SIXTH FORM student Shaun McCourt has taken the first steps on the road to stardom. Shaun, 16, a pupil at the John of Gaunt School in Trowbridge, has returned from a week's residential course with the National Youth Music Theatre.

Shaun, who lives in Market Lavington near Devizes, impressed judges at an audition for the National Youth Theatre earlier this year but because he was 15 at the time he was too young to be offered a place.

The theatre encouraged him to go on the residential course and he plans to go for an audition for the National Youth Music Theatre itself in January.

The residential course involved 30 young people from all over the country and was held in Sherborne, Dorset.

Professional drama, movement and music practitioners worked with the young people and at the end of the week the participants performed a piece of music theatre.

Shaun said: "I enjoyed it a lot.

"I improved my acting, singing and dancing and it was also nice to meet people from all different places."

Shaun discovered his singing talent by accident less than two years ago while he was auditioning for a show at his former school, Lavington School.

He said: "I had done some acting parts for school plays but for this one particular show I did a singing audition.

"It was then that people realised I could sing. I was quite surprised, I didn't know I had it in me."

Since then Shaun has been having singing lessons to improve his voice.

He reluctantly turned down a part in West Side Story at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, as it clashed with the course run by the National Youth Music Theatre.

Shaun hopes to go to stage school and become a singer performing in musicals.

He said: "I am determined to succeed.

"I love performing on stage and I think I will be able to deal with the rejection along the way."