Children from an Oxford school have experienced first hand the difficulties of having a disability.

Headington Girls School, in London Road, invited a disability awareness group to the prep school on Friday to host a day of 60-minute workshops for their students.

Ross Hamilton Smith, from the Just Different company, based in Chichester, West Sussex, spoke to children about how disability, in particular cerebral palsy, affected him. Girls in Years Three to Five were shown a multi- media presentation, asked thought-provoking questions about their perception of disability, and invited to use a wheelchair to see how it would feel to not be able to walk.

Seven-year-old Emma Gibbons, from Waterperry, said using a wheelchair had been more difficult than she thought. She added: “It made me think quite a lot about how difficult life could be. The chair was much harder to push along than I thought it would be and it made me quite tired so it must be really hard if you have to stay in it.”

Mr Hamilton Smith said the Just Different company took its inspiration from a quote by children’s author, Jacqueline Wilson who said: “The earlier children or young people begin to learn about disability, the more likely they are to accept it into their lives.”

Mr Hamilton Smith added: “We agree wholeheartedly with this idea. It is really important that children learn about it at an early age.

“We teach them that we can all do the same things, but we just do them in different ways.”

Maddy Gloomfield, 10, from Stanton St John, said meeting Mr Hamilton Smith had made her think.

She added: “It was really interesting to hear about his life, and to be able to ask him questions.

“Using the chair was quite fun for a bit, but then I started to think that it must get boring if you had to be in it all the time. It made me realise how different things would be.”

Headteacher Andrea Bartlett was impressed with the hands-on approach the company took. She said: “We were planning to cover the subject and came across the information that Just Different sent us. It was fantastic for the children to be able hear about the personal side of having disabilities.”