STAFF at the Dearne High School are regularly arranging for children to go to a clinic for the morning after pill following unprotected sex at the weekend.

A group of councillors were shocked when, during a visit, staff told them that children went to the school nurse every Monday to get the pill.

They were told that the school nurse spends a large proportion of her time arranging for children to go to the nearby LIFT centre for emergency contraception prescriptions.

Coun Robert Barnard said he was "horrified" by the information he was given, and Coun May Noble said the whole group was "taken aback".

Coun Sharon Brook, who is a governor at the school and chair of the children's services scrutiny commission, estimates that ten children a week are being given the morning after pill through the school.

"Some young people are taking it quite regularly and it's not what we want.

"At least it doesn't cause our young people to have a baby at anything from 12 to 18."

Speaking about the councillors' visit, she told the Chronicle: "We were quite shocked at what had to be dealt with by people, by teachers.

"I don't think Dearne High is any different to any other high schools in the borough. "They're just far more forward than they used to be."

She said alcohol, drugs and peer pressure were the main factors causing children to have unprotected sex.