A teenager who feared deportation while sitting exams is celebrating today (August 15) after gaining three A Levels.
Stiven Bregu, from Albania, recently won an appeal against an order for him to leave the UK, where he has lived since being dumped near Keynsham as a 14-year-old.
Today Stiven learned he had been successful in the exams he sat at St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, Bristol.
The 18-year-old said: “A big thank you to everyone who supported me - it’s been a stressful few weeks but I’m pleased with how everything went.”
He added that he was “delighted” to be remaining in the city, where he will start an apprenticeship with wealth management firm Rowan Dartington.
St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School head teacher Elisabeth Gilpin said she was very pleased for Stiven.
She said: “He has worked really hard and not let the shocking news of his initial application to remain in the UK being turned down deter him.”
She added: “I know that Stiven will put back a lot into our country through his kindness as a role model to younger people, through his hard work and through the taxes he will pay.
“He will always be part of the extended school family and network where we are all very fond of him.”
Almost 100,000 people signed a petition earlier this summer calling for the Home Office to let Stiven stay.
Two years ago, Bristol Live reported on the teenager’s success when he passed his GCSEs with flying colours, despite having arrived in the country just a couple of years earlier, unable to speak English.
Stiven was 13 years old when his mother handed him to traffickers in Albania, prompting an arduous journey across Europe.
He was 14 by the time he was left at the side of the road in the middle of the night near Keynsham in 2015.
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