A student for whom English is his third language has been rewarded for his A-level success by being presented with The Queen's Gold Medal.

Eastern Daily Press: Top A level scholar Cornel Micu from the King Edward VII Academy, with the gold medal presented to him by the Queen at Sandringham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYTop A level scholar Cornel Micu from the King Edward VII Academy, with the gold medal presented to him by the Queen at Sandringham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2019)

Cornel Micu, a former pupil at King Edward VII School (KES) in King's Lynn, was presented with the medal by the Queen, which is given yearly to those with outstanding results at Sandringham House.

The 20-year-old, originally from Romania before moving to Italy and then King's Lynn, now lives in London and is currently studying Computing at the Imperial College London.

Mr Micu received two A* grades and two A's in Maths, Further Maths, Computing and Italian, and wishes to pursue a career in special intelligence.

At the presentation, Mr Micu was joined by his younger brother Carlo and his parents Cristian and Adriana.

Cornel said: 'We had a really long chat about how my family and I came over to the UK, what I'm studying now and how I chose the subject.

'Overall it was a really lovely talk; she was really nice and put us at ease pretty much as we entered the room.

'It's an honour and I didn't think I would ever have this opportunity. It's really surreal.'

Mrs Micu said: 'We are very proud of our son. It is a special day for all of us, meeting the Queen.'

Assistant principal, Chris Teanby thinks that Cornel is a great example of the students produced at King Edward VII and the sixth form in particular.

'He's a hardworking, intelligent young man,' he said: 'who's not only worked particularly hard himself but has helped other students.

'He doesn't just support those in the sixth form, he's also fantastic with the other year groups and what we have to remember is this is his third language that he has done his A-levels in so it's a fantastic achievement.

'We are very proud of Cornel and what he stands for because it typifies what we want for our sixth form.'

The gold medal has been awarded to the best scholar at King Edward VII school, today the student with the best A-level results, since 1864.