My name is Ian, I'm 16 and go to Sandside High School. I live with my mum and my step-dad. I've got a couple of step-sisters but they don't live with us. Sandside is an okay school I guess. I've been there since first year. I do my highers next year.

I'm really into music. I'd love to do some sort of course at college, maybe in the recording side of things. I play the keyboard, sing and write my own songs. I've actually won a competition for one of my songs. I like other subjects at school, like art and IT. I use a computer at home to record my songs and can then burn them onto CDs.

I've had a pretty rough year at school to be honest. I think some of my classmates are jealous of me singing and winning that competition. I wrote a song called 'I need your love' and a couple of guys said I was gay and that it was about my boyfriend. Now loads of people call me gay. One starts and then others join in. Singing makes me feel good about myself. It gives me confidence and I can stand up to them. I've been beaten up twice and the headmaster expelled one of the boys. He got back into school after two weeks and he is still niggling away at me. Some days I get depressed and don't want to go to school .