Growing up on an inner-city council estate does not give you many prospects. From a single parent family with benefits as our only source of income, it is hard to switch your focus from carefully planning the household meals to future academic and professional plans for the kids. Were it not for a chance conversation at the school gates with another parent who had heard about Hymers and the assistance they can offer, I am certain my life would have continued on the inevitable path I felt it was already treading. The assistance offered meant I was able to attend Hymers and gain an educational advantage that has lasted. Over and above the levels of teaching Hymers offered, the environment of being around other pupils with an equally inquisitive nature was a vast difference to what I was used to. While education alone is no silver bullet (I still had some very close calls to a very different life path), the opportunity value is immeasurably great and has been instrumental in my career to date.