A “driven” teenager who returned to school after battling bone cancer has broken school records with her GCSE results.

Charlotte James-Hodson, 16, missed year seven at Debden Park High School with Ewing’s Sarcoma in her right shoulder blade.

The cancer and treatment kept her out of school for the year and had lasting health effects.

This morning (August 25), after four years in remission, Charlotte opened her GCSE grades to find 12 A* results – all of her subjects, and a new school record.

“I have always been, even before I was ill, a very driven person,” she said.

“I am a complete perfectionist.

“After I was ill, I decided I wanted to be a doctor and after that I was committed to working for what I wanted.”

Charlotte is now deciding where to study for the next two years.

She hopes to become a paediatric oncologist, using her insight to help other children in similar situations.

“There is the giving back I want to do, but there are also things I want to change about the medical world.

“Certain aspects, like maybe the way children are spoken to by some doctors.

“All the care I had was amazing, but I hated it when they said ‘It’s not going to hurt’ – and it always did.”

Her mother Sian Hodson, 48, was “exceptionally proud” after hearing the results.

“The one thing when she was in treatment was she missed school.

“It was the hardest thing for her.

“When she came back in year eight, she had the spirit to achieve and she has done.”

Staff at Debden Park were “brilliant” when Charlotte returned, she added, explaining her illness to each class to help her re-join the school.

Executive head teacher Christian Cavanagh paid tribute to Charlotte’s hard work as he celebrated “exceptional progress” at the school.

“She is just an amazingly hardworking, clever, funny and amazing pupil,” he said.

“She has got time for everybody and she literally can become whatever she wants to become.

“She is a credit to the school and herself.”