There’s a T. Rex in our classroom, Miss... and it looks virtually real!

SWIMMING with sharks, walking with dinosaurs or exploring the pyramids of Ancient Egypt were once adventures a schoolchild could only dream of.

But now they can all be enjoyed in the comfort and safety of the classroom – through the power of virtual reality.

A Scottish local authority is leading the way by allowing pupils to ditch their textbooks and step directly into their lessons wearing virtual reality headsets.

East Renfrewshire Council has invested £250,000 to become the first in the UK to provide the stateof-the-art equipment for every primary and secondary school.

Teachers can choose from hundreds of locations and periods in time to bring topics to life, while science classes can feature interactive 3D images of anything from body parts to planets in the solar system. When The Scottish Mail on Sunday visited St John’s Primary School in Barrhead, a Primary 6 class learning about the cities of Europe were able to walk around the canals of Amsterdam and visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Primary 7 class next door was about to take a trip back in time to the First World War to see what life was like for soldiers in the trenches, while Primary 1 pupils were learning about deep sea life.

The school’s IT co-ordinator Katrina Flaherty says: ‘The introduction of the VR headsets has been brilliant and has benefits for each age group. Something like that really ignites their imagination.’

For class teachers such as Laura Webster, the new teaching aid has been a revelation.

She said: ‘As soon as the children put on the headsets they are absorbed in the lesson – it’s amazing.’

Ten-year-old Freya Canning is excited by the new technology. She said: ‘It makes classes so much more fun, it feels like you are really there.’

East Renfrewshire education convener Paul O’Kane said: ‘These virtual reality headsets will enhance our pupils’ learning experiences and push them to new heights.’