A CRADLEY Heath student is celebrating after achieving the highest marks possible is the newly assessed English and maths GCSE exams.

Sehrish Mahmood, a pupil at Ormiston Forge Academy, was awarded grade nine in all three of her exams, putting her in the top 0.4 per cent in the country, with less than 2,000 students nationally being able to match her achievement.

As well as the perfect grade nines, Sehrish also achieved six A*s and two As under the old grading system, and is now studying maths, law, psychology and English literature in the sixth form at Forge.

Principal Andrew Burns said: “I'm delighted for Sehrish and this is a magnificent achievement for her.

“Now, she needs to use this as a springboard into her A level studies, keep working hard and produce another set of outstanding results in two years time.”

Students have been marked under the new one to nine grading system, with nine being the highest grade for English literature, English language and maths, while the rest of their subjects have been marked under the old A* to G grades.

Until 2019, GCSE exams will be a combination of number and letter grades, but by 2020, exam certificates will contain only the new number grades.