Sami Anker was notoriously known as a trouble-maker, smashing windows, throwing chairs, swearing and shouting at her peers and teachers before being expelled from both the former Walton Comprehensive and Jack Hunt School, in Netherton.

She has since spent a year at the Learning Education and Achievement Partnership (LEAP), a pupil referral unit in Vicarage Farm Road, Eastern Industry.

And now, after helping to put a smile on more than 60 elderly people's faces, the reformed 15-year-old is now in with a chance of winning £2,000 after being nominated for the Stagecoach Young People of the Year award (YOPEY).

Sami, of Manton, South Bretton, Peterborough, said: "When I first started school I was bullied a lot, called names, picked on and I always felt I was the odd one out.

"I was really put down, so when I returned to the school in Year 8, I decided I would stick up for myself and get back at the bullies, but I ended up being the bully."

She went back to the Walton school with a vengance and gave the bullies what she believed was a taste of their own medicine, by putting chewing gum in their hair, spitting at and kicking people, and setting off fire alarms.

She also started skipping school, and it soon got to the point where teachers said they couldn't take any more and she was excluded.

Sami then took a year out, when she was home tutored. When she started a new term at Jack Hunt, she was excluded within her first week after getting into a fight with some girls.

The troubled teenager's only hope was to join LEAP, where she slowly started to turn her life around.

She said: "I was a bit cheeky to start off with, but then I got a work placement as a receptionist and took on a further two days working with the elderly.

"But if it wasn't for LEAP, then I think I would have ended up as one of these children on the streets causing trouble with my hoodie on.

"I have now put everything behind me, and I can rise above anything."

Sami organises activities for the elderly at the Salvation Army Citadel, in Bourges Boulevard, Peterborough, twice a week, as well as serving them dinner and enjoying a good old chin-wag.

She added: "I like making their lives happier and their days a little brighter, and working with them makes me happy and keeps me smiling.

"By looking after them I will be giving something back and put a smile on their faces, too."

Headteacher at LEAP Rosemary Watson said: "There were a few flare-ups, but we found her to be a very pleasant girl most of the time. Over time, she settled down and demonstrated considerably mature behaviour."

The Salvation Army's Paul Aherne, who manages the day centre, added: "Sami is polite, social, easy to manage, excellent and a fast learner. We're very proud of her."