CHRISTOPHER Hookway was a tiny, ten-year-old boy when he took his maths GCSE.

He was in an exam hall alongside burly 16-year-olds to test his mental metal.

To his father, Simon, there was never any doubt he would excel.

Simon said: “There was a panic on the day in case he only got an A. To me, it was a given he would get an A*."

He did and now Christopher’s sights are set on his next GCSE – Statistics.

Work is already progressing well on the maths A Level syllabus.

But while Christopher is obviously bright, the success has not been achieved without hard work.

Simon is the driving force behind his son's achievements and he makes no apology for nurturing his son’s gift.

He added: “I started to play with numbers with him when he was about five.

“We would go round the supermarket and work out the special offers. He was always on the ball.”

Home study began in earnest when Simon learnt about grammar schools.

He said: “Christopher was about eight. I did a bit of investigating and thought ‘Wow, that is what he needs’.

“I went hell for leather. I worked out what he needed to do to get there.”

Simon took up the role of tutor.

He is also highly intelligent, having studied pure maths and physics at the University of Warwick before going on to study for a Masters degree in nuclear physics at Birmingham and then a Phd in polymar physics at Leeds.

Christopher began studying for an hour each morning before school and up to three hours each day after school.

Simon said: “The thinking behind it was if he was not doing homework, he would be on the Xbox or the iPhone all the time.

“I made it interesting and informative. He found English harder.

“I would sit with him and we would read texts like Pride and Prejudice and talk about synonyms and the like.

“I’ll admit it was arduous sometimes but we would talk about what it was for, what job he wanted in the future and how we were making sure he had the opportunity.”

Simon, a developer in IT, added: “If I had been givenaprod at various points in my life,Imight have been something else. I would much rather be working in the City on a seven figure salary.

“My thinking was if Christopher can get into Colchester Royal Grammar School, his education would be taken care of.

“I said to him ‘Let's have a push for two years and try to make this happen’.

“There were times when he was not sure where we were heading and maybe did not want to do it.

“These were onlyahandful of times and they were the worst times. I had to be strict.

“I prefered it when he was able to do it and we could have a laugh and joke and hug afterwards.”

Simon also offered financial incentives – 50p if Christopher did homework for one dayaweek going up to £20 if he did it for fiveand-a-half days a week.

Simon argues this intensive training is no different to children who play football or dance for hours.

It is, he says, just making the most of his child’s gifts, in Christopher’s case his intelligence.

He also argues Christopher is up and active for 15 hours a day so three hours investment in study is not onerous.

Simon is an avid viewer of the TV programme Child Genius, in which youngsters are filmed competing to be crowned the country's brightest child.

While some competitors shine, others unravel, leading many viewers to be critical of the pushy parent psyche driving on some of the children.

Simon is not critical of the principle of pushing children but added: “I don’t think they give their children enough love.

“I felt cold when I watched one of them. Christopher is not short of love.

“I think some of the parents put their children into the competition for the sense of their own achievement.”

Christopher failed to get into Colchester Royal Grammar School, scoring highly for the maths paper but falling down on English.

Simon said: “I was disappointed. I did not know what to do afterwards.

I knew he was at level eight for maths in Year 5 and level ten is GCSE standard.

“I thought it would be easy to get there.”

Home tuition dropped to about two hoursaday and Christopher was also allowed to study for his GCSE during maths lessons at Two Village Primary School in Ramsey.

“I knew he was smart enough to do it,” said Simon, “and it has made him feel special.

“It also means he can study other things in the time he would have been doing the GCSE. He will probably start his three science GCSEs in Year 8 and will look to do his maths A levels early."

Simon says, however, he has no plans for Christopher to go to university early although he knows where wants him to go.

“Cambridge,” he says instantly.

“I have looked into it.”

Christopher, now 11, from Ramsey, is set to start at St Benedict’s Catholic College in Colchester next month to continue the next stage of his academic journey.

Simon is also beginning to tutor his second son, James, who is eight, currently doing an hour or two each day.

So what do they do when they are not studying? Christopher likes to watch YouTube and he plays football with his brother and dad for an hour each day.

And was the extra study worth it?

Christopher, quiet, polite, says: “It has been OK, it wasn’t boring.

It was definitely worth it.”