YEAR five youngsters at Hothfield Junior School, Silsden, paid a very special visit to Yorkshire Water's Education Centres in Leeds and Bradford.

For, the children took the number of visitors to the centres to over 100,000.

Anne Reed, Yorkshire Water's corporate responsibility adviser said: "We were delighted to celebrate this achievement with the students from Hothfield School.”

And teacher Ed Pickering added: “It was a nice surprise to be part of the celebration. The centres are great resources which support the national curriculum outside the classroom. I visited last year and my colleagues from Hothfield are returning with two classes later this week which says it all.”

Francessca Hickey, who celebrated her birthday while at the centres, said: “We have learnt a lot today but had lots of fun too. My favourite bit was when we saw what happens to the water before it comes out of our tap.”

The education centres were developed with the help of teachers to cover the core elements of the National Curriculum Key Stage 2, including numeracy, literacy, geography and science.

At Headingley Water Treatment Works, students see how water is clean and how Yorkshire Water provides a constant supply of fresh drinking water while at Esholt Waste Water Treatment Works, youngsters are shown where water ends up once it has been used it in their homes and how it is safely returned back into the environment.

The sessions are free to primary schools and schools usually visit Headingley in the morning and Esholt in the afternoon. Requests for bookings can be made at yorkshirewater.com/availability/