A teenage asylum seeker who arrived in London four years ago unable to speak English is celebrating remarkable exam results.
Rony Salazar fled El Salvador with his family aged just 14 and joined Caterham High School in Ilford at the end of Year 10.
There he began learning English for the first time and managed to pass his GCSEs.
On Thursday, the 18-year-old found out he had achieved a triple distinction in BTEC business studies – the equivalent to three Bs at A-level.
He is now set to take up an apprenticeship at Barking and Dagenham Council's housing department.
"I only did one month of Year 10,” Rony said.
"I came here with no English. It's about the hardest thing. I knew if I failed, I would have to redo it. I am very proud of myself.
"They put me for two weeks in English lessons then I had to do my GCSEs. I was focused on my English, plus all my subjects.
"I studied so much, my head would be full.”
Rony described schools in the UK as "very different" to his homeland and said he studies “two or three hours a day” outside of school to achieve his marks.
Caterham headteacher Belinda Chapple said: "There are individuals who have shown a huge amount of resilience.
"We are very careful about making sure the children get the support they need. We are aware some of our children face challenges in their lives.
"We have got really good pastoral support in our sixth form here. We really home in [on] where they need that support.
"We have seen real commitment from the students which shows in the great grades they have got today. We are very proud of them."
London students have achieved the best A-Level results in the country with almost a third awarded top grades.
On Thursday, it was revealed that 32.1% of teenagers collecting their grades in the capital were allocated A*- A classifications – a 0.8% rise compared to 2024.
Pupils across the city were celebrating their record results as the proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades rose again this year, remaining above pre-pandemic highs, national figures show.
It is the second year in a row that London students have been top of the table. The second-best performing region was the South East with 31.2% getting A*- A grades, while the East of England was third at 28%.
The North East was the worst performing region where 22.9% got top grades, followed by the East Midlands (23.8%) and West Midlands (24.2%).
