Josh wins a scholarship!!!

Josh Madine has received a music scholarship to St. Paul's School in London! It's one of the top schools in the UK! A UK newspaper published the article which you can read here. Thanks to Dani for the link. The article calls him "an aspiring musician." :D Besides singing, he plays the piano and the clarinet. But we knew that. And I think he composes, too. :)

He apparently did extremely well on his GCSE's for which he said he studied almost every day for 3 months. This is such a great accomplishment! He seems very hardworking, determined and disciplined.

Congratulations, Josh! Hope you do well in your new school! Study hard and have fun! I guess not coming to Canada paid off, huh? lol. :)

P.S. I have a confession. I really wrote this so I could use the amazing picture of Josh from the article. ;)

And can anyone explain the exams and scores? I don't understand the A*. Is that like our A+? For my school, 94-95% is an A-, 96-99% is an A, and 100% is an A+. I can tell he is very pleased, so it's all good! :D


Here's the copy for the article in case the newspaper ever deletes it online:

An aspiring musician has won a place at a prestigious music school after getting top marks in his GCSEs.

Joshua Madine, 16, of ...Norbury, has been offered a scholarship to study music at St Paul’s School in Barnes. He scored nine A* grades, five A grades and one B grade as a pupil at the Bishop Thomas Grant School in Streatham Hill.

He said: "I am completely overwhelmed. I am glad that all my hard work has paid off. I studied almost every day for three months.

"I was a bit nervous but I think if you put the hard work in, you get the grades you deserve."

Joshua will receive free instrumental lessons when he enrols at St. Paul’s in September. Recent alumni include Winston Marshall from Mumford & Sons, and Charlie Fink from Noah and the Whale.

The talented schoolboy, who plays piano and clarinet, is a member of Norbury based choir Libera. The successful choral group have recorded film soundtracks, provided backing vocals for the likes of Cliff Richard and have performed all over the world, including singing for President George Bush. Despite his success, he said he will be sad to leave his current school.

He said: "I am going to miss it. It has been a great school. I have met loads of lovely people. The teachers have been great. But I am still going to be tied to the school because my sister goes here."

Headteacher Louis Desa congratulated Joshua on his success.

He said: "His achievements are richly deserved. He is involved in a lot of things outside of school as well, but he is quite a modest person.

"We are sad to lose him but he has obtained a scholarship to one of the top schools in the country and we have no doubt he will be highly successful as his new school."

In total, 69 per cent of students at Bishop Thomas Grant School achieved five A* to C GCSE grades including English and Maths, making the school the second most improved in Lambeth. Mr Desa thanked teachers, support staff, parents and the school governors for helping to achieve the results.