A SCHOOLBOY hailed as an exceptional linguist – and an inspirational role model – is in with a chance of winning a prestigious national prize.

Teachers and staff at Archbishop Lanfranc School are crossing their fingers for Shahzad Hassan, who has been nominated for Cilt's (The National Centre for Languages') National Awards for Excellence.

The 15-year-old, who is originally from Pakistan, got an A* in his Urdu GCSE two years ago and sat his AS exam in the same subject this year – on top of ten GCSEs.

Despite his heavy workload, the bright teen has found time to fulfil his prefect duties, and even support his language teacher in the classroom.

He said: "I have a pretty busy schedule but I do find time for everything because I'm a hard worker.

"I am so proud to have been nominated for the award because it means I will be representing my school on a national platform.

"Languages are a big part of my life and I believe that every child should aim to learn as many as possible.

"Learning a language gives you access to new and rich cultures, and it also improves your career prospects."

Kausas Ali, the school's community languages coordinator, nominated Shahzad because of his outstanding exam results and ability with foreign languages.

The youngster, who also speaks Hindi, Punjabi and a bit of Spanish and Arabic, is competing in the intermediate-level language learning for students aged 14 to 16 category of the Cilt awards.

As part of the criteria for choosing a winner, Shahzad had to make a presentation on the importance of languages to tourism to a panel of judges.

Jo McCarthy, the school's deputy head, said: "Shahzad was recommended because of his extraordinary ability for language, but also because he is a fantastic role model.

"He is an absolute asset to this school, and he deserves his title of prefect because he supports other students as well as teachers.

"Shahzad definitely deserves to win this award, but even if he doesn't we are incredibly proud of him."

Out of 1,043 students at Archbishop Lanfranc, in Mitcham Road, Croydon, 576 speak at least one second language other than English fluently – and 40 of them Urdu.

There are 55 different languages spoken by children attending the school.

The winner of the award will be announced in August.