ST Ambrose College GCSE student James Grainger is a retail giant's new poster boy having won a national competition to design a poster to promote careers in the furniture industry.

Pupils from more than 1500 secondary schools nationwide were invited to design a poster to hang in all 1100 DFS stores.

The competition run by the Furniture Makers' Company, a charitable guild promoting the furniture industry, will see James go on an all expenses paid trip to the DFS advertising agency in Leeds to develop his idea and assist their senior design team to develop the concept into a key piece of marketing.

James 14, from Heaton Chapel, who is studying design technology as one of his 10 GCSEs at the Hale Barns school, said: “The brief was to show just how many jobs are available in the furniture industry demanding both practical and highly creative skills and I hope I got the message across of the great choice young people like me have when they leave full time education.”

James added: “It took me two or three lessons to design and though I took great care producing my design I was still surprised when I won. I'd like to be a graphic designer or an engineer and definitely want to continue my design technology course. Visiting a top advertising agency will give me first hand experience of the sort of career I'd like to pursue.”

He added: “I enjoy working with my hands, love producing a finished product and get great satisfaction from completing a design project from start to finish, whether it is on the computer or using a lathe.”?St Ambrose College design technology teacher, Debbie McPartland, said: “James worked on this extra curricular project totally by himself and produced a design which perfectly met a complex brief.”?Ms McPartland added: “It is a great prize to get some first hand experience of a design team working in industry to produce his concept and I am sure he will be popping into the local DFS to see his work adorn the walls in the months to come.”