Courtney Morson, whose dad has served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Northern Ireland, wanted to raise awareness of the Poppy Appeal.

The RBL put her in touch with its Northamptonshire co-ordinator who advised her on what she could do to help, including selling poppies around school.

Courtney has made displays about Remembrance Sunday and the work of the RBL which she has put up in the Academy's main corridor and Sixth Form area. She has also volunteered to collect donations at Tesco.

She has been visiting each form selling pin badges, poppies for cars, wristbands and the traditional paper poppies. The RBL sent Courtney an educational pack and DVD which she has passed on to teachers to be used in assemblies.

She said: "As my dad is the army, I've always been very aware of the Poppy Appeal and I thought I would try and publicise it round school.

"People I have spoken to so far have been interested in what I'm doing - a lot of them still thought that the Poppy Appeal is just about the world wars, instead of also helping those who have been in Iraq and Afghanistan. A lot of them don't think about the reality that there are people in this school who are old enough to have been sent to war and come home without any legs.

"It's an important cause to support because more people than ever are being affected by war, including soldiers' families. Me and my family could have had to rely on the money raised by the Poppy Appeal, and other families in this school might have been in the same position."

Wristbands are £1, pin badges are £2 and donations of 50p are requested for the paper poppies.