Mohammed  is not your average young man. Over the past year he has shown exceptional progression from hopelessly walking the streets of Tower Hamlets to an apprenticeship in the city. With the help of dedicated staff at City Gateway he has overcome great challenges; and his life looks quite different now, helping others to overcome similar challenges as those he previously faced himself.

Like many of the young people City Gateway comes into contact with, Mohammed’s experience of education at school had been negative. Frequently subjected to racist attacks, he attended four different schools between the ages of 11 and 15. Such disruption made it very difficult to focus on his education. Life at home was also far from easy and he quickly developed friendships with people who distracted him away from his education, and towards a life of crime.

Mohammed came to City Gateway to attend our IT courses. The Ofsted Outstanding grade courses provided by the staff who worked with Mohammed developed a variety of skills from basic computer skills to the value of integrity. Despite extreme circumstances and a shaky start, Mohammed achieved one of our most impressive punctuality and attendance rates on record. In his own words, Mohammed describes the difference this opportunity made; ‘being at City Gateway has given me a path towards achieving things that will help me get employed. I now feel more motivated’.

For Mohammed the future now looks much brighter. Having successfully completed his IT level 2 and an apprenticeship in the City he has become an employee here at City Gateway; visiting Pupil Referral Units and encouraging other young people to take a positive attitude towards their educations. From experience he understands the vital importance of commitment to an education; he wants to ‘help other young people understand that you can turn your life around if you start to engage in education and take it seriously’. Mohammed relishes the opportunity to ‘give something back to City Gateway’ and we are enjoying having such a committed and motivated advocate.

In the future Mohammed hopes to work in the City using the skills he has learned at City Gateway.  We are so impressed by his transformation and the way in which he has turned his life around.

Over 300 young people each year come to City Gateway, many facing similar challenges as Mohammed. He is one of many young lives we are seeing changed through our courses and apprenticeship schemes. If you want to change the life of another young person, like Mohammed, why not consider taking them on as an apprentice? To find out more click here.