South Hampstead fencing star celebrates impressive GCSE results

South Hampstead High School student Zoya Suresh received her GCSE results in Hungary via email today, where she is currently in training for the new fencing season. The 16-year-old was selected to represent England in this year’s Commonwealth Fencing Championships, winning a silver medal in the Cadet Women’s Épée Team competition last weekend. Today, she was celebrating another achievement: a clean sweep of ten GCSEs at the top grades (7/8/9), with the majority awarded the very highest grade 9.

Zoya explains what she enjoys about the sport:

“Fencing requires both physical fitness and mental agility – you have to be able to anticipate the actions of your opponent, a bit like in chess. It’s a sport that teaches you to deal with stress and how to be resilient. Given the upheaval of the pandemic over the past two years, these skills were really helpful when preparing for my exams.”

Zoya is continuing her studies at South Hampstead Sixth Form, with A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Psychology. She is keen to study Medicine at university, so has spent the summer doing internships in hospitals as well as pursuing her fencing.

“I typically train three times per week for two hours per session, with a busy schedule of competitions, so I’m very grateful to the support of my teachers at South Hampstead for enabling me to balance my academic studies with my sporting commitments.”

58.2% of all GCSE grades at South Hampstead High School were grade 9s this year, and four out of five grades were a 9 or 8.