AN afternoon aimed at encouraging pupils and parents to go into higher education will take place next week.

On Wednesday, year five pupils from Coundon Primary School, near Bishop Auckland, and their parents, will be visiting New College, Durham, for an Aiming for College Education event.

County Durham has one of the lowest levels of education achievement in England, mainly because young people fail to reach their potential through either a lack of confidence, or because they are unaware of the opportunities in further and higher education.

The school's headteacher, Ed Mitchell, said: "Children often have a very clear idea of what kind of work they might like to do in the future, but do not know what to do to get there.

"This kind of initiative will help them and their parents to know what kind of opportunities are available to them."

Pupils will meet students on higher education courses and carry out activities such as mapping progression routes from school to higher education and deciding on fake or real courses that can be studied.

Their parents will be given talks on higher education and a tour of the college campus.