WHEN Lewis Mills nervously opened his A-level results, he quickly scanned the page until his eyes fell upon his most cherished subject.

It had been a rough ride for 18-year-old Lewis, a pupil at Chalvedon High in Pitsea.

At one point he had thought his favourite subject - government and politics - may never even appear on his A-level results after the school's teacher left when he still had one year to go.

Unable to find a replacement teacher for the subject, Lewis took the daunting decision of teaching himself the subject for the last year.

Despite his reservations and not having anyone to ask questions of, it has paid off. Lewis achieved an A grade in the subject.

He said: "It was absolutely shocking at first to think I was teaching myself, but it turned out to be my best subject. I do love politics and I'm hoping to maybe get into journalism in the future."

Lewis, of Halstow Way, Pitsea, also picked up Bs in business, history and information technology.

He said the grades were all he needed to get into university, to study history and politics.

Lewis said it still hadn't sunk in that he had finished school and was now moving on.