Teenage Leicester Tigers player converts hard work into seven A* GCSEs

A 16-year-old Leicester Tigers full-back has converted his hard work studying for GCSE exams into a set of top results. Rugby player Freddie Steward, who studies at Norwich School, collected seven A*s, one A, a grade 8 in English literature and a grade 7 in English language. Pupils at the independent school sat the maths IGCSE, which still uses the alphabetical grading system. The 6ft 5ins sportsman said of the new numerical grading system for English: "It's a lot harder to get that top mark. "I got an eight in my English literature so I'm very pleased. "I'm studying politics, economics and maths next year at A Level and I'll look to do something around law in my later life." He said he had played rugby "since I was small" and was offered a contract with Leicester Tigers a few months ago. "It was actually really hard to manage trying to get my rugby and my GCSEs in but obviously education is the most important thing so I tried to put the hard hours into that and it's paid off," he said. Nieve Gauvain, 16, was "very pleased" with her nine A*s and grade 9s in English language and literature. She said switching to the numerical system was "stressful", adding: "I knew where the numbers came in terms of the grades but in terms of what marks I had to get to get a nine or an eight I wasn't quite sure and neither were the teachers." Jonathan Jolly, 16, said he was "pretty happy" with his eight A*s, grade 8 in English literature and grade 7 in English language. The student, who wants to pursue a career in music, said of the numerical system: "I get that the nine kind of pushes people a bit harder to achieve a higher result. "I didn't find it too difficult but I didn't get a nine."