PUPILS are using the very latest in computer technology both in and out of the classroom in a ground-breaking link with industry.

Our Lady and St John's RC High School, Blackburn, is one of just 20 schools nationwide to get the use of laptop computers youngsters can use in school and at home.

The school is taking part in the government's Schools Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacture Initiative Pilot Scheme and pupils' will be using technology used everyday by British Aerospace and Rolls Royce.

Head of technology Mr Steve Fleming said: "The children used this equipment on their Eurocollaborator Aircraft Project which Prime Minister Tony Blair looked at when he visited the school.

"And they will also be using the laptops for their GCSE projects to design and manufacture their own products in school. The good thing about the laptops is that once school has finished the children can take them home and carry on."

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