THERE'S a bright future ahead for St Aelred's shining star Katie Beeston after she knocked out the competition and scored one of the top five GCSE results in the country.

The 16-year-old earned an amazing nine A* grades and two A grades and only discovered the letter attached to her results when it was pointed out by a teacher.

Katie, from the Parchments, admits she was slightly shell-shocked that she had earned a place in the top five for English Literature out of 361,913 candidates across the country who sat the exam.

She said: "It took a while for it all to sink in - and that was just the overall results. I'd been predicted a few A*s but I couldn't contemplate it actually happening. I'd kept my fingers crossed, knew I'd worked hard and thought I'd be in with a chance. I opened the results with my mum and she just started crying.

"It was only later that one of the teachers asked me whether I'd read the accompanying letter that I discovered I was in the top five and that was a little too much to take in."

Katie now plans to take a breather before her studies resume. She'll now go on to take AS Levels in theatre studies, English literature and language, physics, biology and chemistry and already has some firm ideas about her future career.

"I'd like to go on to do medicine or law at university so I'm keeping my options open as far as my AS Level subjects go.

"I've looked into what I'll need and am happy that I've chosen wisely."