School nurses have a crucial role to play in helping the government achieve its aim to reduce teenage pregnancies. Sarah Bekaert describes how multidisciplinary sex education workshops in secondary schools tackle this issue

In England there are nearly 90,000 conceptions a year to teenagers; around 7,700 to girls under 16 and 2,200 to girls aged 14 or under. The situation is worse in the poorest areas such as Hackney, in east London (SEU 1999). Health promotion targets outlined by the Health of the Nation (1992) and these recent figures regarding teenage pregnancy from the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) have highlighted the need for professionals to become involved in promoting young people’s sexual health.