TEENAGER Jessica Elliott has just become a new member of the bright people's club Mensa.

The 16-year-old from Cliffe Road, Strood, recently took two tests, passed with flying colours, and the results have revealed the brainy student has an IQ of nearly 160.

Jessica already has a great academic record under her belt, as she has earned a scholarship in music and she has been studying Greek and Latin at the Kings School, Rochester.

Jessica is delighted at being marked with such a high score of 159. She said: "I was on the Internet one day and wondered if I could take an IQ test on-line.

"Well I did. But I also took another test, which was supervised. It lasted for two hours and I was a bit nervous, but got through it and I'm delighted with the results."

Jessica has just taken her GCSEs and will find out how well she did later this month.

She added: "I took 10 GCSEs and will go on next year to do A-levels. If I get the grades I want, then I hope to study classical music at Cambridge University. I absolutely love classical music."

Both her parents are music teachers. Her mother, Deborah, 46, said: "I'm so proud of Jessica. It is marvellous for her."

Father Kevin, 50, joked: "Perhaps now Jessica will be able to look after us in the style we would wish for."

• Mensa was founded in England in 1946 by Roland Berrill, a barrister, and Dr. Lance Ware, a scientist and lawyer. They had the idea of forming a society for bright people, the only qualification for membership of which was a high IQ. The original aims were, as they are today, to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. The society welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top two per cent of the population, with the objective of enjoying each other's company and participating in a wide range of social and cultural activities.