Greenwich Community College has presented one of its students with an award for her outstanding achievement in Spanish A Level.

Jenny Hurst, 33, from Lewisham, was thrilled to pick up an award for achieving a grade A, despite taking the AS and A2 courses over one year, instead of the usual two.

Jenny's achievement is more remarkable because she had to take the exams at home due to suffering from a chest infection.

She said: "I was really panicking about the exam and thought I'd failed because I was feeling so unwell when I sat the tests.

"So I was gobsmacked when I found out I had not only passed, but achieved an A grade as well."

But she was even more thrilled to receive a bursary of £1,000 from organisation Greenwich Learns, which promotes lifelong learning in the borough. She didn't find out she'd won the bursary until the night itself.

She said: "I'm either going to use the money to go to Spain and learn the language there or put it towards reading Spanish at a university in London."

Jenny states that she decided to join the Spanish course at the college because she wanted to pick up something she had enjoyed so much at school.

She continues: "I learnt many languages at school but I hadn't practised any since I left 15 years ago.

"I decided to study Spanish GCSE and achieved a good grade, so my teacher persuaded me carry on studying the language."

She believes the main reason why she did so well in the exam is because of the help of her teacher and the way the college made studying so easy for her as she is a wheelchair user.

She said: "I loved learning at the college. My teacher, Ascen Arriazu-Lopez has been especially encouraging, making sure everything I needed to read was in large print and the things I required to assist my studying were easily accessible."

Greenwich councillors, guests and sponsors, including representatives from Charlton Athletic Football Club and Barclays Bank, gathered at the college's Plumstead centre last month to hand out the awards.

The achievements of 50 other students, including two others who received bursaries, were celebrated.