BLAENAU Gwent council has pledged to continue to support young people when a project finishes at the end of the month.

The three-year PreVENT project was funded by the European Social Fund and local authorities taking part in it.

Blaenau Gwent acted as the lead partner for the scheme which has benefited thousands of young people.

Figures show that in 2010/11, the number of young people known not to be in education, employment or training, dropped from 8.7 per cent to 6.6 per cent.

The project helped to increase the capacity in schools to provide programmes for young people most at risk.

Pupils at Brynmawr Foundation School benefited from an emotional health, wellbeing, and mentoring project and saw a significant drop in exclusions.

At Glyncoed Comprehensive School, young people were able to study GCSE astronomy as well as accreditations in personal effectiveness and sports. Extra support for literacy and numeracy was also on offer. Council leader Hedley McCarthy said: “Blaenau Gwent Council has many ways in which we help young people at risk of not being engaged in education, employment, and training.

We will continue to progress this vital agenda.”

A project called Pre- VENT 14-19, funded by the European Social Fund, has now started to run in its place.