A TEENAGER from Newport has been ranked in the top six per cent of pupils in the UK for her maths knowledge, after she and 12 fellow pupils picked up national certificates.

Preeti Sidhu, 16, from St Julian's School, won a gold award in the national UK Mathematics Trust (UKMT) Intermediate Challenge, after last year achieving a silver award.

She has already passed GCSE maths with an A* grade and is now doing an A-Level maths bridging course.

Preeti was top among 13 successful students in the school to achieve either gold, silver or bronze awards, including Year 11 pupils Hannah Payne (silver), Henry Lavender (silver), Daniel Grace (silver) and Ieaun Stichbury (bronze) who are all 16, along with Alex Haslett (bronze) and Ben Chambers (bronze), both 15.

Now Preeti is planning a career as a professor of maths or an engineer.

Her maths teacher and test organiser Rob Tollman said: "Only those pupils who already show a talent for mathematics tend to take the UKMT exam, so those who received awards should be very proud as they were up against tough competition.

"I am particularly delighted for Preeti to achieve the school's first gold at this level and top her silver from last year.

"She has already joked she would quite like the bronze in the senior challenge next time to complete her set."