A group of students with special educational needs have passed their first grading after taking up the sport of Tae Kwon Do.

Jim's Class, a group of mixed age students based at Chepstow School, started learning the martial art earlier this year and last week five students received their orange belts.

The class works regularly with Chepstow's sports development officer Geraint Roberts as he looks to develop sporting participation during school lessons and via extra-curricular activities.

"When Geraint suggested that he might be able to offer a Tae Kwon Do class we jumped at the chance," said teacher Jim Edwards.

"The class is run by Ken Bloomfield and when we first started out we had no idea whether the students could make a decent effort of learning such an unusual discipline.

"At first the attention to detail and physical nature of Tae Kwon Do looked beyond us, but to our real surprise the group have managed to pick up many skills during their 12-week programme."

The group are keen to carry on in September and, with such a high measure of success in many skill areas, Jim thinks they should keep the class going.

Pictured are students Rhys Waters, Jordan Asquith, Luke Jones, Naomi Dunlop and Conor Weston along with staff members Cath Lewis and Jim Edwards and instructor Ken Bloomfield.

Chepstow Tae Kwon Do train on Mondays 7pm to 8pm, Wednesdays 6.30pm to 9pm, Thursdays 7pm to 8.30pm and Sundays 11am to 12pm.

All ages and abilities are welcome.