Mexborough School student is on the flight path to a successful career

He got top marks in chemistry, physics, history and mathematics putting him on course for a place on an aeronautical engineering degree course at Cambridge University.

And he was also awarded an A in further mathematics as AS level - which he taught himself.

The 18-year-old Mexborough School student said: "I wanted to boost my passes to get on the Cambridge course and decided to study further mathematics. But though I had some support from teachers at school, they were not able to allocate any lessons so I studied in my spare time."

Thomas, of Windsor Drive, Mexborough, is grandson of former Doncaster councillor and union activist Doug Axe who said: "It goes without saying how proud we are of Thomas.

"All through schools, teachers have said what a pleasure it was to have him in their class.

"One teacher once told me 'I'm glad I'm a teacher because of Thomas'. You can't ask for higher praise than that."

Thomas hopes that his university course will open the door to his ambition: "I'm hoping to become a pilot and thought the course would help me get into the industry and, eventually, lead to learning to fly.

"It stems from my brother who had the same ambition but, after studying at Nottingham Trent University, he has gone on to join the police force."

*See The Star next Tuesday for all the schools' A-level results*