A group of Moray pupils have been rewarded for spearheading a pioneering initiative to improve mental health in the classroom.
Students from Speyside High School have set up “breakfast drop-in sessions” to give their classmates space to open up in.
The morning appointments have been set up to allow youngsters to confide in their colleagues about exam or career worries as well as other concerns.
Pupils have drawn up a rota to staff the sessions through the week, with plans already in place to expand the scheme to other parts of the day.
Fifth year student, Marc Cluckie, said: “It’s important because you need to help people empower themselves to get through whatever struggle they’ve been having.
“It shouldn’t be about finding the power within me to help them but helping them to find the power within themselves.”
The pupils also wrote a moving poem for a video to show the benefits of opening up.
The Speyside students were joined in the Listen Well Scotland pilot scheme by students from Keith Grammar School as well as Charleston and Millburn secondary schools in Inverness, Kingussie High School and Ullapool High School.
However, representatives from the charity singled out the Aberlour-based school as coming up with the most impressive campaign.
Maureen Wilson, executive coordinator for Listen Well Scotland, explained that 14 teenagers had gone through two days of training as part of the project.
She said: “We believe that if we can improve peer communication between young people then it can contribute a huge amount to their mental wellbeing.”
