I wish I'd stayed on at school

Rachel Jackman dropped out of school in Lambeth at 15 to move in with her 19-year-old boyfriend - against her parents' wishes.

The bright student gave up GCSEs and dreams of a career to "hang out" with her boyfriend.

She ignored school sex education lessons and had unprotected sex from the age of 15. Four years on, she has a one-year-old daughter but has split from the child's father.

She does not consider herself unusual and has many friends with babies. One local girl had her first baby at 13, she says.

And she now wishes she had stayed on at school.

"If I had my time again I would change everything about what I did, but I would not be without my daughter. My parents told me of the risks but I didn't listen. I knew about contraception but I just didn't think about it."

Rachel lives in a Lambeth council flat on ?100 a week income support and handouts from the jobless father of her child.