It is hard to believe that Fahad Nsimbe was ever a badly behaved boy.

The friendly 16-year-old, of Clement Road, Colindale, was recently voted student of the year at his school, Capital City Academy in Willesden and achieved excellent GCSE results last summer.

But he says he used to hang around on the streets and even flirted with gang culture, although never got involved with weapons. He credits a supplementary school, Organisation of Young Africans (OYA), based in Grahame Park, with helping him turn his life around.

OYA believes African children, by which it means all people from the African continent, the Caribbean and those with African roots, achieve more when they have a strong sense of their culture.

The school teaches about 120 pupils aged 11 to 16 for five hours each Saturday. Alongside English, maths and science, it runs a culture programme to help students develop confidence in their backgrounds.

There are also assemblies and mentor schemes for students to discuss any problems they are experiencing and a weekly after-school programme where students can get help with homework.

Dr Firinne Ni Chreachain, 65, of Silkstream Road, Burnt Oak, is the project co-ordinator for OYA and one of its founders.

She said she became concerned about the achievement of children of African origin when she looked at Government figures which showed they were underperforming.

Last year, an average of 52.5 per cent of black students achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, compared to a national average of 59.3 per cent.

In the same year, 82 per cent of pupils on the OYA scheme gained five or more A* to C grades at GCSE.

Dr Ni Chreachain said: “I thought that clearly something was going wrong. I was living in Grahame Park when we decided to set up the project. We had no money and no building, but eventually the council agreed to give us a building and we got funding and here we are now.

“I’m proud to say the GCSE results of OYA students are year-on-year better than the national average, the Barnet average and the average of black children across the UK.”

Fahad is one of many students who say OYA has helped them put their education back on track.

Aron Fisahaye is another former student with big ambitions. The 18-year-old from Middle Dene, in Mill Hill, is applying to study chemical engineering and recently gained two As and a B in AS-levels in maths, chemistry and physics. He said that being exposed to positive black role models by OYA inspired him.

“Seeing black people in high-earning, prestigious careers showed me I could do it,” said Aron. “OYA has helped me work harder. One of the maths teachers in OYA once gave me his mobile number and asked me to call him if I needed help. I could never imagine anything like that happening in school.”

One of OYA’s main philosophies is giving students the confidence to achieve, something which Annie-Rea Khanu, 19, of Holyrood Gardens, Edgware, has benefited from. She said that, as well as learning core subjects, OYA gave her the confidence to put her hand up in the classroom and ask questions.

Nineteen-year-old former student Zara Lartey, of Cricklewood Broadway, added: “OYA isn’t about teachers versus students, it’s about teachers supporting students.

“They’re there to help you — they treat us how they would treat their own children. We’re like a family here.”

m To find out more about OYA, call Dr Ni Chreachain on 020 8200 4587, Tuesday to Friday between 11am and 5pm.