NEARLY a fifth of 14 and 15-year-olds admitted smoking a cigarette in the last week, research showed.

The Health Related Behaviour Survey also found that nine per cent of 10 and 11-year-old boys have tried smoking.

And seven per cent of girls of that age have also sampled a cigarette.

But the latest figures from the Primary Care Trust and Swindon Council also reveal the amount of young people smoking is going down in the town, as agencies work with schools to stub it out.

The number of 14 and 15 year olds, who smoked in the week before the survey dropped from 22.5 per cent in 2002 to 18 per cent.

And the number of Year 10 pupils buying cigarettes has gone down from 16 per cent in 2002 to 10 per cent.

Laura Holmes, of the Healthy Schools team, said: “Young people who are addicted to smoking find it hard to concentrate in class. It is not good for them in lessons.

“We are working with schools to get the message out about the dangers.

“We want to prevent young people starting smoking because it is such a harmful and addictive thing for them to do. It places them at a long-term risk.”

She said fewer children have been caught smoking since schools banned it anywhere on school grounds last year.

The Swindon Tobacco Partnership has sent out a smoking fact file to every secondary school and nurses are supported to help youths quit.

Ridgeway School said it takes anti-smoking awareness seriously and even offered a self-help group for a number of girls in the past who wanted to stop.

“The right messages are being sent out about anti-smoking,” said assistant headteacher Julie White. “Our programme starts from Year 7 and runs right through the other years.”

The council has made Citizen Cards available for pupils so retailers can easily make sure they are 18 before selling to them.

Old Town newsagent Rosemarie Earle believes many children are likely getting cigarettes from adults who buy them abroad cheaply and then sell them on.

“I see plenty of kids going around with cigarettes,” she said. “They likely get them from adults.

“We don’t sell cigarettes to young people but that does not mean they are not smoking.

“We ask anyone who looks under the age of 21 for identification.”

Richard Roberts, project manager and founder member of youth mentoring charity Smash, said: “I must admit we have a proportion of our young people who smoke. It has not disappeared.”