A TIMPERLEY school is leading the way in a new method of teaching youngsters.

Heyes Lane Infant School received more than £2,000 in grants to carry out research into endeavour-based learning, a process of learning with a strong element of outdoor play.

Headteacher Alistair Bryce Clegg has been following the progress of pupils in the school's three reception classes over the past year. His findings have shown that both girls and boys benefit from a variety of teaching activities.

He explained: "Some children aged between three and five find sitting down at tables all day very difficult.

"These children can often be 'turned off' from early education. At Heyes Lane we are committed to enable every child to reach their potential, so we looked into ways of allowing these children to do what they like best and still maximise their learning."

Some of the learning activities on offer include a car workshop. Children had to book cars in and out of the workshop on a clipboard. Mr Clegg said: "The car workshop activity ran for several weeks. At the end of the six weeks the children were booking cars in and out of the workshop on a clipboard, among other things, that activity encouraged them to write."

But not everyone has welcomed the new teaching methods and Mr Clegg is acutely aware of the difficulties he is facing. He said: "Parents often see this system as 'just playing', when in reality the planning and assessment of this type of activity is so much more complex than just giving out a worksheet to colour in.

"And the learning is so much better, especially for boys. We want our children to be successful readers and writers. We want them to love coming to school.

"We work hard to find imaginative and creative ways to engage them in their learning."

Mr Clegg is so confident of his school's ability he sends his own son to the school. "I wanted my son to have this experience," he said. "He could actually go to another school in Trafford which has performed better than Heyes Lane in recent league tables, but I wanted him to be able to experience endeavour based learning."

During the research, the school underwent an Ofsted inspection, and inspectors commented on the early years provision in the school. The report said: "Currently more children than might be expected arrive at school with attainment below expectations for their age. Children make very good progress and many will exceed the levels expected of them at the age of five."

The research findings

lWhen tasks were structured as tabletop activities, the initial take-up by both boys and girls was almost equal, with the girls being more interested by 15.6 per cent on average.

lIn the majority of cases, boys soon left the activity once the initial input had been given by the adult. When questioned, on average 23.2 per cent were able to demonstrate that they had taken on board the objective set, as opposed to 76.2 per cent of girls.

lWhen the objective was presented in the form of a more physical activity; the majority of children who wished to take part in that activity were boys. Overall 86.3 per cent boys and 23.7 per cent girls opted to take part.

lBoys were more willing to stay at the activity until its conclusion up to 92.2 per cent. There was a dramatic increase in the number of boys who could demonstrate that they had taken on board the intended objective - 79.8 per cent.