Christian youth workers in Norwich have launched an initiative with a group of teenagers to try to make a dent in the rising number of teenage pregnancies.

Romance Academy, which was opened Tuesday, takes a dozen 14 to 16-year-olds and challenges them to go without sex throughout the 15-week course.

The six boys and six girls will instead meet each week to focus on topics such as building and sustaining healthy relationships, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, drugs and alcohol, and self-image.

The course, organised by Pregnancy Crisis Norfolk (PCN), is inspired by the popular BBC2 series No Sex Please We're Teenagers.

It is being run by Christian youth workers Sarah Woodger and David Lanchester.

Mr Lanchester said: "We want to help educate people about relationships and sex issues. There's a lot of media pressure on teenagers to have sex and it's easy to lose the whole relationship side of things."

The young people, who attended an open evening Tuesday at the Fishergate Centre in Norwich, will meet every once a week throughout the course. They will also have social events and a residential weekend away.