Alcohol, drugs, violence and antisocial behaviour in the community can be combatted thanks to a £10,000 grant handed to Sidmouth College.

The Big Lottery Fund has backed the school’s project to run a series of workshops on a range of topics to develop youngsters’ life skills.

All 800 pupils will work with SOS Global, an Exeter-based not-for-profit social enterprise, in a number of sessions to encourage them to make positive life choices.

Online security is also on the agenda.

Teacher Lisa Whitworth said: “I believe that this project will have a significant positive impact for the students and the local community.

“It is about them understanding this isn’t about school, it is about their own lives and how they engage in their local community - these are life skills.”

The workshops will concentrate on being proactive to problems in the local area and would deliver a hard-hitting message.

During the year, students will be visited by guest speakers including a retired crown court judge, a former drug addict and a victim of domestic abuse.

In addition to the sessions, the pupils will be asked to record their personal experiences and thoughts about how violent and antisocial behaviour can be prevented and how they can tackle the issues.

Mrs Whitworth said that, through information being shared with the students and actively engaging with young people, the scheme will help ‘Sidmouth and the surrounding areas to be safer, happier places in which to live’.