There are very few 13-year-olds who have to make life-altering decisions but that is exactly what Ollie Taverner had to do last summer.

He had two options. Stay at home with his family in Watford or move away to Devon in an attempt to fulfil his potential as a swimmer.

Given he has broken a long-standing British record and received praise from an Olympic gold medallist in the process it is safe to say he made the right choice.

Not that it made leaving home any less difficult.

“It wasn’t an easy thing to do,” Taverner admitted. “It is a big step in anyone’s life. I missed my family a lot but I made sure I concentrated on my swimming and I think that is paying off.”

His mum, Lisa, added: “It was a massive wrench preparing him to leave. I didn’t think about how much it would impact on me to be honest but I am so proud of him and what he has achieved already.”

So Taverner swapped Queens’ School and Watford Swimming Club for a scholarship with Mount Kelly Swimming School in Tavistock.

He is no longer attempting to juggle his schoolwork and swimming, they both go hand-in-hand on a specially designed course for swimmers. However, his parents do have to pay for his boarding at the school.

Taverner says: “When I was at Queens’ I would get in trouble for not doing my homework but I didn’t always have time with swimming.

“I would be at a meet over the weekend and I couldn’t do it. Mount Kelly is different though, they focus on school but want you to improve your swimming.”

Under the guidance of head coach Robin Brew and performance coach Greg King, Taverner is doing just that.

He is currently first in the British ASA rankings for the 14 years category across 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke. And over the Easter weekend he competed in a meet in Portsmouth and wrote his name into the British swimming record books.

Taverner competed in the 13-years 100m breaststroke and set a time of 1.07.98. The previous record set by Craig Benson seven years ago stood at 1.08.33.

“I was astonished to break the record,” Taverner, who turns 14 later this month, admitted. “That was my main goal but it was amazing to achieve it.

“I received tweets from the likes of Duncan Goodhew and Rebecca Adlington. That was incredible. My hero Michael Jamieson then congratulated me and also said he would send me a few things.”

Goodhew wrote: “That's what I call promising. WD (well done) and enjoy it Ollie!” Adlington added: “Congratulations! Well done.” While Jamieson said “Congrats on the record pal”.

Despite that high praise Taverner remains grounded. He has set his sights on the junior European Championships in two years but knows there is a long road ahead.

“The junior championships are my aim and I have to keep working hard to get there. I have the summer nationals in Sheffield to look forward to in July and at the moment I will continue practicing all the different strokes, it is good to be able to compete in the different events.

“But I know I will have to focus on one stroke as I get older and that will probably be my breaststroke.”

Given what he has already achieved that would be another wise choice.

To track Taverner’s progress or if you are interested in sponsoring him, visit ollietaverner.com/