CHILDREN from city state schools have been taught to love learning, with the help of a holiday programme at one of the city’s most exclusive schools.

The two-week summer school at the Dragon School, in Bardwell Road, North Oxford, was designed to show children that education can be fun.

Over the past two weeks, teachers on the Summer Dragons scheme have taught 16 Year Five children from schools in North Oxford.

The pupils, from New Marston, St Joseph’s, SS Philip and James and St Aloysius’ primary schools, were specially picked to attend by their teachers. Parents paid £25 per child for the course. Dragon science teacher Emma Whitty, who organised the programme, said many of the children had started to lose touch with the enjoyment of learning.

She said: “We are trying to get the message over that school can be fun. You can be really good at learning and you can enjoy it. The children have had a great time, they don’t want it to end.”

With a staff-pupil ratio of one to four, mornings were taken up with lessons on literacy and numeracy, followed by art, drama and sport in the afternoons.

Pupil Ryan Fagar, from St Aloysius’ Catholic Primary School in Woodstock Road said he had enjoyed his two weeks at the Dragon.

He said: “It’s been great to use the facilities and get to do science in a real science laboratory.”

Hugh Raj-Morlans, also from St Aloysius’, agreed, saying the lessons had been “wicked”.

Mrs Whitty was keen to stress that it was not a summer camp.

She said: “The focus is firmly on learning.”

The Dragon School has a long-standing tradition of sharing facilities and teaching with fellow schools and staff say they learn as much as they share.

This is the fifth year they have run the programme, following a request from local schools.

Ten-year-old pupil Sophie Bond said she had loved the fortnight.

She said: “At the start we didn’t really know anyone but the teachers were very kind and helpful and we made lots of friends.”

The teachers are hoping they have made as much difference to the pupils as they did last year, when they received one particularly touching memento.

One student sent them a letter thanking them for all they had done and confided “now I know I’m clever”.