PUPILS from Carrick Academy in Maybole have become ambassadors for an anti-smoking campaign.

They have taken part in a national programme, called ASSIST, to reduce the numbers of young people taking up or trying smoking. 

It targets young people aged 12 to 13 by training others of similar age to be influential, through the various social networks, in deterring potential smokers.

Carrick Academy put forward 23 S1 pupils to take part in 14 weeks of ASSIST training, while NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s smoking cessation service, Fresh Air-shire, organised the programme to run in the school. 

There were several key factors in the training programme including pinpointing, through a peer questionnaire, the most influential students in the group.

Selected students were then trained to become peer supporters, which involved having informal conversations with others in their year about the risks of smoking and the benefits of being smoke-free. 

Gavin Pitt, deputy head teacher at Carrick Academy, said: “Bringing down rates of teenage smoking is an important part of our wider work with young people, with healthy lifestyles playing an important part in their general well-being.

“ASSIST has been a worthwhile programme because it’s empowered young people to make their own choices about whether or not to smoke.

“By giving people the facts and figures about tobacco, and highlighting the potential side effects of taking up the habit, we hope that people will come to sensible conclusions.”

NHS Ayrshire and Arran is committed to achieving the Scottish Government’s aim of having a tobacco-free generation by 2034, director of public health, Dr Carol Davidson, confirmed.

She added: “We are delighted that Carrick Academy has become the second school in South Ayrshire to have signed up to this innovative programme. 

"During the last academic year, more than 20,000 students throughout the UK have taken part in ASSIST. 

“The feedback from the schools which have been involved so far has been very positive. 

"The ASSIST programme is just one of the ways through which we are working with young people to provide the facts about smoking.”