Top GCSE results for Birmingham boy
Sep 24 2008 by Tony Collins, Birmingham Mail
KEEN student Messam Haider is a master of languages – and he’s only 14.
The schoolboy, who attends Lordswood Boys’, in Harborne, has impressed national judges by achieving one of the top GCSE marks in the country in German.
And to make the achievement even more remarkable, Messam sat the exam a full two years early while still a Year 9 pupil at the school.
The youngster has been judged by the UK’s largest exam awarding body, Edexcel, as amongst the top ten students in England out of 19,484 candidates who sat the GCSE German exam earlier this year.
But Messam, who also speaks Urdu and Punjabi due to his Pakistani heritage, is not stopping there.
He has now embarked on a GCSE course in French at Lordswood.
Messam, who was born and brought up in Hamburg, Germany, before his family moved to England, said: “I love languages.
“I learnt German while I was living there, but my family is from Pakistan so I can also speak Urdu and Punjabi. I am now doing French at GCSE.”
His father Fajjad, said: “Messam has always been interested in languages and we are very proud that he has done so well.”
Denise Onions, spokesperson for Lordswood Boys’ School, said Messam was entered for his GCSE German exam two years ahead of the other pupils.
“He is now concentrating on French because he has reached the stage in German where he can’t go any further as we don’t teach it in the sixth form.”
Jerry Jarvis, Edexcel’s managing director, said: “This is a tremendous achievement and testament to the hard work students put in to preparing for their exams. We send our congratulations to Messam.”
