Getting to school on time - in a helicopter! (From Wharfedale Observer)

Getting to school on time - in a helicopter!

12:40pm Monday 19th March 2012 in Schools

A Wharfedale schoolboy was walking on air when he found out how he'd be travelling to school this week.

There were no traffic jams to worry about for eight year old James O'Malley on Monday when he arrived at The Grammar School at Leeds Junior School on board a helicopter.

James, from Pool-in-Wharfedale, along with fellow pupil Vidya Premraj, from Adel, had won a prize draw the school ran to celebrate National Science & Engineering Week – but wasn't told what the prize was until the last minute.

Speaking after his ride touched down on the school cricket pitch, watched by all his classmates, he said: “I only found out about the helicopter ride on Sunday.

"I was very excited. There was a good view, I could see a lot, but couldn’t see people.”

James also brought his mum, Lisa, along for the ride.

She said: “It was a wonderful experience for him and I enjoyed it too, especially as we took the scenic route over Harewood House.”

Eleven-year-old Vidya said: "It was really cool. I’d like to do it every day. School looks like a small village from the air, I didn’t recognise it at first.”

Designed to tie in with the National Science & Engineering Week theme of Our World in Motion, the helicopter visit was also a learning experience for the junior school pupils, who enjoyed a lesson with pilot Mike Thorpe, of Helijet, about the science behind helicopter flight.

The prize draw, meanwhile, has raised more than £300 for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.