A COURAGEOUS youngster from Worcester has been chosen to receive a prestigious award for her outstanding contribution to her school.

Rebecca Tarry, aged 13, of Nunnery Wood High School, who suffers from cystic fibrosis and was recently diagnosed with diabetes, has received the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award.

She has to take 60 tablets a day and needs two daily physiotherapy sessions to combat her cystic fibrosis, and has to inject herself with insulin for her diabetes.

Despite this, Rebecca has an excellent school attendance record and is in the top sets in all her subjects.

Her head of year, Rod Cope, decided to nominate her for the award for her outstanding contribution to the school.

"She's an outstanding pupil. Despite her illness, she maintains a particularly high attendance rate at school - higher than some perfectly healthy children," he said.

"She doesn't think it's anything out of the ordinary - she treats every day like a normal day. There are 1,300 pupils at the school, but we felt that Rebecca was the only one who really deserved the award."

Assistant headteacher Hilary Holland said Rebecca was a lovely girl who had made great progress at the school, despite her condition.

"She's in top sets right across the board and she doesn't think she's any different from any of the other children," she said. "We're very proud of her."

The award was launched in April 2000, to recognise the contributions made by secondary school students to their school and communities.

Rebecca, from St John's, said she could not believe she had been chosen to receive the honour.

"It's great, and my classmates think it's really good," she said. "My school work is very good even though I've got cystic fibrosis and diabetes."

The popular pupil has great plans for the future. "I want to be famous!" she said. "I also want to promote cystic fibrosis because not many people know a lot about it."