BOSSES at a steel site have signed up to a schools project at the double.

The Corus site at Guide has agreed to team up with two local schools under the School Friends initiative run by Blackburn Partnership. The firm is now linked with Lower Darwen Primary School and St Edwards RC Primary School.

The School Friends project, sponsored by Wolstenholme Rink plc, aims to link every school in the borough with at least one private sector company in the area. The idea is that the school, pupils, local businesses and their employees will all benefit from the scheme.

Schools can benefit in ways such as firms donating obsolete office equipment to the school to members of staff helping out in classrooms and becoming mentors to individual pupils. The business gains by the project giving it the chance to enable staff to develop new skills and by raising its profile in the local community.

Long term the project believes benefits will be seen through increases in educational standards at individual schools, which in turn leads to a better educated workforce for East Lancashire in the future.

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