A schoolboy from Harlesden is on his way to the countryside after winning a full scholarship to a top Oxfordshire boarding school.

Jordan McCabe, a year 10 pupil at Newman Catholic College in Harlesden Road, was inspired to go online and apply to Radley College in Radley, after his headteacher came back from a visit enthusing about the school’s resources.

He said: “The class were making jokes about posh boys with floppy hair but when I went home that day I looked online at the website and thought it looked really nice. “Then I looked at the application and I was two years past the deadline, needed a minimum of seven A stars at GCSE and it said they only accept a few boys a year.”

Not expecting a reply he sent the school registrar an email and was invited to a meeting at the school, where he sat five “quite challenging” exams.

Predicted nine A stars at GCSE, Jordan, who lives with his family in Drayton Road, Harlesden, will spend two years doing four A-levels at the £40,000-a-year boys’ school which boasts a £1million swimming pool with a simulation wave machine, a boat house on the River Thames and a golf course.

As part of his package all Jordan’s fees will be paid. His uniform, which includes a “Harry Potter” gown, will also be provided.

He added: “I’m still in a state of shock. I’m going, I’m boarding, I can’t believe I’ve got this opportunity. It will be amazing; it will be a nice two years.”

Danny Coyle, headmaster of NCC, visited the school to look at their sports links and was so impressed by what he saw, he had to share it with his pupils.

He said: “Jordan is a top lad, a hard working, normal kid. Just because you come from here and go to a bog standard comprehensive, it’s not a barrier.

“But there are very few boys from this part of London who would even find themselves in a private boarding school.”