Elliot - East London 2016

"When I started School of Hard Knocks, I was a troublemaker.  Now instead of starting trouble in lessons, I just start trouble in rugby for the opposition!"

Elliot is a Year 11 in his third year of SOHK for Schools, at a school in East London. Two years ago Elliot was at risk of permanent exclusion from school. He’s now Deputy Head Boy. This is his story:

“When I started School of Hard Knocks I was a troublemaker. Now instead of starting trouble in lessons I just start trouble in rugby for the opposition! Rugby is a sport where you can show your aggression, and it’s given me somewhere to release that. I’ve become calm, and I’m Deputy Head Boy now, which I could not have imagined before School of Hard Knocks. I never had the confidence to do something big before, but I thought about applying and just tried. In my application I wrote about how I am now able to communicate with others well, to work in a team, influence the younger years better. I had those things in me already but Hard Knocks helped me to bring them out and build on them.”