A young woman whose truanting meant she missed half of her time at high school won one of Britains leading educational awards.

Reformed Ella Wallage got national charity Rathbone's vote as their Apprenticeship of the Year 2009 and travelled to the Houses of Parliament on October 20th to receive her honour.

And the Tipton teen - who features in a short film about her life recently - was also saluted as example of how mentoring can motivate troubled young people by author Fran Abrams, who premiered a two-year study called Learning to Fail: How Society Lets Young People Down, at the prestigious event.

Now a full-time nursery nurse in Dudley, things couldn't be looking brighter for effervescent youngster, Ella. But skip back a couple of years and the strain of caring for her family from an early age plus peer pressure to bunk off and get into trouble threatened to quash Ella's undoubted promise.

"Ella was really depressed when she first came to Rathbone" said Sue Price, Centre manager for the training charity in Walsall. "High School had been an unhappy experience and Ella had tried hairdressing at college but never really settled. She needed individual attention, some time to sort her issues out and an employer who would give her the opportunity to prove herself. That's exactly what she got"

A spell on the entry to employment course at the Rathbone centre in Sandwell helped Ella improve her numeracy and literacy and brush-up her CV. She then moved on to the charity's base in Walsall where she began a Level 2 Apprenticeship in child care.

Bosses at the Treetops Day Nursey on Manderston Close continued to nurture her talents on work placement and were so impresses by Ella's progress that they took her on full time.

"Something just clicked when I got there" said Ella, I knew I had to get my head down or I'd be off. The staff at Treetops and Rathbone were very supportive and I began to work through my problems."

Ella's experience was highlighted at the awards event as journalist and writer Fran Abrams explained how encouragement from significant adults can dramatically alter the course of many young peoples' lives.

Rathbone will also be calling on every one from multi-national companies to privately-owned nursery schools to offer young people a taste of the workplace - or risk losing a generation to unemployment and despair.

"Young people are finding it very difficult to compete in the job market against those who have been recently made redundant and have many years of experience behind them" said Fiona King, Director for Rathbone. "What Treetops has offered Ella has proved life-changing. Other businesses could and should follow their example."

Neil is from Stone Cross, West Bromwich. Although he left Menzies High School with no qualifications, he had aspirations to work within ICT.

Neil would readily admit that, as a pupil, he was easily led and often found himself in trouble. This resulted in short-term exclusions from school. Worried about his future, Neil visited Connexions and worked with Personal Advisers to find out about opportunities that were available to him. He gained a place with the training provider, Performance Through People, and successfully completed an NVQ in Business Administration and the EDCL computing qualification. As part of his placement Neil gained valuable work experience at a LearnDirect Centre.

Despite Neil's hard work, he was unable to find a job at the end of his training and spent a while out of employment but did not give up. He continued to work with Connexions to amass his skills and improve his CV. He then attended Sandwell Enterprise Development Agency (SWEDA) to develop his CV. Management at SWEDA were very impressed by Neil's energy and enthusiasm, and he was offered a volunteer work placement, where he assisted within the ICT suite. Neil continued to gain further qualifications while there, including accredited qualifications in First aid, Health & Safety, Numeracy and Literacy Level 2.

Neil's positive attitude towards his work ensured he became a valued member of SWEDA's team. He was offered a permanent position not only managing the ICT suite, but also working in a supportive role on other young people-related projects, including Reach Out.

With the help of a Personal Adviser, Neil is now working towards an NVQ in Advice & Guidance. He is employed as a Support Worker on the Entry 2 Learning Project, a specialist development programme for 16 and 17 year olds.

While working for SWEDA Neil was chosen by Microsoft to feature in its development work for their digital services and at a Microsoft launch event in Birmingham, where he met and spoke with the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Kirsty is a young mother with a child under two years old. She had many difficulties throughout her school life, including severe attendance issues which Kirsty felt were not dealt with effectively by school staff. However, despite not really connecting with most of her education, Kirsty really enjoyed her childcare lessons and knew from early on this was the area where she wanted to work.

Connexions have worked closely with Kirsty since 2005 at school, as part of the TEAM project and during the Raising Aspirations programme. The TEAM project targeted young people like Kirsty to reconnect with learning in a variety of different environments, while the Raising Aspirations programme was introduced to elevate the aspirations of vulnerable young people in Sandwell, especially pregnant teenagers, teenage parents and young fathers.

In 2007, Kirsty was referred to the Raising Aspirations programme. Throughout her pregnancy she met regularly with Connexions staff, but was not ready to engage in any positive activity. Even long after the birth of her baby, Kirsty still found it difficult to commit to any opportunity presented to her, but Connexions Personal Advisers continued to support her.

Kirsty's motivation changed after attending the Raising Aspirations Speak Out Conference, which involved young people experiencing a range of occupational areas, including childcare, painting & decorating and catering. She used her time well, talking to course tutors and young people, and found her passion for learning had been rekindled along with her earlier ambition to work within childcare.

During a visit to her home Kirsty suggested to her Personal Adviser that she now felt ready to move on and to begin her career in childcare. She believed her change in attitude was a direct result of attending the conference and the continued support she had received.

Kirsty is now at Nacro Training and has a dedicated childcare learning pathway. She remains successfully engaged with her course, and is looking forward to her work placement in the creche at Sandwell Council House. Kirsty's motivation has gone from strength to strength and she has recently contributed her views of services to young people to Sandwell Council's Scrutiny Panel.

Jamie's experience of school was not a positive one. After being excluded he had difficulties finding another school placement. As a consequence of his exclusion, he was unable to sit for his GCSEs, leaving school with no qualifications.

Jamie was referred to Connexions by Sandwell Youth Offending Team. He was keen to help address his offending behaviour and committed himself to training or work opportunities.

Initially Jamie's main focus was to find a job. But after taking advice from his Personal Adviser he realised the need to address his basic skills. Working hard to address specific issues and to identify his aspirations, an action plan was developed to help move Jamie forward. Jamie decided he wanted to go through the college route to gain his qualifications. He was given full support throughout the application and interview process.

After a few setbacks Jamie attended a successful interview at Sandwell College, enrolling on Sports & Leisure Studies (Level 1). He was delighted at securing a place, especially as he had been out of education for over 12 months.

Jamie continues to do well and enjoy his course at college. His confidence has grown and he now is motivated to improve his qualifications and skills by progressing to Level 2 and 3.