STUDENTS in Duffryn are scaling new heights thanks to a challenging climbing wall at Duffryn High School.

The wall has been at the school since July last year, and over the past few months children have been getting to grips with clambering its peak.

Now after hours and hours of practice - several sixth form students are now trained to such a degree of expertise they're qualified to teach younger pupils how to use the outdoor wall.

Bob Hughes, 56, Head of Key Stage 4 at Duffryn High School, said: "They are about 15 year 12 students who can now teach on the wall.

"All of them had to do over 20 hours of practice on the wall in order to become proficient."

Due to the wet, wind and cold of the winter months, safety precautions have meant the wall - which towers above 10 metres in height - has not been used to its full extent.

Yet Mr Hughes was confident it would be buzzing with activity once the sun shines again.

"I can see that once the weather warms up it will be used an awful lot more," he said.

Mr Hughes said the wall took 12 months of planning and was funded jointly by the school, the LEA and leisure facilities in Newport.