Meet science-mad 'child genius' Neha Narendran

ITV News Central's Bright Sparks series follows the lives of extraordinarily gifted children - and looks at the challenges they and their families face.

12 year old Neha Narendran is science-mad.

From a very early age, she has had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Her passion first showed itself when she was just three and a half years old.

Her mother, Dr Bama Perama, who is a research scientist, was writing a PhD paper on the properties of metals. Neha began showing an interest.

In 2015, when she was just eight years old, Neha became the youngest finalist on the hit TV show 'Child Genius'.

She continues to perform well. Last year, she passed the eleven-plus exam with flying colours to get a place at one of Birmingham's top selective schools.

Her schoofriends have given her the affectionate nickname the 'walking encyclopaedia'.

Neha hopes to follow in her mum's footsteps and become a scientist - not in the study of metals, but in medicine.