KNOWSLEY Safari Park has unveiled its new £250,000 Safari School that will enable teachers in North West schools to link visits to the attraction with the National Curriculum.

Activities in the new purpose-built education centre at the park will be suitable for Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils. They will include the chance for a close-up view of some of the park's smaller animals and workshop sessions on animal related themes, taking up to 60 children at a time in the classes.

General manager, David Ross said: "Educational activities and links with schools have been a very important part of the work of the safari park since we opened our gates for the first time in 1971. However, the opening of the Safari School gives us our first dedicated education base and this will enable us to build on the progress we have made over the years and expand the range of what we can offer".

Workshop sessions range from Foundation Fun, an introduction to the world of animals for under-fives, to Living Things for Key Stage 1 pupils, an exploration of how animals breathe, move, feed and grow.

At Key Stage 2 the sessions include Endangered Animals, which spotlights species in danger and what can be done to help them, and Savannah Story, a drama workshop showing how animals have adapted to life on the African grasslands.

Special rate

David Ross added: "The real plus point about the Safari School is that it makes education fun and is already proving extremely popular with schools. We have also introduced a special rate for schools at £3 a head for admission into the park and just 50p for the talks on a variety of subjects in the Safari School. It is expected to get even busier when it is fully open in term time from this September".

For more information on the Safari School telephone 0151 430 9009 or e-mail education@knowsley.com