WHEN David Lein left school at 16, disillusioned with the education system, he did not imagine that five years later he would be offered a place at Cambridge University.

After leaving the Royal Grammar School in Worcester, David spent several years working in unskilled factory jobs, before he decided to return to education.

He enrolled at Worcester College of Technology to study for A'Levels in English, psychology and sociology.

Now he is predicted straight As when he sits his exams this summer and has won an award for his achievements from the Learning and Skills Council Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Twenty-one-year-old David, from Somers Park Avenue in Malvern, said he was amazed to discover he had won the award for Best Post-16 Learner.

He said: "After that long out of education, I've got that little bit more maturity and don't mind just getting my head down and working. I think I appreciate the value of education more now."

If David gets the expected A'Level results, he will begin a degree in social sciences at Cambridge in September and hopes to go into marketing after he graduates.

He said he would relish the challenge of a degree course.

"I've been turned around from being disillusioned with the education system to loving it," he added.