A SOUTHAMPTON schoolgirl whose anxiety was so bad she could barely leave the house celebrated yesterday after achieving "overwhelming" GCSE results.

Yesterday, thousands of teenagers picks up their GCSE results and celebrated their success.

But for one Hampshire schoolgirl, the results came as quite a surprise.

St Anne’s pupil, Lottie Elsom suffers from anxiety and at they end of year 10, she was forced to stay at home.

Lottie, from Woolston, said she attended only two of her year 11 classes but due to her agoraphobia she barely left the house.

The 16-year-old taught herself her subjects from home, with the help of the school who often sent her work to complete.

Lottie completed her GCSEs and found out yesterday that she has attained four grade 9s in English Literature, English Language, History and Religious Education.

Lottie said: “I didn’t expect it.

“It feels really nice to have a reward as it took a lot of perseverance to get myself motivated.

“It’s a big relief as I always wanted to do well.

“It’s incredible how St Anne’s supported me, it has been very overwhelming.”

She added: I want everyone to feel proud of what they have achieved no matter what they were going through.

“It shouldn’t be something you are afraid of.”

Lottie’s mum, Catherine, said that she was “thrilled” with her daughters results.

She added: “Lottie start having panic attacks in May and it meant she missed the last half of year 10 and most of year 11.

“She was really really poorly.

“She managed to get into school for her exams and she’s done incredibly well

“The whole family are proud.”