IT is a sight that is becoming all too familiar in the media stories of children who have become addicted to drugs or alcohol.

But primary school pupils across the town are being given advice on how to keep their bodies healthy and how to deal with peer pressure.

For the last 10 years, the Life Education Centre's mobile classroom has been visiting more than 65 primary schools in Swindon and staff have spoken to about 25,000 youngsters.

The LEC has more than 80 mobile classroom around the country which visit schools and teach pupils, from five to 11, the importance of looking after their bodies.

And a group of Year Five pupils from Lawn Primary School joined educator Jeanette Whitmore and Harold the Healthy, Happy giraffe to show everyone what it is all about.

"It is all about getting the children involved and getting them to give their contributions," said Jeanette, who has been the resident educator since the scheme started.

"And while we can't claim to have stopped anyone from taking drugs when they are older, and quite a few will experiment, all the research shows that the younger children are when you start telling them about the dangers the less likely they are to go on and develop a serious problem."

The children are taken into the mobile classroom and through a variety of mediums, such as video, song, role-play and discussion, they learn about the dangers of taking drugs and how to lead a healthy life. "They really seem to take it all on board," said Jeanette. "I've had parents come to me and say they've tried for months to get their child to eat a certain food without luck, but once they've seen Harold eat it they can't wait to try it."

And it is not just the children that get to go in the classroom there are also parent sessions to demonstrate what the pupils are taught.

The classroom is sponsored by a number of businesses including Swindon's Nationwide Building Society, BP and BUPA.

Alan Nix, a trustee of LEC said: "It is such a valuable tool for schools in the town. And everybody who has attended the sessions has said how worthwhile they are."

"And Jeanette is wonderful at what she does, the children all really take to her.

"There has been a lot of analysis of the funding since we started but I think we have proved that it is worth it.

"It always seems to go down well with everybody."