WHEN it comes to Spanish, Malpas student Dan Rowan has a way with words.

The Bishop Heber High School Year 12 student was thrilled to hear from EdExcel, the UK’s largest awarding body, informing him that he was among the highest scoring candidates in this summer’s Spanish GCSE examination.

Out of 15,756 entries, Dan was in the top ten who achieved the highest overall marks.

Jerry Jarvis, EdExcel’s managing director, said: “This is a tremendous achievement and testament to the hard work students put into preparing for their exams. We send our congratulations to Dan.”

Headteacher David Curry and Julie Clarke, Dan’s Spanish teacher, were delighted with Dan’s results and were both keen to congratulate him on his achievement.

Julie said: “Dan has been a dedicated student of Spanish throughout his time at the Heber, but he also dedicated a huge amount of time to individual study at home.

“Dan did everything possible to make sure that he achieved his goal. It is especially pleasing to everyone here that in these times when foreign languages are being dropped by many schools in the UK, a male student from Bishop Heber in rural Cheshire can be up there in the top 10.”