On the beach - seaside day

Tons of sand, buckets and spades, ice cream, donkeys and 40 infants running around in their swimming costumes describes a scene from a seaside on a sunny day. But this outing for the nursery children from Moorfield County Primary School in Irlam near Manchester went no further than their back yard. A year ago in July, the four- to five- year-old children and their teachers decided they wanted to go to the seaside. High costs and safety concerns ruled out the possibility, so they decided to bring the seaside to the nursery instead.

The adventurous idea belonged to early years co-ordinator Sarah Aitken who, with the help of two nursery nurses, made the 'day out' in the nursery grounds one to remember. A visit to the seaside would have cost more than 10 per child but this treat only cost the children 1.60. The inner-city mini-seaside was just as good as the real thing even if the weather was disappointingly chilly for July. Sand was in abundance, rainbow-coloured towels paved the 'beach', 15 paddling pools made a huge splash, every child had a donkey ride, and the ice-cream man with his jolly tunes turned up.