LOCAL students got the naked truth as a special guest came to visit last week.

Body image campaigner Natasha Devon visited Dartmouth Academy to chat to students and staff about body image disorders and their various effects.

Natasha is a body image expert for television and radio and has featured on BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 live and This Morning.

Her approach to tackling the issues has been commended by many celebrities including Gok Wan, Jermaine Defoe and Alesha Dixon.

Natasha was invited to the academy by sixth form student Danny Hill, 18, after he had worked on a special extended project about body confidence and its profound effect on young people.

His research brought up Natasha's body gossip project, which has been working to increase awareness of body image disorders and help people who suffer from them.

Natasha gave an assembly in the morning to years nine and 10 and spent the rest of the day working with sixth form in workshops examining body image issues.

Danny said: 'I was struggling to find inspiration for a project – then when I started to look at body image I found something I was very interested in which would allow me to hopefully make a positive difference around the academy.

'It's very exciting that Natasha came down – she has been a real inspiration to me and was brilliant during the day.

'I was encouraged by my teacher, Miss Bolwell who gave me the confidence to contact Natasha and it has been a great move – I'm delighted with how my project has turned out.'

Natasha said: 'No matter how bright a student or how excellent a school's facilities both will fall short of their potential if issues surrounding low self-esteem and lack of body confidence are allowed to permeate.

'I've been honoured to work with more than 10,000 teenagers since 2008 delivering our body gossip self-esteem programme and it's thanks to forward thinking teachers like Miss Bolwell that I have been allowed to do so.

'I was really impressed with the initiative Danny showed by inviting me in and he was a pleasure to work with on the day.'

Miss Bolwell said: 'Natasha was a great entertainer and her talk about the power of advertising and the media really hit home among the staff and students alike.

'She showed a range of examples and shared interesting facts, knowledge and personal experience to create a very intriguing presentation.

'Lots of the sixth formers have now been inspired to write their own body gossip stories.They are now really looking forward to keeping in touch with Natasha via Twitter and the body gossip website.'