Best Schools - A teenager who smuggled himself into the UK to escape war-torn Syria has secured a place at Oxford U

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Syrian refugee who arrived in Britain on a frozen chip lorry wins place at Oxford to study maths

A teenager who smuggled himself into the UK to escape war-torn Syria has secured a place at Oxford University.

Sulaiman Wihba was awarded a scholarship by Brighton College when he was spotted 3 years ago making the “torturous” two-month journey from Syria.

Mr Wihba managed to reach the UK by travelling through Europe - stowed away in a lorry filled with frozen chips.

After achieving 4 A*s in maths, further maths, chemistry and physics, he's now been rewarded with a place at one of the world's most prestigious institutions.

Brighton College headmaster Richard Cairns said: “Sulaiman has worked incredibly hard, in the face of great adversity, and he richly deserves this offer.

“We’re proud to have helped this remarkable young man attain his goal. He serves as a shining example to our other pupils of how perseverance and determination are rewarded. We know he will achieve great things in the future.”

Some 30 more Brighton College pupils have been made offers to Oxbridge this week.

Private school scam warning as Charity Commission says parents are being targeted by email fraudsters

PARENTS with children at private schools are at risk of losing tens of thousands of pounds to email fraudsters who convince them to pay their fees into scam accounts, the Charity Commission has warned.

The cyber criminals, posing as a member of school staff, tend to make their initial contact by email, explaining that a change in the payment procedure has taken place or promising a discount for early-fee payments.

Doctored invoices are then sent over via email with the school's bank details replaced with the criminals'. Once the funds have been transferred, by the time the ruse is uncovered the money is usually gone.

The fraudsters are able to gain access to the schools' contact lists through a "phishing" attack. Emails can then be sent to parents from the school's compromised system.

Fraudsters can also impersonate the school using modified email addresses.

These can look almost identical to the genuine address and be difficult to spot. For example, the National Fraud Investigation Bureau said it had seen cases where the spoofed email address used "nn" instead of "m".