A TEN-YEAR-OLD girl has proved she has ability beyond her age – by gaining a C grade in her GCSE maths exam.
Zara Hashmi Bashir, who goes to Rise Park Primary School, impressed her parents and teachers so much with her ability that they sent her for lessons with older pupils at Top Valley Academy.Scroll down to see results so far...
She attended maths classes once a week and sat her exam last month, picking up a C.
However, she is not satisfied with just that, as a C grade was the maximum she could obtain in the paper she took. Instead, she is working towards sitting for a harder paper in the hope that she will soon get an A grade. She is due to sit that paper in June.
Zara said: "I feel really proud. It was a bit scary when I went to Top Valley with the older pupils at first. But I got used to it.
"I was going on Tuesdays to the academy and now I've started going on Wednesdays some weeks.
"I really enjoy maths. It is one of my favourite subjects. When I got the result, I was really pleased."
Zara started going to the academy in October last year.
Her mum, Naz Hashmi Bashir, said her daughter got her maths ability from herself and her husband Tariq.
Their other children, eight-year-old Kamran and six-year-old Tanya, are also good at maths.
She said: "Being good at maths runs in the family. We are so proud of Zara. She is very calm about it all. She's taken it completely in her stride.
"It's incredible how she has gone to a school with older children and really settled into the classes.
"She could have sat the exam in November, really. But we felt we should give her a bit more time."
Zara is in Year 5 at Rise Park Primary, meaning she still has more than a year left before she goes to secondary school.
Rise Park head teacher Karen Slack said: "I have been at this school since 1998 and I have never had this happen before.
"Zara is exceptionally talented. Once we felt she had the ability to sit her GCSE exam, myself and Top Valley head teacher Peter Brown spoke with her mum. It has been a tremendous achievement getting this grade. Now she is looking to get an A."
