New Charter Academy

New Charter Academy - A listers are making grade at new school

A GIRL who came to England aged 12 has been awarded a string of A grades in her GCSEs.

Annie Yaseen, 16, got seven A grades, one B, one C and a distinction in her ICT diploma – the equivalent of four GCSEs – at Ashton’s New Charter Academy.

Annie came to the UK from Pakistan with her family. After initially settling in London, the family moved to Ashton, where Annie, of Crowthorne Road, started attending the old Stamford School until it was amalgamated into the newly-formed New Charter Academy last September.

And Annie’s top grades are all the more exceptional as she was predicted just C grades at the start of her GCSE studies.

"I wasn’t expecting it at all. I started to work really hard at the end of year 10; that’s when I realised that it was GCSEs," she said."I’d stay after school and we’d get lots of extra help from the teachers."

STAR performers: Annie Yaseen and Kay Yeung with director George Lloyd.

Although she claims to have really got into her studies a year ago, Annie’s ability has always been noted and last year she sat her GCSE French a year early, earning a B grade. It also means that she has the equivalent of 14 GCSES, all at grades A* to C.

In September she’s off to Loreto Sixth Form College in Manchester to study for A levels in physics, maths, 3D design and Spanish, with the hope of fulfilling her ambition to be an architect.

The school’s star achiever was head girl Katie Walker of Bristol Avenue in Ashton who got two A*s, 10 As and one B. She’s off to Ashton Sixth Form College and later hopes to become a maths teacher.

Meanwhile, 17 is the magic number for one New Charter Academy student.

Kay Yeung got an incredible four A*s, four As, two Bs and the top mark of distinction plus in her ICT diploma – which is the equivalent of four GCSEs – this summer.

But her tally of 14 from this summer isn’t the end of her achievements as she also took three GCSEs early, bringing her total to a huge 17.

In year nine Kay took French and Chinese, while last year she took business.

While Kay’s two older sisters are both high achievers and went to to university to study tough subjects, her parents didn’t have same opportunities when they were growing up in Hong Kong. But it hasn’t stopped them giving Kay their full support in her studies.

Now Kay, from Birchwood Way in Dukinfield, is off to Ashton Sixth Form College where she’ll be studying for A levels in biology, chemistry, maths and psychology, and wants to go on to university after that.

"I’m thinking about anatomy at the moment, but I think I’ll make up my mind later. I got A* in both sciences and I want to carry on my studies."

Article courtesy of the South Manchester Advertiser September 2 2009