Grenfell Tower blaze survivor aces exams

A TEENAGER who escaped from the Grenfell Tower blaze on the eve of her chemistry GCSE has been awarded an A grade.

Ines Alves, who lived with her family on the 13th floor, fled the burning tower block in the middle of the night with just her phone and chemistry notes before sitting the 9am exam in the same clothes she left in.

The 16-year-old also gained the highest possible grade, a 9, in her maths GCSE – equivalent to an A* under the old system.

Speaking at Sacred Heart High School in Hammersmith, west London, moments after opening her results, she said: “It’s good. I’m quite happy with my grades.”

She added: “I wish I did more, but then again, I don’t know, it hasn’t sunk in yet. “For the exams I missed, I didn’t do too well in them overall.” Ines missed two history exams, one RE exam and one physics exam in the days after the fire, which affected her overall grades. She said she initially thought the fire was “nothing major” and just wanted to sit the paper. “That’s all I had on I had on my mind,” she said. “There was no point me carrying on watching the building burning so I just went in.” Ines also revealed that she gained an A* in her Spanish GCSE, with headteacher Marian Doyle calling her results “fantastic”. She plans to study chemistry, maths, economics and sociology when she begins her A-levels later this year.