A former student of a coastal college has encouraged young women to disregard stereotypes and study maths and science subjects.

Maisie Wright, who attended East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Gorleston, achieved A*s in maths, further maths, physics and chemistry in August this year and now studies natural sciences at Cambridge.

Nationally, women over 16-years-old are less likely than men to choose STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, but data for EN shows the college bucking the trend.

Ms Wright said: "I chose to study STEM subjects because I'd enjoyed them the most in high school and was keen to learn more about how the world around me functioned.

She added: "There is definitely a place in STEM based careers for women.

"I strongly encourage anyone with an interest to study them, regardless of the stereotypes they're associated with."

Figures for last year reveal females accounted for 39.7pc of maths students and 22pc of physics students across the UK.

The numbers for EN were 41.3pc and 40pc.