New campaign to fight Bolton's teen pregnancy problems (From The Bolton News)

New campaign to fight Bolton's teen pregnancy problems

3:41pm Monday 10th December 2007

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Teenagers are being educated about the dangers of sex and alcohol in a new scheme being run in the borough's schools.

Play Hard Party Safe is aimed at final year high school pupils and sixth formers.

It has been launched to help address Bolton's problems with teenage pregnancy.

The borough's figures are way above the national average - in England and Wales 41.3 under 18s per 1,000 fell pregnant in 2005. In Bolton that figure was is 51.9 per 1,000.

Jayne Littler, teenage pregnancy co-ordinator, said: "This is a new scheme which we are running in a number of schools in December.

"If successful we will be rolling it out to all schools before the end of the academic year. The sessions are interactive and young people find out about sexually transmitted infections, safe sex and how to say no to sex.

"Young people take part in a series of activities including putting together a jigsaw to find out more about these issues. We also talk about how to deal with someone who is very drunk, and the safety issues surrounding having too much to drink. A condom demonstration is also given, but we do not hand these out to the pupils."

The sessions are run by trained youth workers, teachers and other professionals who work with young people. The programme is run jointly by Bolton Primary Care Trust and Bolton Council.

Ms Littler said the sessions are designed to reduce the borough's teenage pregnancy rate, by complementing sex education lessons in schools: "This is a new idea and we are looking to roll it out to all secondary schools and sixth forms in the borough by the end of the year."

The Play Hard Play Safe sessions end with a confidential one-to-one discussion with a nurse for pupils who want it.

Ms Littler said: "During the nurse drop-in session, pupils can talk about anything they want to."

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