As with any other 10-year-old girl,  Esther Okade likes to play with her dolls and making loom bands.

But unlike other children her age, she has been accepted to study for a university maths degree - despite not going to school.

Esther, from Walsall, in the West Midlands, has enrolled on an Open University course months after she passed her A-levels - and wants to study for a PhD before running her own bank.

After gaining a C grade in her maths GCSE at the age of six, she has joined the course which started this month.

Mathematician mum, Omonefe Okade, said: “Esther is doing so well. She took a test recently and scored 100 per cent. Applying to the university was an interesting process because of her age.

We even had to talk to the vice-chancellor. After they interviewed her they realised that this has been her idea from the beginning. From the age of seven Esther has wanted to go to university.”

Her younger brother Isiah is already studying for his A-levels - also aged six.

The siblings are both home-schooled by their mother, who has converted the living room of their semi-detached, three-bedroom house into a makeshift classroom.