SWINDON Academy pupils celebrated completing a gruelling personal development course run by ex-forces personnel.

For 12 weeks, and the entirety of the autumn and spring terms at the Beech Avenue school, the youngsters took part in the Little Leaders programme, with empowering charity SkillForce.

On Wednesday(Mar25) the Year 4 and Year 5 students were presented their certificates in front of their parents in a special ceremony to celebrate their achievements.

Tom Griffin, an instructor with SkillForce who trained the youngsters, said: "We were working with Year 4 and Year 5 pupils at Swindon Academy on a programme called Little Leaders and it's about developing the children's leadership skills, team-working, and problem solving skills.

"It's meant they took part in a variety of activities including orienteering, rock climbing, and litter picking to do some work to help the environment.

Tom was very impressed with the work the children had done.

He said: "They They had done very well actually.

"Once they had completed the course we wanted to do something to officially end the programme, o we arranged a presentation ceremony with the parents.

"I think it was good for them to receive their certificates and have that recognition with their parents being there too."

SkillForce is a charity that works in partnership with schools, drawing upon the skills of predominantly ex-Forces personnel, to inspire young people to succeed.

Since 2000, SkillForce has changed the lives of 50,000 young people in the UK, engaging the hard-to-reach, developing their skills, and preparing them for next steps in education, work or training.

For more information about SkillForce visit www.skillforce.org.