An Uppermill student is heading to Cambridge University after achieving top A-level grades at Ashton Sixth Form College.

Verity Woodward, who was home schooled, gained A* grades in Sociology, Textiles and the extended project qualification (EPQ), and an A in English.

She will study Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge, a course covering the history, material culture, languages and literature of the peoples of Britain, Ireland and the Scandinavian world in the earlier Middle Ages.

It will involve learning Old Norse, medieval Welsh, Irish and Latin, and reading texts such as Beowulf in its original script.

"It's very much centred around History and Languages and I'll get to learn Old English and Latin," said Verity.

"After that, I'd quite like to maybe go into working in museums or art galleries."

She said the subject is not widely available, which is why she was so invested in getting in. "It's the only place I could study early medieval Britain."

She also believes the period still applies today. "Much of the modern media is based on that period. All of the fantasy media you see, like Dungeons and Dragons, is based around the legends from about 500 to 1000AD too."

Despite her success, Verity said she was very nervous and had a backup plan. She got through to UCAS quickly, which she called lucky because it normally crashes.

She added that on paper her GCSE grades did not look like a Cambridge applicant's, but Ashton Sixth Form College accepted her and put her on the Cambridge route anyway.

"I did have outside support, but Ashton played a big role. Especially my teachers, they put in a lot of effort," she said.