AN 11-year-old boy from Acton Bridge could well be the youngest person ever to take GCSE history.

Silaz McCormick, a pupil at the Grange School in Hartford, has now completed two of the three exams needed of the qualification, a whole four years ahead of schedule.

He's taking the exams as an independent candidate at Manchester’s Minhaj College, after cramming the whole syllabus in about a month.

Proud dad, Mark McCormick, said his son ‘is no super-nerd’ despite putting in around four hour a day of extra study on top of his other school work, as well as making time for his beloved football.

Mark said: “He’s done it all off his own bat. It’s just what he’s interested in.

“He only decided he wanted to do it six weeks ago. He’s had to learn the whole syllabus in about four weeks.

Silaz is having to travel to Minhaj College in Manchester to take the examsSilaz is having to travel to Minhaj College in Manchester to take the exams (Image: Mark McCormick)

“His sister Chloe, who’s 16, is sitting her GCSEs at the moment, and he said he thought he could do better.

“She told him to prove it, so he said he would.

“His real area of interest is Nazi Germany and the Weimar Republic and things like that, but it turns out he wasn’t able to do the exam with those topics on at short notice.

“He’s a very normal kid really. He plays football four times a week, and at a really high level for his age.

Silaz is still wearing a wrist brace after injuring himself in a football match three days before the first examSilaz is still wearing a wrist brace after injuring himself in a football match three days before the first exam (Image: Mark McCormick)

“He came out of the first exam saying he thought it was easy enough, and the second one he said he smashed.

“Although this is all totally outside school, he really likes his history classes at the Grange, and they’ve obviously piqued his interest enough for him to want to go and do this.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing. Silaz was admitted to hospital with a wrist injury he got playing in a cup final for Northwich 1874 against Sandbach three days before the first exam. 

Mark added: “We’ve very proud of him. He’s committed to doing something really difficult, and he’s coming up against hurdles which he’s learning to overcome.

“It’ll do him really well for life.”