Condolences Celebrates GCSE results

In 12 months, a teenager who lost four family members passed his GCSE and secured his place in further education.

From Plymouth, Lily said that her father, two grandparents and her cousins ​​died last year.

When her father died in August 2024, Lily said she was a “real character”.

On Thursday, now the 16-year-olds opened their results, praising the once a barnado and co-op partnership service to provide a “safe place”, helping him to make his exam possible.

He said “There was no one else like his father.

“It was really difficult to go to school after Dad’s death.

“So in December, when I had my second round of GCSE mock exam, I was really trying to focus.

“It seemed that there was a lot of pressure to succeed.”

She said that she can “just believe in it” when her naan died, soon after her father’s death.

Lily said that she tried to see the new year as an opportunity to move forward.

However, his grandfather died in March 2025.

“After the death of my father and Nan, I started realizing how precious time was, so I will often go upstairs and see it [grandad] after school.

“I was looking at him that day, but then my teacher took me out of my English mock exam, and I went out to see my mother crying.

“I didn’t know what to do – I was just numb. The third death in less than a year. I could not believe it.”

Lily’s family experienced another loss when her cousin died in July 2025.

Lily said that she had secured her place in the sixth form after achieving her results and would study drama, criminal science and sociology.

“I used to think that when I grew up I wanted to become a lawyer,” she said.

“But now I think I want to help young people – such as people have helped me in Tech U Tuesday service.

Takeaway is supported by Barnardo and Co-Op on Tuesday and is the place where young people prepare food and eat together.

“I don’t know what I would have done without it,” Lily said.