SCHOOL leavers will be given more career guidance and advice thanks to the launch of a specialist magazine.

Students in North Yorkshire will benefit from the magazine, called Sorted! that outlines the choices available when they leave school at the end of the year.

The publication will help young people make sense of the myriad of qualifications on offer and the different ways they can carry on learning. They will be guided on how to work towards qualifications in schools, colleges, in the workplace and at home.

Sorted! has been sponsored by the local Learning and Skills Council and will include details about courses and modern apprenticeship programmes available in the area, who offers them and how to find out more.

A group of 40 media students from Harrogate Grammar School worked with specialist designers to create the magazine, which will be distributed to all secondary schools this month.

"We have made the magazine in a modern, eye-catching style that will appeal to students making big life-changing decisions in the next year," said Tom Phillipson, one of the students who has worked on the magazine. "It has been great fun to contribute to a project that will make a difference to so many people of my own age - and it is rewarding to see the results of our efforts in print."

Graeme Wilson, director of the design group Geconsulting, said: "Involving the students in the design and writing of Sorted! was the best way to ensure that it was relevant to other students of their age group. It is important information and it needed to be presented in a style and format appropriate to its audience."