A little girl who weighed just 15oz when she was born 15 weeks premature is getting ready for her first day at school.

Bethanie Potter was one of the smallest surviving premature babies doctors had cared for when she was born four and a half years ago.

They gave her little chance of surviving the night.

But despite her size - she was nicknamed the Jam Jar Baby because she weighed about the same - Bethanie proved to be a fighter.

Now she is getting ready to start school in September, although finding a uniform to fit has been tricky because at 35lb (16kg) she is still only half the weight and height of her classmates.

Bethanie will be going to the Palatine School for special needs pupils in Palatine Road, Goring, Worthing.

Mum Elizabeth Taylor, 33, of The Quadrant, Worthing, said: "She was the size of a Barbie doll and the doctors gave her less than 24 hours when she was born.

"You could hold her in the palm of your hand. I didn't think she would ever get to school.

"But getting a uniform and school shoes might be a problem - she fits into a two to three-year-old's clothes."

Elizabeth said Bethanie, who is five in October, is a typically boisterous child, who loves playing, although she gets out of breath very quickly because of chronic lung disease as a result of being born so early.

She also had difficulty in speaking because she had only one vocal cord instead of two, a condition which has baffled medical experts.

As a result, Bethanie struggled to talk and may one day lose her voice. Doctors hope by the time she reaches 17 or 18 she might be able to undergo a vocal cord transplant.

Bethanie, who has a ten-year-old sister, Hayley, has been attending the Camelia Botnar Centre for children with special needs in Wellesley Avenue, Goring.

Elizabeth said: "We have got her into the school we wanted because she needs a little bit of extra help.

She would have got lost in a classroom of 30 children."

Bethanie was born by emergency Caesarean after Elizabeth was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a potentially fatal condition characterised by high blood pressure and kidney failure.

The baby had stopped growing in the womb.

Bethanie was kept in special care baby units in London, Brighton and Worthing for more than four months until she was strong enough to go home.