Cockermouth School hopes to lead the way in how science is taught in the future.

Head of science Sally Carruthers has created a virtual curriculum. It has been such a success she is hoping it will be rolled out countywide and ultimately nationally.

The new approach to learning means every lesson in the science curriculum has a webpage on which there are videos of practicals - including explanations by teachers, classwork, animations and homework.

Miss Carruthers said: “Lesson web pages can be viewed at home prior to the lesson so the student knows exactly what will happen before they come.

“This makes much more effective use of lesson time. Long periods of the teacher talking are eliminated and the students can be active for as much of the lesson as possible.

"It replaces the need for textbooks and extensive note taking that students find boring and research shows is not an effective way to study.

“It has also been successful in overcoming anxiety about science, students are a lot more secure when they can see what is going to happen in the next day's lesson.”

The school invested in iPads and bought an editable website last year. Miss Carruthers, and her colleagues spent much of last summer in the laboratories filming practicals and creating webpages.

“We had a great time,” she said.

“We first started using it with Key Stage Three pupils, aged 11 to 13. The response was overwhelming, it brought real enjoyment and engagement. If you are not getting that right you lose interest.

“It took off so quickly, we realised the power of it and expanded it to all years.

“The virtual curriculum is unique to Cockermouth School and is potentially a sea change in how science is taught.”

It has also been welcomed by parents. “I wanted to empower them to help the kids. It allows students to share their science lessons with their parents like never before,” said Miss Carruthers, who studied at Cambridge and was a warfare officer in the Navy before having to retire for health reasons.

She has applied to be a Continuing Professional development Lead for the county. If successful she would train other teachers.

Student Kieran McBride is in no doubt about the benefits of the new approach to learning. “It's much easier than learning out of books because you can actually see it happening. And it sticks to the stuff you need to know for exams instead of the waffle.

“It's also good if you need to catch up if you miss a lesson due to illness.”