Ibrahim Tahir is a recipient of the Orwell Award, a fully funded scholarship to Eton

By Sophie Mitchell

A student from Walthamstow has completed his first year at Eton College after receiving the Orwell Award, a fully funded scholarship to Eton for boys who attend state schools.

Ibrahim Tahir, an incoming Year 13 student, attended the Royal Liberty School for Boys in Havering for five years, attaining twelve GCSEs, ten of which were 9’s [A*s], and two being 8’s [A’s].

Ibrahim, a consistently high achieving student with promising predicted grades, says he was pushed by his peers to apply for a scholarship to the prestigious boarding school.

Ibrahim moved to the UK from Pakistan in 2010 at the age of two. When not living in a boarding house at Eton with 50 other students he lives with his mother, who is a housewife, his father, who owns a small business, two sisters and a brother. 

Before applying for the scholarship, Ibrahim attended Eton’s summer school, a five-day programme in the summer between Year 10 and 11, then applied for the award at the start of Year 11.

Speaking about the application process, he said: “It has changed slightly, but what I remember is that I had to answer five questions…and I also had to put in my predicted grades, and the grades that I’d already achieved.” 

After passing the initial application stage, he was brought to Eton to complete six interviews, a Maths exam, an English exam, and an “IQ test”.

He is currently studying A-Level English, Physics, Maths and Further Maths at Eton. 

Ibrahim says the extracurriculars he did at school, like public speaking and running a coding club, helped him with getting the scholarship: “These extracurriculars, these sports, these events, things that you run, you can talk about them, and that really makes you stand out.”

He has found that the opportunities for extracurricular development provided by Eton have helped him develop his interests, as well as finding new ones. 

He said: “I was part of the house chess team, which was a really good way for me to get connected with other people in the school.” The Eton Chess club recently hosted Shreyas Royal, Britain’s youngest-ever Grandmaster to give a talk and play against the boys: “It’s the kind of unique thing you get at a school like this.” 

A new activity Ibrahim has taken part in during his time at Eton is a play put on by his boarding house: “I’ve never done any drama before, and they really wanted me to get involved and I decided to sign up. 

“It was a really, really thrilling experience being on the stage, and a complete change of scenery for me as a person.”

With university applications on the horizon, he is considering applying for a Maths degree at “either Oxford or Cambridge”, as well as other high ranking schools like Imperial, UCL, and Durham, because he is interested in a career in finance, law, or AI development.

When asked what he would say to high achieving students in Walthamstow that might be interested in applying for the scholarship, he commented: “What I say is what I said to my friends at the time, and I’ve said to people in the year below, you should definitely go for it, there’s nothing to lose by applying.

“What’s really nice, is when you come for the exams and the interviews, you stay here for a couple of days and even if you don’t get in, you get to see everything here, and you get to connect with other people who are applying for the scholarship. I would definitely say go for it if you have some strong predicted grades.”

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