A star-gazing eight-year-old is over the moon at becoming the youngest student to gain an A grade in GCSE astronomy.
Home-educated Sebastian Carrington passed the exam with flying colours with the help of his mum, Denise, and says his sights are now set on travelling to Mars.
Sebastian, known as Sebbie, completed the two-year course in under a year, and successfully answered questions about the Moon and calculating the age of the universe.
He said: "I have had a fascination with space and astronomy for as long as I can remember. I have always been interested in looking at the stars and the planets."
Sebbie, who lives in Stoke Golding, is understandably very excited about his success.
He said he enjoyed the coursework, which included attending weekly sessions alongside adult students.
He took the two-hour exam in June at the North Leamington School, in Warwickshire
"There were some hard questions, including how to calculate the age of the universe using the Hubble Constant (an observation that measures the expansion rate of the universe)," he said.
The youngster spends much of his time looking at the stars and planets on the internet.
"I would like to be an astronaut and travel to Mars one day," he said.
He is also considering becoming a particle physicist or a professional pianist, having started piano lessons when he was three.
He recently gained a distinction at grade six and numbers Mozart among his favourite composers.
Not surprisingly, one of his favourite pieces of music is Mozart's Jupiter symphony.
When he is not stargazing or playing music, he enjoys playing with Lego and swimming.
Denise said: "We are really astonished at the result. We were expecting that he could get a C or a B. But to secure an A is wonderful.
"A lot of the coursework involved maths and various formulae."
She said Sebbie started the course last August and spent an hour a week on the subject.
"When the exam date drew closer, we increased the lessons to an hour a day," she said.
Denise and Sebbie also attended weekly sessions in Rugby so he could do coursework which could be independently moderated. She said: "The exam board Edexcel said he was the youngest candidate to obtain an A grade."
Dad Richard said: "We are very proud of what Sebbie has achieved. He is such a happy child and has always been interested in astronomy."
He said he and his wife decided to home educate him after taking professional advice.
He said: "He is advanced for his years and it was thought better that he did not go to a school."
Sebbie is set to get a new set of Lego as a reward.
A spokeswoman for Edexcel's parent company, Pearson, said: "We can confirm Sebastian is the youngest candidate to obtain a GCSE qualification in astronomy with Edexcel."
The previous youngest candidate was a 10-year-old boy who gained a grade B last year.
Meanwhile, Leicestershire has another young GCSE star in Sofia Breeze, of Melton.
The teenager obtained an A* in Castilian Spanish at the age of 13, completing the course inside a year after her family moved to Leicestershire from Majorca.
Sofia said she and her school friends in Majorca talked in Spanish, while all the lessons were in Catalan.
"In Majorca we only had one Spanish lesson a week," she said.
Mum Carolyn said the family decided to come to Melton because we were impressed by John Ferneley College.
"The school was very supportive and we are delighted," she said.
High-flyer Manveer Singh Gill, 16, has his sights set on Cambridge University after securing seven A*s and a further four As.
The Soar Valley College student, who lives in Rushey Mead, Leicester, said: "I was very pleased. I did work hard, but the results surprised me."
He now intends to study maths, further maths, economics and physics at Loughborough Grammar School.
"I hope to study maths at Cambridge after my A-levels," he said.
