Alesha Dixon shows St Albans students airbrush tactics

BEAUTY lessons and self confidence seminars are not usually part of the curriculum, but one St. Albans school had a special class held by Strictly Come Dancing winner Alesha Dixon. Alesha, who grew up in Herts, spoke to a class of Year 10 students at San

BEAUTY lessons and self confidence seminars are not usually part of the curriculum, but one St. Albans school had a special class held by Strictly Come Dancing winner Alesha Dixon.

Alesha, who grew up in Herts, spoke to a class of Year 10 students at Sandringham School as part of her documentary entitled Alesha: Look but Don't Touch which was aired during prime time on BBC3 on Monday.

The documentary aimed to address the use of airbrushing in magazines and how that impacted on young people's perceptions of beauty.

To demonstrate her point former pop singer Alesha asked the class to create 'the perfect women' out of cuttings from glossy magazines.

James Heale, assistant head at Sandringham, said: "It was a great experience for the students. Alesha's visit triggered some very mature and thought-provoking comments. Many of them were shocked by these media tactics".

The session has been followed up with work in school

Alesha also interviewed children at Welwyn Garden City's Children's Centre in order to discover how very young girls reacted to the media.