A BRADFORD school is using drama to help pupils learn about issues like sexual health and drug use.

Pupils at Hanson School in Swain House, most of whom have had little involvement in drama before, have been taking part in drama sessions with the Bloomin' Buds Theatre Company. The work will ultimately culminate in a performance in front of their schoolmates, and short films that will be shown to other students.

It is hoped that if the project proves to be successful it could be rolled out to other schools in the area.

The company are also at the school to perform Rewrite the System, aimed at tackling the class divide and helping young people access opportunities that they might find difficult to access due to their background, accent or where they are from.

This project is supported by Moorside surgery and Bradford Districts Clinical Commissioning Group, and works to and find out how much young people know on the negative impacts of poor health.

The year 11 students are producing their own performances, based on topics within the umbrella of healthy living, which have evolved from workshops where students and members of Bloomin Buds discussed healthy living and what the students knew. The performances will be filmed and shown to other young people.

Rewrite the System, which uses verbatim accounts from young people to tell a story about the issues faced by young people, will be performed for the pupils on Thursday, and the group's work at Hanson could shape future performances.

Katie Mahon, leader at Bloomin' Buds, said: "Rewrite the System is about challenging the class divide. Young people from some backgrounds have more difficulty accessing services, jobs and other things than people from more affluent backgrounds.

"It is about showing that these young people can still reach their potential with the right encouragement.

"We have helped get these children involved in drama, and we like to able to provide them with that confidence. Drama really helps them build social skills. What we set out to do was try and reach the young people who wouldn't normally be interested in the theatre.

"It gets them working together and becoming more used to performing and speaking in front of crowds.

"It can be hard for young people between 11 and 15 to get involved in theatre or drama, it can cost a lot of money. Drama is also quite de-valued in schools. It is not seen as an essential subject. For a lot of pupils they see drama as the easy option when they are choosing classes.

"So for young people from less well off backgrounds, they have to break barriers to get here.

"We've come in to Hanson as part of this healthy living project, and we've been asking the young people what they know about issues like sexual health, drug use, mental health, things like that.

"Young people won't always listen if someone tells them not to do drugs or not to smoke, so it is important to listen to them about what they feel about such things. You have to get the message across that it is not just you that can be effected by things like drugs, but also your families.

"The research the pupils have produced and the stories they have told will hopefully inform the script for our performance."

She hopes that if the project proves a success, the drama group could get further funding and roll it out to similar schools.