Salehah Butt (M18-20): Keeping your Options Open
Royal SpringBoard Bursary recipient Salehah was kind enough to take a study break from revision for her finals in Social Sciences at King’s College London to tell us why moving to Bradfield, pushing herself outside her comfort zone and choosing to study the International Baccalaureate were the right options for her.
The relationship between Royal SpringBoard and Salehah’s previous school, Gladesmore Community School, had started two years before her opportunity to apply came. She describes ‘a big buzz’ around the Springboard bursary programme at the beginning of year 11 with talks from alumni and lots of encouragement to apply. Salehah heard about the IB programme that Bradfield offered and knew it would provide her with the flexibility she had been looking for.
As someone who was charismatic and doing well at secondary school, I saw applying to Bradfield as a ‘no-brainer’
Salehah was however nervous lest she faltered given the almost unimaginable change between her school environment and Bradfield. Her future HSM, Helen Peters, quickly settled her nerves.
‘She didn’t make me feel anything other than I was somebody who was meant to be there and in fact, everyone I met showed a real interest in me and made me feel at ease. Whilst I might have started the day feeling anxious, I left it quite excited.’
Salehah was successful in the interview and selected to study Spanish, Psychology, Maths, English and Economics, as her IB courses. She loved being able to study such a broad mix of topics, which in addition to being subjects that she enjoyed, kept her future options open. Although the IB programme was busy, and she had a strong focus on academic achievement, she sought opportunities outside of the classroom to ensure she made the most of her time at Bradfield.
I identified that I could be more self-confident, so I set that as one of my goals and Bradfield ultimately helped me to become the person that I wanted to be.
She cites her participation in a production of ‘Antigone’ during her first term as a real personal challenge, it also however marked her transition to feeling at home at Bradfield. It allowed her to meet many people from different year groups and different houses and broaden her circle of friends, which in turn gave her confidence.
Her tutor also encouraged her to try debating, something that she again entered with some trepidation. It took her to recognise that as some of the other participants were from her Economics class, she was engaging in an activity with friends, not a true opposition and that therefore even if she made a flawed argument, it wasn’t the end of the world.
‘The play, debating and volunteering were the key stages in my Bradfield journey that enabled me to grow in confidence. It was clear to me that people at Bradfield really cared about me and cared about what I had to say.’
Salehah also really enjoyed volunteering at Bradfield, especially visiting the after-school clubs at local primary schools. She had a real boost being involved with the Carwarden Olympics, for which she had the chance to shape, coordinate and facilitate activities on the day.
‘The Carwarden Olympics was fun as well as being very uplifting. I still talk about them to this day because I am proud of the part that I played.’
In participating in all these non-academic activities to build her self-confidence Salehah felt that Bradfield was really interested in her as a person and cared about her. She was also surprised – in a good way – by how tolerant the school was of her faith.
I had a pre-conception that being a practising Muslim at Bradfield would be tough, but in reality, it was a total non-issue, I was able to observe my faith without fear or favour.
She described Bradfield as a place that encourages people to share their beliefs openly and without fear of judgement and how she felt that she was supported for being herself. She explains that there was always an alternative if there was something that she didn’t feel comfortable doing or something that didn’t work with her beliefs.
‘Bradfield was accommodating in every sense.’
Salehah’s own aptitude to offer pastoral support was also recognised with her being chosen as a Faulkner’s Prefect in the Upper Sixth. In the Lower Sixth, she volunteered to help in Faulkner’s, where she was a friendly face in the house for the junior pupils to chat with and also provide a bit of homework support if required.
‘As someone with younger siblings, being able to help Faulkner’s pupils felt like a very natural thing to do’
Salehah is considering working with young people in the future, but right now she is focused on finishing her degree. She has loved studying Social Sciences and believes that the breadth and content IB course – theory of knowledge, the extended essay and the mini dissertation – were the perfect preparation for her degree and university study more broadly. She also believes that IB has given her an advantage over fellow A-level students who seemed to struggle with study skills that are core competencies in the IB syllabus.
I’m especially glad that I chose IB because it gives you a great grounding in the disciplines that you will require at university and softens that transition.
In addition to writing her dissertation, Salehah started coding with the aim of transitioning into UX design and was recently successful in securing a ‘Technology Accelerate’ trainee position – working in technology design – for Cancer Research UK. Salehah has proven that her strategy to keep her options open has been a success and we wish her every success in her new role.
