Hartlepool pupil's top marks in GCSE exam '“ aged just 13!

Jessica Yong, who attends Hartlepool’s Dyke House and Technology College, has scooped her first GCSE after achieving the highest possible grade in mathematics.

She secured the super Grade 9, which is regarded as one better than the former A* top mark.

It was estimated beforehand that only 3% of those sitting the GCSE maths paper in the country would achieve that grade.

Jessica – who was in Year 8 when she sat the exam – said: “I am really proud of myself for being able to achieve that.

“I love it at Dyke House and everyone has congratulated me.

“There were a couple of questions I got stuck on but I was OK because I had done a lot of mock exams to prepare for.”

Jessica will now study statistics rather than GCSE maths, and has done her teachers – as well as parents Wendy and Weng – proud.

Maths teacher Tina Davison said: “It was phenomenal.

“Every single night Jess would take work home to self-study and come in the next day to get advice.

“It was through sheer hard work, a massive dollop of talent and Jess, in my opinion, is possibly the most talented mathematician I have ever taught.

“There is only a small amount of people who get a level 9 regardless of their age.

“She desperately wanted that 9. I was confident because she lost just one mark in her last mock paper – a glitch!

“Jess is very quiet, an unassuming young lady, but quietly confident.

“It’s beautiful to see her progress and achieve.”

Jessica’s achievement was one of the highlights when 70 of Dyke House students learned they had achieved a standard A-C pass in English and Maths last month – a 27% improvement on 12 months earlier.

Her hobbies include origami and playing the flute, and she made Mrs Davison a little origami swan – which now sits on her desk – to say thank you for her help.

The former Eldon Grove pupil is hoping to become an engineer when she is older.

On her love of maths, Jessica added: “I love power and surds the most.

“I like the endless theories and the patterns you can find in them.

“Patterns are everywhere when you look around you.

“They can be seen in nature, in petals on flowers, patterns are everywhere. There is usually a sequence in the petals.

“Patterns have become something I am really interested in and that’s what I see in numbers and in maths too.

“If I have a really hard problem I try to work it out first. Even if I don’t get the answer I will keep trying.”