Parents taught the facts of life

Wigan has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates

A primary school in Greater Manchester is offering sex education classes with a difference - these are for the parents, not the children.

The five-week courses are being held at Low Hall Primary School in Platt Bridge, Wigan.

The school hopes the classes will make it easier for parents to answer their childrens's questions more accurately.

Mums and Dads will be taught how to discuss pregnancy, relationships and sexually transmitted diseases.

The scheme was developed by the school, Wigan's Healthy Schools team and the town's teenage pregnancy unit.

Tackling teenage pregnancy

Headteacher at Low Hall Primary, Jim Holian, helped set up the course.

He said: "Wigan has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country and in line with the government thinking we are trying to tackle the issue through early intervention.

"The group is learning how to guide their children through the difficult period of adolescence with our help."

Paula Mayers, one of the parents on the course, said: "It really makes you sit up and think.

"It has made me more confident and ready to answer those awkward questions that I know will be coming from my children aged six and nine."

The school hopes that in the long term it will help reduce the borough's teenage pregnancy rates, which are among the highest in the UK.

It has proved so popular with parents that there is already a waiting list for places on a second course.