Pupil who had leg amputated six months before exams celebrates success

Monty Merchie, from Boroughbridge, missed most of the first term of the school year after deciding to undergo the major operation.

The 16-year-old, a pupil at Ripon Grammar School, was born with a congenital malformation in the bones of his left leg and had already undergone 25 previous operations.

He was reliant on crutches to walk and decided in his final year of school to undergo the operation meaning he missed weeks of his education.

But despite this major setback yesterday he celebrated achieving two A*s, three As, four Bs and a C grade in his results.

“It was quite an easy decision to make in the end, I was just ready to get on with life,” he said.

His mother Fiona said: “He’s at an important stage of his life. Amputation was something we wouldn’t have even thought about before but he reached an age where he wanted a leg he could use, that wouldn’t hold him back any more.”

The two-stage operation took place in Sheffield in January and afterwards he was fitted with a prosthetic leg.

Martin Pearman, headmaster at the school, said: “Monty is an extremely courageous young man and an inspiration to everyone here. We are delighted for him and full of admiration that he was able to achieve a great set of GCSEs despite the school time he missed and the experience he has been through.”

Since the operation he has started to run again and during the summer cycled 250km around France.

“It’s fantastic. I’m standing here now without crutches, which I had for 10 years. I feel much better now,” said Monty, who recently won an overcoming adversity through sport award in Harrogate after being nominated by Mr Pearman. Monty, who plays piano and guitar, is staying on at Ripon Grammar School to study A-levels in physics, maths, Spanish and music, with a long term plan to be a music producer or sound engineer.

Among the other success stories at Ripon Grammar School was singer-songwriter and musician BillyTweddle, who is signed to independent label Chess Club, a division of Sony.

Billy, 16, of Ripon, achieved three A*s, five As and two Bs.

She said: “I started playing guitar and singing a bit when I was eight. We’re a musical family and had David Bowie playing in the car instead of nursery rhymes when I was little.

“My mum recorded a video of me to put on YouTube for my grandparents in France. We thought nothing more of it, but then something happened and it went crazy. I started writing more songs and did small, local gigs. I don’t want to be famous or anything like that.

“I just love music because it makes me happy. The attention has been accidental. My teachers have been been really supportive and my school work comes first, but it’s nice to be able to keep writing songs.”