A farmer’s daughter from Essex has turned clay pigeon shooting into a GCSE subject after persuading her coach and teachers to include the sport in her exam syllabus.

Sally Bond, 17, who goes to Clacton High School, and lives in nearby St Osyth, has obtained Edexcel’s acceptance of it as a GCSE module across England and Wales.

Sally, who is “No 1 junior lady” for GB women’s under-21s, practises two or three times a week with her 12-bore Browning B525 in the hope of winning a place at the 2012 Olympics.

“I know some people don’t think standing with a gun is a sport because there is no obvious race, like running, but it is mentally and physically wearing and demanding,” she said.

Her coach Richard Ford, and teachers Paul Graves and Brenda McKee, have taken two years to persuade Edexcel of the merit of the sport. From this autumn, any school in the country may apply to offer the module as part of a “local needs” option.

So far only two schools have been approved — Clacton High, and the independent Cokethorpe School, in the Witney constituency of David Cameron, the Conservative leader, in Oxfordshire. About 20 other schools have expressed interest in teaching the sport with assistance from the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association. They have until the end of the month to register with Edexcel.

The syllabus covers safety, rules and regulations, performance, fitness — and what makes a good coach.

The move may surprise and upset parents campaigning against gun crime among youth gangs. But sporting professionals and education experts insist clay pigeon shooting gives young people the discipline to handle firearms safely.

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