A TRIO of hard-working friends said grazie to their language tutor after they each achieved an A* grade in GCSE Italian at Stroud High School.
Alison Evans, Jane Foreman and Kate Jones started evening classes at the school for a bit of fun but were soon encouraged by French and Italian teacher Lisa Claydon to sit a GCSE exam.
Alison, whose daughter also collected her GCSE results on Thursday morning, said: “It has been a wonderful learning curve doing something new.
“My daughter is here collecting her results too and seems quite embarrassed that her mum is as well.
“Succeeding in the exam proves that you are never too old to learn.”
Their proud teacher Lisa joked with the students, saying that they would be learning A-level Italian next.
“I was confident all along that they would do well because of all the work they were putting in,” she said.
Jane, a grandmother of five, said: “Lisa has been such a wonderful teacher so we are not surprised we have managed to pass the exam with such high grades.”
Besides attending evening lessons, the students put in a lot of work in their spare time.
Kate stressed that people of any age can learn and succeed if they put in enough hard work.
“We are all really keen to carry on speaking Italian. Learning is not just about being a school student. Anyone no matter how old or young can succeed in whatever they want if they put their mind to it,” she said.
The three students attended a one hour lesson each week where they practised their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
They all toasted their success with a bottle of sparking elderflower.