Teens 'Graduate' from Romance Academy After Refraining from Sex

The Romance Academy, a sex and relationship education programme for teens, held a graduation ceremony for teenagers who stayed celibate for 15 weeks.

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

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.

On last year's Youth Focus Day at the CRE, the Romance Academy seminar was the main highlight, with the presenters of BBC 2's "No Sex please we're teenagers" hosting the session.

Dressed in black shirts splashed with the words "No Sex please we're teenagers", youth leaders and co-founders of the Romance Academy Dan Burke and Rachel Gardener encouraged people to work with them on the initiative, which could positively influence the lives of thousands of teenagers for the better.