WHEN Catherine Hones fell pregnant shortly before her GCSE exams, her family and friends may have thought that would be the end of her academic career.

But yesterday, the 19-year-old proved any doubters wrong by picking up two A*s and two A grades in her A-Levels at Wallingford School.

She proved how far determination and hard work can take someone, after dropping out of school when she was 16 and later picking her studies back up.

Miss Hones, from Benson, said: “I’m really happy, it is what I’ve been working for.

“I’d worked really hard .”

The former Oxford High School pupil dropped out of school at the end of Year 10 and was home schooled for a year.

She still managed to get five A*s, two As and a B in her GCSEs and gave birth to her son Chris Adams the following November.

Following a year off, she decided to go to the local school – Wallingford School – and start studying for her A-Levels.

She said: “In a way, having Chris was the best thing for me because it made me more responsible.

“I decided I wanted to do my GCSEs on my own.

“And I wanted to prove this was something I could do. I wanted to show that just because I was a teenage mum, it didn’t mean I couldn’t achieve these things.”

Miss Hones took two-year-old Chris to the nursery on site at Wallingford School each day and juggled motherhood with her studies.

She paid for the nursery fees using benefits and £60 given to her by the school each week.

And yesterday her hard work paid off as she received A*s in maths and biology, and A grades in further maths and chemistry.

Her plan is now to apply to do medicine at Oxford University after some time off.

She said: “I want to show other mothers my age that they can do these things.”

Wallingford headteacher Wyll Willis said: “We are proud of Catherine.”