Sabina Kolodziejska speaks Polish at home and Josh Loy speaks Spanish fluently, so teachers at Brooke Weston City Technology College in Corby decided to enter them early for their language exams.

Sabina, who is in Year 7, moved to Corby from her home near Warsaw in Poland three years ago but was unable to speak a word of English.

Since then the 12-year-old has become fluent in English and was asked by Robert Nicholls, the head of modern foreign languages, if she'd like to sit the Polish exam.

Sabina said: "I looked at the course on the internet and thought it was really easy.

"In the listening test half of the paper was in Polish and half in English."

Sabina, who speaks English with her mother and Polish with her father, used some past papers as practice and now she plans to study more languages.

She said: "I'm doing German and I would like to learn Spanish and French as well."

Year 8 student Josh Loy was brought up in a bilingual household.

His Spanish-speaking mother helped to prepare him for his exams and he was also given past papers by the languages department to help him prepare.

Josh said: "My dad wanted me to go in for the exam early. I thought it would be difficult but it was quite easy for me. A lot of the exam is spoken but you do get a bit of coursework as well."

Josh is also learning French and believes that being able to speak a second language has helped him learn the new one because of the similarities between the two.

Brooke Weston principal Trish Stringer said: "It's always fantastic when students get top marks in their exams but to get A grades aged just 12 and 13 is really phenomenal.

"The experience of sitting an exam so early should stand Sabina and Josh in good stead when they sit more in a few years' time."