Teenagers Being Sought for Sex and Relationship Education Programme

New teenagers are being sought to take part in the "Romance Academy" in Norwich, a sex and relationship education programme for teens, following a graduation ceremony for teenagers who took part in the programme and stayed celibate for 15 weeks.

The project, involving six boys and six girls, is aimed at reducing teenage pregnancies and educating youngsters about relationship pressures.

While completely abstaining from sex, the youngsters will be encouraged to build up self-esteem and look at what makes a good relationship.

The Romance Academy project began in London in 2005. After it was featured last year on BBC2 documentary "No Sex Please We're Teenagers", co-ordinator Naomi Roberts was inspired to bring it to Wales.

She said: "From my own experience of being a mother it would have been invaluable if I could have sent my daughter to something like the Romance Academy.

"She suffered some difficulties in her teenage years and my experience in dealing with this made me think that I could help others face similar sorts of problems and pressures.

"We want to reduce teenage pregnancies and reduce the amount of teenagers having casual sex. It reduces peoples' self esteem."

The Romance Academy recently held two conferences in Blackpool and London.