CHILDREN from three nations came together to discuss air pollution at a Darlington school.

The conference at Hummersknott School and Language College was attended by more than 120 pupils.

Also taking part in the conference were 30 students from the school's twin school in St Petersburg, Russia, who were visiting on a ten-day exchange.

The children sat down with industrialists from companies around the region and discussed various problems concerning air pollution.

The English and Russian children also took part in a video-conference with children from a school in Nuremberg, Germany.

The children from the three schools are all taking part in a multi-national project called The Air We Breathe.

Lana Briton, the project coordinator, said: "They talked about the situation in Darlington and the North-East, with Darlington being a former mining town.

"The Russian children talked about St Petersburg, which has five million people, and the pollution problems.

"It was a phenomenal programme and there was an officer from the British Council watching what was going on."

In May, the school is to go to Russia for an exchange, which will also be attended by a school from Finland, which is also taking part in the project.