But what made the achievement more impressive is that not one of the five pupils at Sheffield High School has reached their 15th birthday.

Emily Hogg, who is in Year 5, gained an A* grade after
asking to do the exam six years early.

Ten-year-old Emily was inspired to take GCSE Japanese after a schoolfriend of hers sat Italian GCSE last year, at the tender age of nine.

Emily, who was born in Britain to Japanese parents, said
she was very pleased with her result.

She said: "I feel excellent – I'm very proud of myself. I practised nearly every day."

Megumi Hogg, Emily's mother, said she had raised Emily to be bilingual, and she is now fluent in both English and Japanese.

She added: "I'm happy and very proud of her. She worked very hard."

Twelve-year-old Emily Jia, from Ecclesall, got an A* in Chinese and both Camelia Yousefpour and Verity Bridge, aged 13 and 14 respectively, gained a GCSE in French at A* grade.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Panayiota Soutis, from Ecclesall, not only gained an A* grade in Modern Greek two years
early, but also passed with one of the top 10 scores in the
country.

Sheffield High School was not the only place in the country where youngsters were celebrating exam success.

In Buckinghamshire one pupil has had to wait even less time to pick up a GCSE as eight-year-old Aran Mohan achieved a C in information technology after sitting the exam eight years early.

The primary school pupil, who wants to be a scientist "like Albert Einstein" when he grows up, had kept the GCSE a secret from most of his friends.

He said: "I wasn't that nervous before I did the exam.

"I thought I could just sit it and see what happened, but when it was over I thought 'I have to get a good result."'

Aran not only had to fit in his revision around his schoolwork, but around his other hobbies as well.

He is due to sit his Grade one exams in piano, keyboard and drums in the autumn, plays guitar, football and tennis and goes ice-skating every week.

Sheffield High School Headteacher Valerie Dunsford said her school was happy to allow pupils to sit exams when they felt ready.

She said: "If the younger girls do want to take a subject early they can do, but we don't push them into it."

The school, in the Broomhill area of the city, also celebrated stand-out performances among Year 11 girls who sat their GCSEs this summer.

Eight girls gained at least nine A* grades and two gained 10 top A* grades.

Sara Akhavan-Hezaveh, from Rotherham, gained 10 A*s and one A and is now planning to take chemistry, biology, maths and PE A levels, with a view to pursuing a career in pharmacy.

The 16-year-old said: "It's what I expected – I did a lot of hard work but it paid off.

"I'm relieved, the stress had built up so now I'm over the moon."

Hannah Groombridge, 16, from Nether Edge in Sheffield, achieved 10 A* grades yesterday to add to an A grade she picked up last year when she sat one of her exams early.

She said: "It was a surprise, I thought I'd done quite badly in most of them."

Hannah, who has plans to become a journalist, will return to Sheffield High in September to study history, maths, English language and German at A-level.

Mrs Dunsford added: "We're thrilled to bits for all of them, whether they've got all A*s or Bs and Cs they've done fantastically.

"It's almost an 100 per cent pass rate, which is brilliant. Every year we think they can't possibly do as well as the previous year, but they do."