Oscar Albert
Oscar Albert, now 29, works as a writer and filmmaker, finding success in a career that once seemed impossible given his severe dyslexia. After studying Classical Studies at Bristol University, he transitioned into the film industry where he now makes his living through writing – an ironic twist for someone who once “couldn’t put a word on paper.” Oscar’s journey from a struggling young student to a professional writer showcases how the right educational environment can transform challenges into strengths.
Before Bruern
I was just not a very happy young kid before Bruern. I went there around age 10, but I was so horrifically dyslexic – really, the most dyslexic person I had ever met – and could not put anything down on paper. For my first six to ten years in early education, I think I was sort of dismissed and passed off as just being either difficult or thick. At the point in life when the most important thing you’re learning is writing stuff down on paper, that was my Achilles heel.
I was knackered and tired and very, very lost. My mom saw that and knew through my dad, who is also very dyslexic, that what the teachers were saying couldn’t have been true. She knew there needed to be a better path, a different avenue for education. So she started looking around and asking, and somehow Bruern came into her field of understanding.
Adjusting to School Life
At first, it was quite a shock to the system – leaving home quite young and boarding there. It was a very different world to the one I knew back at home in London in a little house. It was like a cultural shock, just being surrounded by 100 boys aged 10 to 13. It’s a weird thing! I was quite upset at first and found it difficult.
But then gradually, I really took to it. The support I got for the dyslexia was fundamental – the ability to reframe my thinking away from “this is just something I can’t do” to “this is something I can figure out how to do with the right set of guiding lights and principles.”
Learning Differently
Bruern was where I first ever used a scribe for exams and papers, which ended up being something I used throughout the rest of my education. They introduced that way of working to me that was so fundamentally useful. I could suddenly write really well – I just didn’t have to spell it!
I think it was life-changing in terms of reframing my self-belief and developing skills that I still use today. They’ve evolved into the way I need to work now, using what I had – very specific, quite strong dyslexia – to get what I needed to do done.
Beyond Academics
My memories often move away from the education side to the life of it – running around in the grounds and that giant redwood tree, climbing trees and making dens, playing with my friends, and living in this kind of fantasy world of being a young kid. Being free to do that and having that possibility to run was incredible.
I also have such vivid memories of those formal dinners every Tuesday and Thursday. It was about being incorporated not only in the kids’ world but into the adult world as well – developing your ability to be amongst all different types of people, engage with them in conversation, relate to them, talk to them, learn from them. I really enjoyed those dinners.
Food was such a massive part of my life – I come from a chefing family. The chef there, called John, was great. I used to hang out in the kitchen and cook there with him. I remember that really clearly.
Life After Bruern
After Bruern, I went to St. Edwards from 13 to 18, and then to Bristol University where I studied Classical Studies. Despite being “not always the best of students and a bit naughty,” I ended up falling in love with learning and education.
I kept using the scribe throughout my time at St. Edwards, which was really just an extension of the practice I started at Bruern. Once I had that support, it opened up all avenues, and as long as I could work in my own way, I found I had a process that allowed me to get things done. I ended up doing relatively well in all my exams.
The frustrating thing was that teachers often didn’t understand my learning style. My grades were always predicted far lower than what I ended up getting – every single GCSE and A-level, I always got two grades above what was predicted. I wasn’t great in class writing quick exercises, but the information went in and I retained it.
The Impact of Bruern Today
Ironically, I’m now a writer. That’s how I mainly make my living – literally not being able to put a word on paper as a young kid, and now my job and how I make money is through writing.
I have a really hard-working, wonderful producer who helps with my writing, but for the most part, I’ve developed a system that works for me. I actually think it makes me a much better writer, through the slightly roundabout way I have to get words onto paper.
I think writing for film and TV is more helpful for a dyslexic brain than writing prose. You’re writing experientially, very much moment by moment, and you can get lost in the imagination of it rather than having to focus so much on what’s literally written on the page. It’s about what’s going to come out of what’s written on the page, rather than the words themselves.
I’m very aware of the level of opportunity I was given at Bruern, and that not everyone has it. I have a real sense of how much it benefited my life and meant that I had these structures and pathways to succeed. Bruern truly changed my life by helping me see my dyslexia not as a limitation, but as a different way of thinking and working.