A teenager who left school without any GCSEs after being bullied has shared how she has turned her life around by landing a job - in a fish and chip shop. Franky Taylor, 18, often works 60 hours a week a the Churchill's Fish and Chips shop on Collier Row Road in Romford, Essex.
After experiencing bullying throughout her teen years, Franky dropped out of school in Year 10 with no GCSEs. That's when she found work in a chip shop and started working full-time hours while studying part-time.
From the minimum wage earnings she made at these shifts - an average of £400 per week - Franky was able to move out at 16 and has been supporting herself since.
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Franky said: "I absolutely love it. I really enjoy my work as I'm always picking up extra shifts if I can. I may not have GCSEs but I have undergone training here to be supervisor which has given me skills in first aid and food safety.
"I have just been so eager to get out there. I even fibbed a bit on my application to get the job as you needed to be 16 but I was a few weeks off my birthday. Luckily, I was able to start the week I turned 16."
Franky dealt with bullying, which led to her switching schools. Unfortunately, it was no better at the second school, where it was decided that Franky should leave during Year 10 with no GCSEs.
She found school an overwhelmingly negative experience and was far more interested in getting a job than returning to her peers. That's when she found the opening through an Indeed job posting and got the job, before climbing the ladder up to a supervisor position.
As supervisor, Franky runs the shop whenever the manager isn't available, meaning she's in charge of staff rotas and closing the tills. She added: "I made sure I became supervisor as early as I could, which was as soon as I turned 17.
"It really feels like a family at the shop. After not feeling accepted at school, walking through the halls and getting insults about my weight or lazy eye, it's so nice to feel accepted.
"I've always felt I'm not that academically smart but I have good common sense. In the real and in a real job I've done really well for myself, despite school making me feel otherwise."
