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Traveller Nicole Barr, 12, of Harlow, Essex, got 162 in an IQ test – topping geniuses Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking by two points.

This puts Nicole, who is from the travelling community and lives in Harlow, Essex, in the top one per cent of intelligent people in the world.

Her mum Dolly Buckland, 34, says she's extremely proud of her. She said: "She's a hard, hard working child. She stays after school for homework club and never misses a day.

"From a young age she's been picking out mistakes in books and magazines. She's a happy, fun-loving girl who is always asking for extra homework.

"She's determined to finish school and go to college and university to be a paediatrician."

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Her dad James says her stunning achievement is "the talk of the gypsy community".

The average adult IQ score is 100, whilst a score above 140 is considered to be that of a genius.

Nicole, who is in Year 7, said: "When I found out I got such a high score, it was so unexpected. I was shocked.

"I remember when I was in primary school and I was an angel in a school play, another girl who was playing the other angel didn't turn up so I learnt her lines too."

(Image: Channel 4)

The schoolgirl, who attends Burnt Mill Academy, in Harlow, enjoys reading, singing and drama, and hopes to go on to study to become a doctor.

Her dad James, a 36-year-old gutter cleaner and driveway repairman, is chuffed with the result she received on Thursday last week after taking the test five days previously.

James, who is separated from Nicole's mum Dolly, said: "The story has been going around the gypsy community, particularly on Facebook where it keeps being shared.

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"It's nice for us to be in the news for something good for a change. This shows that it doesn't matter where you come from, anyone can be academically brilliant."

At primary school, Nicole was several years ahead of her peers and could tackle complex algebra before the age of ten.

The talented genius attends drama classes and will soon be making an appearance in a performance of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

(Image: Getty)

Helena Mills, head of the BMA group of six schools including Burnt Mill Academy, said: "Nicole is a brilliant pupil. She works incredibly hard and has thrown herself into many different activities in her first year with us.

"For example she has been camping, entered writing competitions and taken part in a national maths challenge.

"She lives and breathes our unofficial motto of hard work pays."

There are 110,000 members of Mensa worldwide, including 20,000 in the British Isles.

Only eight per cent of members are under 16, with only 35 percent of members being female.

Mensa say that traits for high potential in children are outstanding memory, academically ahead of children of a same age, deep interest or knowledge in a subject, and preference of more mature company.

Mensa Spokesman Ann Clarkson said: "Nicole's IQ puts her comfortably within the top one percent of the population.