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Toni Elkinton, 16, was presented with the Bupa Educational Achiever Award at the charity's Celebrate Success awards ceremony at the Royal Armouries.

Toni had a troubled relationship with her family and eventually things got so bad that she went into care. Shortly afterwards her mum died and Toni turned to a cocktail of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines to block out the pain. She hardly ever went to school and when she did she was high on drugs.

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Then she joined the Prince's Trust xl club in year 10 at Wortley High School which offers team-based programmes of personal development for over 1,000 pupils in schools across the region at risk of truanting and underachievement.

The club gave some structure to Toni's disjointed life and had a huge impact on her self-esteem. She went on to take her GCSEs and is now studying construction at Leeds College of Building.

Toni was nominated for the award for motivating others and being a great team player which has earned her lots of respect and friends.

She said: "After my mum died I thought the only place I would end up would be in prison or dead. Joining the xl club made me like school again and I feel a lot more positive."