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It was the day her parents and family thought they would never see.

Brave teenager Malala Yousafzai achieving her ‘‘dream’’ of going back to school, in her new home city of Birmingham.

The 15-year-old completed her first day at Edgbaston High School for Girls, just months after being shot by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan after campaigning for education rights for females.

Malala will be studying a full curriculum and will go on to sit her GCSEs after she and her family, including dad Ziauddin and mum Toorpekai, decided to make Birmingham their new home.

She said: “I am excited that today I have achieved my dream of going back to school.

“I want all girls in the world to have this basic opportunity.

‘‘I miss my classmates from Pakistan very much but I am looking forward to meeting my teachers and making new friends here in Birmingham.”

The Edgbaston school prides itself on educating girls, a cause which led to the attack on Malala last October.

On the school website, head teacher Dr Ruth Weeks said they aimed “to provide the highest quality of education for girls at every stage of their development.”

She added: “Schools are places of growth. We want girls to be so stimulated and challenged during their time here that they not only meet but exceed expectations.

‘‘Those expectations combine the many successes of academic and extra-curricular life with high personal standards of integrity, care and commitment.

“We are proud of our girls; they work hard and give a great deal back to the school and society in general; they value their education and their school and leave us confident in their abilities and with a good sense of who they are.”

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Malala was shot in the head by the gunman who had stopped and boarded her school bus in the Swat Valley region. She was treated in Pakistan initially and then transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, where she underwent an operation to repair her damaged skull.

After leaving hospital, she moved into a house with her family, where they are rebuilding their lives. Dad Ziauddin has been appointed education attache at the Pakistan consulate in Birmingham.