Whitworth students benefit from £10k lottery cheque for VR headsets

Whitworth students benefit from £10k lottery cheque for VR headsets

A lottery grant has opened up the whole world to students of Whitworth Community High School and the local community.

The school was awarded £10,000 from the Community Fund and invested the grant in Virtual Reality technology.

The first students to use the new equipment were from Year 9 who were being taught a lesson on the respiratory system and were able to virtually explore into the lungs of a healthy person and someone who smoked.

Ella Lord, 14, said: “We knew nothing about it and we went into our usual PE lesson and were given the headsets to wear.

“We went into the trachea and then there were different things for you to look at. I looked into a smoker’s lung and compared it to a non-smoker and there was a colour difference - the non-smoker’s was pink and the smoker’s was all black.”

The grant was awarded for a project entitled ‘Going Places’ and the school will be delivering exciting and educational lessons at youth clubs and other local schools.

Millie Wilson, 14, said: “It was weird, and you had to move your body to see all around. It was good to be able to see everything in 3D instead of just a picture in a book. You felt like you were actually looking inside someone’s body.

“It took a bit to get used to having the set on my head and then when I removed it, it also felt weird.

“I think it will help to make lessons more real and will be good for visual learners.”

Head of PE Will Cawley said: “We ran our first workshop in Virtual Reality and it was a great success. The students can learn in a new and engaging way while also having fun.”

One of the project’s aims is to open up destinations to young people who may never get the chance to visit them in reality, but can do so virtually.

This got Millie thinking and she added: “I would like to go to Australia and to go to the Gold Coast and walk on the beaches. Maybe that is something I could do with the VR headsets.”