SCHOOLGIRL Anna Shenton amazed GCSE examiners with her Russian prowess, picking up an straight A grade -- at the age of 12.

But growing up in St Petersburg proved a distinct advantage for the Bolton youngster who breezed through the GCSE exam -- despite taking it FOUR years early.

And today Anna, of Tonge Moor, is celebrating the first notch in what she hopes will be a steady stream of qualifications in a subject which has become second nature to the Canon Slade pupil.

Delighted mum Helen, a teacher, said: "She was very confident and blase about the whole thing.

"She went into the exam knowing that it was just a bit of fun. She wasn't under any pressure.

"But the teachers at the school were laughing because after 12 minutes, she just put her pen down and said that she had finished. It was meant to take an hour!"

And examiners at Bolton School -- were she took her oral test -- were left equally amazed by her Russian language skills.

Her mum added: "They asked her to talk about her home town, but she couldn't because she has only just come back to Bolton after living for seven years in St Petersburg."

Stephen Brierley, examinations officer for Canon Slade confirmed that Anna was the youngest person in the school's history to have ever taken a GCSE.

"We don't have any Russian-speakers at Canon Slade," he said. "But Bolton School were tremendously helpful in setting up the oral test. We couldn't have done it without them."

Anna lived with her parents in Russia and attended a Russian primary school picking up the language as she went.

She returned to Bolton in January and by Easter, her name was down as a late entry for the GCSE exams, normally sat by 16 year olds.

Anna said: "I'm really happy but the exam wasn't really that hard. My friends have been great. They've never been jealous but have cheered me on."

Anna now wants to sit her A S and A level in the subject -- and perhaps become a languages expert when she grows up!