A HIGH-tech approach to helping students at a Burnley high school is paying dividends for 16-year-old Charlotte Binns.

Many schools operate mentor schemes which involve business people and volunteers coming into schools to provide support and encouragement to raise students' standards.

But at Burnley's Ivy Bank High a web-cam is used to link Charlotte with her mentor Keith Patton, formerly from Burnley, who is now a financial assistant director with the Deutche Bank in London.

And already Charlotte's predicted exam grades have already gone up and the school is planning to extend the scheme internationally.

Keith said: "What I get out of it is hopefully that Charlotte and other students can see that there are other opportunities out there that will higher their aspirations and hopefully I can give a bit back."

Charlotte said: "I enjoy talking to Keith, it's very interesting what he has to say. He tells me his stories and helps me with my studies and course work.

"I tell him what I'm doing and how my mock exams are going. It gives me more confidence in believing that I can do things like that as well."

School development officer Michael Watson said: "This could lead to video language mentoring and it could lead to video stockbroking mentoring so the possibilities are fantastic."