Blissfully unaware of all the controversy, Arran Fernandez yesterday became the youngest person ever to pass a GCSE exam.

He was only five years and 11 months old when he took his two maths exams in June. Yesterday, he clutched his exam result and his favourite teddy, Pudsey, after getting a D grade in mathematics.

His father, who scooped more than £1,000 in a bet on his son's success, hit out at schools for not pushing children hard enough.

Dr Neil Fernandez, a political economist from Surrey, said his six-year-old son's achievements were actually no better than what any other child could do, given the right attention.

He said: "We are extremely proud of Arran but I believe that with the right encouragement, every child could do the same.

"All children love to build and explore. What's most important is that they are helped to develop strong tools for doing so."

Arran, who has never been to school and is educated at home by his parents, Neil and Hilde, said he was very pleased at his success.

He said: "I'm very proud of myself and so are all my friends."

Arran took the record from Rajaei Sharma, who was six when he took a GCSE exam in IT last year.

He started to read at two-and-a-half, and began to play games with numbers when he was only three.

Now Arran is studying logarithms and slide rules.