A budding web designer was celebrating today after achieving a C grade in his computing AS-level – at the age of ten.

Shayan Ahmed, of Broadway North, Walsall, spent a year travelling to and from Ryde Teaching Services, Bushey, Hertfordshire, each Sunday to prepare for the exam.

Shayan achieved a GCSE B grade in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) when he was seven. 

The Hydesville Tower Primary School pupil said: “I have always loved computers, I find them really interesting and stimulating. I’ve been into IT since the age of two when my grandfather bought me my first computer and at the moment I am in the process of setting up an online blog for my family. I hope to be a web designer when I finish my education. When I am not on my PC or my laptop, I spend lots of time reading. I also enjoy rock music and play the electric guitar.”

Shayan, eldest of seven children, said he was “very pleased” with his result and planned to celebrate with a party for his siblings and some friends. “The extra studying is tough but I enjoy it a lot,” he said. 

Asked what his peers at school think about his academic achievements, he said: “They think it is cool. Some of the older ones have asked if they can borrow the notes I used for my GCSE a couple of years ago.”

Meanwhile, at Frank F Harrison Engineering College, Leamore Lane, Walsall, staff and students were delighted with an marked improvement in the average grade points scored by each candidate, increasing from 488 in 2007 to 546 this year.

Headteacher Martin Cain said that he was also pleased with an overall pass rate of 80 per cent, a 100 per cent pass rate in maths and the eight out of the 14 students in Btec Fashion and Clothing who picked up a distinction.

Notable individual successes at Brownhills Community Technology College, Deakin Avenue, included pupils such as Gary Jevons, who gained two A and two B grades, Stacey Wheeler who gained two A and one C grade and Holly Evans who gained three B grades. 

Holly Evans picked up three grade Bs, while Chris Yemm bagged three Cs.