Schoolwork is more important than swimming, insists Plymouth's national champion Achieng Ajulu-Bushell.

The 16-year-old won both the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the British Championships in Sheffield last month.

After switching nationality from Kenya to Great Britain, she is now a top prospect for the Olympics in 2012.

Ajulu-Bushell told BBC Spotlight: "I put my education above swimming so it's really important for me to do well at school first."

The teenager is currently in the middle of her GCSEs and has to balance her studies with a demanding schedule of training at the Plymouth Leander club.

She said: "I've got so much on my plate with school exams and training that I tend to take things in manageable sizes.

"At the moment I'm just looking towards the end of my exams and then after that, training for the Commonwealths, but it's all in good time."

Born in Manchester to an English mother and Kenyan father, Ajulu-Bushell moved to Africa before returning in September 2007 and enrolling at Plymouth College, where she is a classmate of diving world champion Tom Daley.

She said: "Since coming back here and having trained here and gone to school at Plymouth College, I feel at home."

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