A PUPIL of Hatch End High School achieved ten A*s in her GCSEs, despite coping with severe physical and communication disabilities.

Claire Malone, 16, of Alicia Gardens, Kenton, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was born.

But her mother, Jennifer, 50, and father, Eamonn, 51, decided early on that she would attend mainstream schools, not special ones.

The gifted teenager got 2.5 A*s last year when she sat her maths and religious education papers early and added eight A*s to those in this summer's exams.

Claire, who uses a powered wheelchair, was previously a pupil of St John Fisher's Roman Catholic primary school in Melrose Road, North Harrow.

Jennifer, a full-time carer, said: "Claire has impaired speech.

"She can produce language normally but her diction and articulation is not clear and can be difficult to understand if you don't know her well.

"The teaching staff and we at home are used to the way she speaks."

Claire's outstanding achievements are all the more impressive as she had to dictate every answer, including essays, to a teacher.

Jennifer explained: "She gets more time for exams as she might need to repeat answers.

"It is a remarkable achievement to be able to articulate your thoughts in such a way."

Claire said: "It still hasn't sunk in really. I was confident but I didn't dare to believe I would do so well."

Setting her sights equally as high for A-levels, Claire plans to stay on at Hatch End High as one of the first pupils at the borough's new sixth form collegiate to study maths, further maths, physics and chemistry as AS levels, before going on to university to study physics and maths.

She said: "I have always been interested in how the universe was created and have read into it and become more and more interested."

Claire said that she had had the time of her life at the school in Headstone Lane and had made lots of friends.

Jennifer said: "We are immensely grateful to Hatch End High and have a lot of admiration for their excellent teaching and all the support Claire has received."

Hatch End High is one of the few secondary schools in the borough with full wheelchair access.

sanand@london.newsquest.co.uk