A RECENT two night trip to Bath gave one Malvern school the chance to trial a new way of keeping parents up-to-date with what their child had been up to.

Teachers from Great Malvern Primary School were able to post real-time updates and pictures to their Twitter account @G_M_P_S to give mums and dads an insight into how the children had been spending the day.

Thirty-four pupils in years two and three spent two nights at a youth hostel in Bath and visited Bath Spa, Wookey Hole in Somerset and the Roman museum in Cirencester during the trip.

Headteacher Paul Jackson-Read said: "They absolutely loved it. It was really busy and they were always on the go.

"For some of them, it was the first time they had left their family home overnight but we rarely have tears.

"The children get on great - I think there are more tears from the parents."

With this in mind, the school carefully considered whether to use the social network site and the feedback from parents has been overwhelmingly in favour.

Mr Jackson-Reade said: "We really ummed and ahhed when we thought about trialling Twitter.

"On a trip like this it has meant parents can quickly see little snippets of what's going on and it's been well received.

"It's the first time we have extensively used it."

The profile, which currently has over 30 followers, was set up at the start of the year and was mainly used to post school news and reminders.

Last week's trip supported the children's work this term on Romans and Vikings.

The school runs residential excursions from year two to year six, when they leave the country to visit Belgium, and said it was considering using Twitter updates for future outings.

"A number of parents have spoken to me since the trip about how they loved the Twitter feed because it was instant.

"Everyone has a mobile phone and we used to put the pictures on the website at the end of the day but, compared to Twitter, it was a bit of a faff.

"I think we will definitely be trialling it on other trips but, being a primary school, we have to consider how we use the site.

"The reaction has been extremely positive so far though so long may we Tweet."