A Swindon teen who was suspended over 40 times from school has passed his GCSE's.
Jamie Taylor, 17, resat his GCSE Maths and English Language exams in May and June this year after a rough time at school, where he was disqualified from four exams, suspended more than 40 times and moved schools three times since starting Year 7.
In March 2026, Jamie decided he wanted to retake his Maths and English and went on to achieve a grade 5 in both subjects, equivalent to a high C.
Now, inspired by his own journey, Jamie hopes to use his experiences to support other young people facing similar challenges and show them that it is never too late to succeed.
"I wanted to turn my life around to help people," said Jamie.
"I had a 30 per cent attendance rate per year and I was suspended 20 times just in Year 11. But I just woke up one day and decided I wanted to redo my Maths and English GCSE's.
"I want to start my own mentoring business one day to help kids like me, and passing my exams just makes it a whole lot easier."
Due to his suspensions and low attendance, Jamie's said his school, The Deanery CE Academy in Swindon, picked his GCSE options on his behalf.
The subjects included Sports Studies, Religious Studies, Maths, English and Combined Science.
Jamie was disqualified from all three of his Sports Studies exams and also Religious Studies, resulting in him receiving zero marks for both subjects.
After leaving school, Jamie enrolled on a Level 1 Business and IT course at Swindon New College, where he resat his Maths and English exams.
Although he successfully completed and passed the first year, he decided the course was not the right fit for him.
He is now hoping to find a teaching apprenticeship, which will help him gain the skills and experience needed to achieve his goal of helping other young people.
"We don’t all learn, behave or respond to authority the same so giving everyone the same treatment at school doesn’t always work. It makes kids like me worse, as most of us don’t like being told what to do," said Jamie.
"I’ve done my own thing all my life. What matured me was what you go through. I think students should be given more freedom to work in their own way and make their own choices. Giving students more trust and independence can help them achieve far more.
"Even though I passed my vision is still the same. I want my own business, eventually I want multiple, but to make that happen I needed to be secure. My GCSE's did just that."
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