The 16-year-old from Walsall took four of her GCSE's while on a training camp in Spain and said that she was "over the moon" at the results but added that she will look to maintain a balance between academic study and swimming training with the Paralympic Games in the capital just over a year away.

"My plan now is to go into Sixth Form and do A Levels but it is all about finding a balance in my life at the moment," Simmonds told insideworldparasport.

"I have a great team of people around me organising my schedule because I am doing so many things at the moment.

"I am doing loads of stuff with the media with one year to go coming up and obviously I have been concentrating on my academic work for a while and also seeing my friends.

"But training comes first for me because my main goal is to win at London 2012.

"That comes first and everything else is scheduled around that but I am really enjoying everything that I am doing because it is nice to have different things to focus on so you don't get bored."

Simmonds is currently at the ParalympicsGB London 2012 simulation camp in Bath where EDF Energy, the first sustainability partner of London 2012, has been working with ParalympicsGB to help reduce the carbon footprint of the team's activities ahead of the Games.

"The training camp has been great and the facilities are amazing," said Simmonds, who is an EDF Energy ambassador

"It has been really good with EDF Energy who have been promoting really good initiatives like recycling and things like that which I think we all appreciate.

"We know we are role models to lots of people and there and lots of children and we want to set a good example."

The next stop for Simmonds will be International Paralympic Day on September 8 in Trafalgar Square, London and she admits it will be an exciting event.

"After Beijing, it felt like London 2012 was miles away and all of a sudden we are at one year to go and we have all these big events coming up which is great," she said.

"I know this final year will go really quickly but I am just so happy that the Paralympics is getting so much focus right now and I hope it will continue after the Games."

For more details EDF Energy Team Green Britain, click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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