YORK City footballer Craig Skinner chatted with pupils who are using high technology to achieve their goals, as he helped to launch a scheme which is both educational and fun.

Craig called in at Warter Church of England Primary School near Pocklington to see how the new study support centre based in the school's information technology suite was shaping up. The project, aimed at pupils aged five to 15 from the primary school and from Woldgate School in Pocklington, has won £53,000 over the next three years from the Lottery New Opportunities Fund.

Centre manager Janet Collins said: "We focus on the areas of literacy, numeracy and IT. We will be doing a programme of activities to promote those areas, to support the pupils studying in any way we can.

"It might be that they need some extra coaching in certain areas, or perhaps they don't have a computer at home, so they need access to one after school.

"It will be a very varied programme of activities, tailored to meet each pupil's needs."

The centre will run sessions between 3.30pm and 7.30pm, Monday to Thursday, with the first hour devoted to primary pupils, the second period up to 6pm given over to the older pupils, and the time up to 7.30pm available for parents wanting to expand their skills and knowledge.

But Janet, who is a youth worker, added: "It's not a school atmosphere - it's about learning while having fun."