AN EAST Lancashire school is hoping to inspire a future generation of IT experts with new hi-tech equipment.

Youngsters at St Bede’s RC High School are among the first pupils in the country to have access to a drone and a 3D printer to use in their every day lessons.

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Anthony Lloyd, head of geography at the Livesey Branch Road Blackburn school said he was not aware of any other school in the UK with the technology.

He said he hoped it would encourage teenagers to carry on learning science, IT and geography subjects at college and university.

The drone, which can take moving images by flying up to 700ft above the ground, allows pupils to evaluate the landscape around the school and is also used in sports lessons to help students learn from team formations during matches.

Funding from BAE systems is also allowing students to create their own drone from scratch.

The 3D printer is a key part of IT lessons and has seen children create plastic forks and other shapes.

Mr Lloyd said: “The idea of the drone was to bring geography into the 21st century and make sure that people are engaging with it.

“Geography can be really interesting and we use the technology to map the local area by getting it to fly around.

“We want the pupils to see how interesting subjects can be.”

The teacher said the students had loved their new lessons and were really enthusiastic about the technology.

He added: “The response has been fantastic. The pupils have absolutely loved it.

“They have been able to see geography in the real world. When you are teaching in the classroom, we teach the subjects theoretically, but getting out and seeing it for real is amazing.

“The kids are really ICT savvy and are really engaging in their lessons.

“Using the drone and the 3D printer is a more interactive way of teaching compared to looking at text books and PowerPoints.

“We are preparing the pupils for what the world is really like and there are a lot of IT jobs around now.

“Hopefully we will have the next generation of computer programmers and IT experts coming from Blackburn.”