PUPILS at a Kidderminster school were transported out of the classroom and into a computer-generated reality as part of their classroom studies thanks to Google Expeditions.

With the chance to explore coral reefs or the surface of Mars, the children at Holy Trinity School, in Birmingham Road, immersed themselves in their virtual journeys, selected for them by their teachers to support curriculum and extended 'book learning' helping the children to visualise their learning and make it 'real'.

Veronica Salacinski, class teacher, said: "Children from year one through to year seven took part and thoroughly enjoyed the Google Expeditions virtual reality headset experience, going on personal 'expeditions' of their choice."

Google Expeditions offers schools the chance to take part in classroom field trips to anywhere on earth or in space - from the Great Barrier Reef to a trip visiting the International Space Station - with the teacher acting as a guide and leading classroom-sized groups of intrepid explorers through 360 degree 3D images, pointing out interesting facts and details along the way.

Miss Salacinski added: "Throughout the day Google Expeditions worked with different year groups, which each class choosing an 'expedition' relating to their current topic or learning theme, providing the opportunity to bring their classroom studies to life so that they could experience the lesson in a way that they wouldn't normally be able to.

"Since taking part in the virtual reality lesson, we have undertaken tasks to reflect what we learnt and hopefully the children's experience has helped to inspire and increase their interest in our current topic, with feedback from children and staff overwhelmingly supporting and wanting to do this type of lesson again."