course, whose length was only a year for both AS and A2. Their enlightenments on me were not merely scholarly, they ameliorated my attitude towards studying, my logical and critical thinking, and most importantly, they befriended me not as teachers but socially experienced yet ordinary men, which is fundamental to students because to us, schools are not places wholly classified as homework factories, on the contrary, they are where we live, where we interact with and learn life experience from people.

The result day did not bring any disappointment to the teachers to whom I should thank and be grateful for. I eventually achieved A*AAA in my A-Level and am en route to study law at Cambridge, which drew a period, if not an exclamation mark, to my secondary education. I can conclude that my life at MPW was enjoyable and unforgettable that there was no regret or mournfulness that I chose MPW. It was a privilege and an honour having studied there.