My Life: Leah Bostock, 16, Derby

I really didn’t like maths and ended up with an E grade. When I can’t do things well, I get very frustrated and angry. I always thought I was rubbish at maths. I never saw the point of it. Adding and taking away is important, especially when you are dealing with customers and money, but sine, cosine and pi – why would you need those?

I started missing lessons and I regret truanting now. Young people should remember that those who encourage you to mess around won’t have a pay cheque waiting for you when you’ve finished school.

Now I’m studying business administration at Rathbone. I’m there with my friend, who’s also called Leah. We’ve been mates since high school. She works in the centre’s hair salon and although I want to be a hairdresser too, I wanted to learn to deal with customers first. So I’ve been doing office work, staffing the reception and doing the photocopying.

My next step is a work placement and then an apprenticeship because getting paid to learn is a real bonus. I want to work on cruise ships. I like the idea of travelling the world and seeing new people.

I know I have to pass maths to go to college, so I’m getting my head down and studying. At least at Rathbone everything’s more relaxed and chilled out.