A BLACKBURN business is offering a helping hand in the classroom by installing aquariums as a new teaching tool.

Aqualease, which supplies fish tanks for hire, hope their latest venture will help teachers to cover key areas of the new national curriculum.

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The Feniscowles firm, set up in 2003 by directors Dan Green and Chris Hibbert, currently employs 20 people.

They are hoping their new project, which sees aquariums brought into the classroom, will aid their expansion plans for the coming year.

The symbiotic marine aquarium is aimed at key stage one and two classes to help with literacy, numeracy, geography and science.

The tanks contain exotic marine species, some of which have a “symbiotic relationship” where two species live closely together in harmony.

Clownfish, cleaner shrimp, hermit crabs, tuxedo sea urchin, snails, coral goby and mushroom coral are some of the species included in the tanks supplied.

St Paul’s RC Primary School in Blackburn have trialled the tanks for the company to help them create literature and activities for the company to use.

Aqualease director Dan Green said: “St Paul’s School has helped us to trial the new marine aquariums for us, and we have had some really positive feedback from them.“St Paul’s School has helped us create literature and activities including literacy and geography with maps and questions that will be supplied to other schools.

“The idea is the the school will rent an aquarium in the classroom for a half term and use it to help the teachers cover subject areas such as measurement and calculations and fish anatomy, vertebrates and invertebrates.”

The firm began by installing aquariums for hire into private companies, care homes, NHS hospitals and school reception areas as well as for private homes.

They now have 700 customers including 300 primary schools in the North West and a football themed tank at the National Football Museum.

They currently have 15 schools from the North west that will be having the aquariums installed in the coming months.