Pupils from Chepstow Comprehensive School were shopping in WH Smith this week, thanks to vouchers donated by the newsagent.

The WH Smith Trust Schools Giveaway had £20,000 worth of vouchers to help fund links with the community and promote the shopping experience for school children.

General manager Lisa Gillings said the whole idea was teacher-led and gave pupils the chance to get out and socialise in a retail environment.

"This is the third time we have helped Chepstow Comprehensive and the second opportunity for pupils from the Special Needs Unit within the school to benefit from the scheme," she said.

"They had £200 worth of vouchers to spend on whatever they liked within the store and we hope it will support literacy within the school environment as we have the biggest educational range of goods on the high street.

"What is really special is having a link with the special needs unit within the town," she added.

The pupils were all from 'Jim's class' having a mixture of Down's Syndrome and Autism, and were formerly based at Monmouth Comprehensive until a flood two years ago forced them to re-locate.

"Because of the nature and range of the special needs within the group, we have students from all over Monmouthshire and further afield," explained teacher Jim Edwards.

"We have a mixture of ages; one is a 19-year-old boy from Monmouth and is due to leave us to go on to college and other are between 12 and 19 and we focus a lot on social and independant skills as well as the basic academic work and take part in as many activities in school as we can.

"We have great facilities at Chepstow, we have our own kitchen so we shop and cook every week, allowing us to plan every week and do some shopping in town for ingredients.

"On Thursdays the students cook and take things home for themselves, every Tuesday they also make each other lunch and sit down to eat it together.

"We have good tie-ins with our local schools as well; the special needs unit at Pembroke Road join us to do some art work.

"It's absolutely fabulous to have the chance to come down here to the store, it's important for our pupils to be able to recognise prices and converse properly with the shop assistants and have those social skills.

"We are very grateful to WH Smith, they have been very kind in terms of vouchers," he added.