A schoolgirl from Richmond has passed her GCSE maths with flying colours – at just 10 years old.

Allegra Andrews, from St Margarets, put her time over lockdown to good use by studying to take the national qualification ahead of her peers.

The Year 6 student achieved a five - the highest grade possible – in an exam typically taken by pupils in Year 11.

The young maths whizz said that she has loved numbers from “the get-go.”

“I found my schoolwork quite easy, so I thought I would challenge myself by taking the GCSE.”

She embarked on an intensive self-learning programme, of up to three hours of work a day for 11 months, with a tutor helping at the end.

“At first, I found it hard, as it was for older children. Then I started getting used to it and I really enjoyed it,” said the student from Orleans Primary School, Twickenham.

The 10-year-old intended to take the foundation maths GCSE in June 2020, but this was postponed after national exams were cancelled this summer.

Rather than rely on a predicted grade, she sat the exam at Ealing Independent College in November, when lockdown restrictions permitted.

Alan Andrews said he worried his daughter would be traumatised coming out of the exam hall.

“But she came out of every exam bright and happy. She would just shrug and say, ‘it was alright.”'

There's no rest for the 10-year-old, who is already planning to take the higher GCSE maths paper as soon as possible.

It’s a step in a future, which according to Allegra, will “most definitely” involve numbers.

“I really love maths and I wouldn’t think of doing anything else – maybe I’ll do finance or something which involves adding,” she said.