A 13-YEAR-OLD Canvey student has the same IQ as Stephen Hawking - and five others have been accepted into an exclusive club for those with near genius intelligence.

A total of 36 pupils at Cornelius Vermuyden School on Canvey sat the highly challenging Mensa IQ test.

All the students achieved IQ scores well above the national average IQ score of 100.

Six pupils were accepted into Mensa with an IQ score of 148 or better, which places them within the top two per cent of the country.

These students are Michael Doran, Katie-Jane Cox, Alyssa Duffield, Ethan Lewis, Charlotte Hills and Ellie McNelis.

Michael Doran came out with an outstanding score of 161 - beating Stephen Hawking’s IQ of 160 and coming on par with Albert Einstein.

Michael, 13, said: “I was very surprised to be in the top one per cent.

“I hope to study engineering at Cambridge or Oxford universities.

“I had no idea that it was going to be that high.”

Katie Cox, 12, whose score was 154, added: “I had no idea that my score was going to be that high - I am really surprised by it.”

Ellie McNelis and Charlotte Hills, both 14, had matching scores of 151.

Ellie said: “I didn’t really know what score was normal so I was really pleased and wasn’t expecting to be in the top two per cent.

Charlotte added: “I was really pleased and want to study biology or psychology at university.”

Alyssa Duffield, 12, who scored 149, said: “I was really excited when the letter came through. The letter just showed the first word “congratulations” but I wasn’t sure what it meant.”

Assistant headteacher Tom Keenan who organised the tests, said he was proud of all the students and the school would support them to fulfill their full potential. He added: “It just goes to show that there are some extremely smart children in the community.”

The students who took the test were Kelsey Miles, Dylan Keys, Megan Sutherland, Lucy House, Haydn Gilman, Megan Duckman, Scarlett Read, Harrison Nasnush, Charlotte Elliot - Ford, Louise Daly, Isabelle Rooke, Charlotte Balcombe, William Whitehair, Amelia Pharro, Samuel Jessen, Nathan Leonard, Tommy Mason, Hollie Barber-Harrison, Lucy Gough, Charley Aspinall, Alex Collins, Cori Smith, Lucy Dawkins, Sam Forward, Rachel Carter, Ty Walker, Alice Wilson, Alfie Hawkins, Tess Bowen, Emily Perrin and Harry Castellena.