SNOW is forecast for the next few weeks for children at Liden Primary School.

But parents needn’t worry about entertaining their youngsters while the white stuff brings the town to a standstill, as it is purely for educational purposes.

Key Stage 1 children are learning about all things related to snow this term and yesterday, they paid a visit to Morrison’s supermaket to experience some Arctic temperatures in the freezer department.

As well as having some fun in the freezers, the 94 children, all aged five, six and seven, also got to see some of the fish that might be found in the Arctic, including rainbow fish, plaice and even an octopus.

Emma Chapman, Key Stage 1 manager, said: “We arranged the visit to kick start our topic on snow - we wanted the children to experience the climate of the Arctic and Morrison’s agreed.

“The children found the octopus highly exciting. At one point, even though it was dead, it still managed to leak ink on Dave the fisherman’s hands which the children thought was absolutely hilarious.

“They also got to put their hands and faces in the freezers to feel how cold it could be in the Artic, which sounds horrendous but they really enjoyed it.

It is the first time the school has included snow as a topic on the curriculum, and Emma is looking forward to some of the activities planned this term.

“We’ve got some huskies coming into school soon and some survival work with ex-army men,” she said.

“The children are very excited, and when we were planning the topic we were jesting that it might actually snow while we are doing it. Then the caretaker said to me the other day that we were forecast a bit of snow and I couldn’t believe it.”

Despite snow being forecast for Swindon and the surrounding area on Friday, the town escaped any major flurries.