MORE than 100 students will gather in Oswestry this week for a psychology conference.

On Thursday, year 12 and 13 students from five local schools will be attending the conference at The Marches School, based in Morda Road.

The Marches pupils will be joined by students from Thomas Adams, Sir John Talbot's, Oswestry School, The Grove School and Moreton Hall.

There will also be university representatives from Aberystwyth, Glyndwr, and Chester; and also the University of Chester in Shrewsbury and Liverpool Hope, who will be delivering a wide range of psychology-based workshops and presentations.

Dr Julie Leoni, psychology teacher at The Marches School said that it was nice to be able to bring everyone together.

"Our vision for the conference is to create a centre of excellence for psychology in Oswestry," she said.

"Our school is lucky enough to have outstanding training facilities and it is a pleasure to bring together staff and students from local schools to develop their knowledge of psychology.

"We want to develop a community of psychology professionals and enthusiasts as we believe that psychology is not only an A-level subject, but a tool which can help us all develop our relationships, our mental health and our potential as human beings, and nothing can be more important than that."

The sessions will be focused on the theme well-being, as The Marches School recognises how important this is for learning and thriving.

The conference will provide thought-provoking sessions, allowing students to not only further their knowledge, but also to find out about the local universities.

Workshops will include; 'Exploring resilience: what does it really mean?', 'A balanced approach to well-being', 'Superstitions and stress as a coping mechanism', ‘Mindfulness and Wellbeing’, 'It gets better: Life beyond A-levels' and ‘How humour can enhance well-being’.

Each student will be able to attend four workshops and there will be time during breaks to interact with the workshop leaders.