The Year 11 pupil at Brayton college, near Selby, North Yorks, has already completed a level 1 National Vocational Qualification and is confident that he can finish level 2 by next summer.

Studying for his NVQ at Selby college, Ray, 15, said he chose that option for the variety it offered. “I thought it would be something different that would add something fresh to school. It is something new and interesting in addition to normal lessons,” he said.

“It was offered as an extra course on top of a GCSE in business studies. I thought learning the admin side would be useful in life. It has been a lot of fun and good work to do. I think I have learnt some important stuff.”

Key areas covered so far include computing, formatting business letters and learning about health and safety regulations.

Work experience, carried out in the offices at Selby college, has been useful in putting the theory into practice, Ray said, although he did find it a bit repetitive.

“Overall, I’ve enjoyed it and I would recommend it to others,” he said.

“The only bad thing for me was that the course clashed on the timetable with some subjects at school, so I’ve had to catch up with them in my own time.

“If people can put in the effort to catch up if they need to, I think they should do it.”