Student gets three A*s in A levels after undergoing life-saving brain surgery

Melos Krasniqi Credit: PA

A student who underwent a life-saving brain surgery during his first year of A levels has achieved three A*s against the odds.

Melos Krasniqi celebrated with friends and family after seeing his “better than expected” results in maths, physics and geography.

The 17-year-old, who studied at Kensington Aldridge Academy in west London, said he missed a few months in his first year due to health issues.

“Midway through October in my first year I had a scan for some headaches and it turned out I wasn’t very well," he recounted.

“I had some complications in my brain and emailed the school to tell them what had happened. The teachers were so supportive."

He continued: “The teachers recommended that I could skip the rest of the year and re-do Year 12 or do whatever I felt best.

“I came back part-time a few months after my surgery and had catch-up sessions, which was obviously more work on top of the pandemic.”

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Melos said he had no intention of missing a school year and, during his recovery, he asked his teachers for more work so he could catch up.

It came as dozens of students poured into the school, near Grenfell Tower, on Tuesday morning to pick up their results.

Leila Jarvis hugs her mother after receiving her grades at Kensington Aldridge Academy in west London Credit: James Manning/PA

An Oxbridge hopeful, Leila Jarvis, 18, had tears in her eyes after seeing she had achieved three A*s and an A.

She said: “The past two years has definitely been challenging – you do kind of wonder what kind of grades you’ll get so it has been stressful.

“But the school has been great, they’ve really rooted for us and given us a lot of help, especially as my time in this school has seen things like the Grenfell tragedy, which has made it really hard for the community.

“I live right around the corner and obviously it’s had a big impact – everyone was impacted.

“I now hope to go to Oxford University to study history and politics.”

Ahmed El-Bouhy celebrates his A-level results with Azhin Kurd and Zane Akhtar-Thompson Credit: right

Ahmed El-Bouhy, 18, achieved four A*s and will now study natural sciences at Cambridge University.

He said: “It’s been really stressful and, after last year with everyone’s issues with the grading system, I was slightly worried it could have been the same situation this year.

“But I’m really happy and delighted with the results and look forward to going to university.”

Other students celebrating their results included one who will be the first in her family to attend university, while another is planning to join the RAF.