The fear of the first day at a new school has been taken away from 150 children who attended the John Bentley summer school fortnight.

The 10 and 11-year-olds, who will start Year 7 at the Calne school in September, spent a week getting to know their new classmates and teachers while taking part in arts, crafts and sports.

Organiser and textiles teacher Nicky Hitt said: “The idea was to take the pressure off the students on the first day and the first week.

“It gets rid of the fear of not knowing people and being on your own, and we see their confidence grow enormously over the week.

“On that first day we know them a little bit more and when they come through the gate they are able to come over if they have any questions.“ The theme of the fortnight was the circus, and at the end of each week the two groups have presented their work to their parents.

Mrs Hitt said: “The parents love seeing what they have been doing and it gives them a chance to ask us any questions.

“We have eight members of staff working here and we are joined by four Year 12 students.

“The success of the school is really down to the staff and the fact that they are willing to give up two weeks of their holidays.

“It is really nice that the students are helping out too because they will still be around during the year. They can mentor the Year 7 pupils in their first year.”

The summer school is now in its 11th year at John Bentley School, and staff believe it is the only free event of its kind.

Assistant headteacher Georgina Keily said: “The school started when we were given a government funded literacy booster, which could be used for literacy or numeracy.

“This only affected around 30 children who were below the benchmark and after three years the government scrapped it.

“Our headteacher at the time had to decide if we were going to drop the summer school or carry on, and we chose to carry it on for all the children.”

About 70 per cent of the new intake attend and the school believes those children settle in better.