GRANDPARENTS went back to school and learned how different the classrooms of today are at Signhills Academy School to those of days gone by.

About 400 grandparents sat in on lessons at the Hardy's Road school.

And they almost couldn't believe how different schools are now when we spoke to them at a lesson on measurements.

Pauline Bellamy, 69, grandmother of Milly Smith, 7, said: "We were just told to learn things and would recite times tables as the register was being taken in the morning.

"It is much more relaxed now, and the teachers seem more in touch, while the children are more comfortable.

"They are encouraged to have a go, even if they get it wrong, but we were always too scared to get something wrong for fear of getting told off."

Nicola Hudson, 58, grandmother to Jack Tiley, 7, said: "We have been learning about metric measurements but I did everything in imperial and still do now – this lesson is actually helping me.

"Their use of technology is a big difference – it is amazing what they can do by incorporating learning with IT skills.

"Jack takes his iPad home and we play number games which he loves, where as we just recited mental arithmetic. "It has really helped him as well – the other day we went shopping and he worked out the price of the shopping, all in his head. I couldn't do that when I was 7 years old."

Jack said: "At home, my grandma helps me with spelling and we challenge each other with maths games on the iPad. It is really good having her in my lesson."

Linda Cleator, 60, grandmother of Alex Cleator, 7, said: "The teaching is totally different – we just sat in a room and were talked at but they are included and get one-on-one attention.

"I am a technophobe, but Alex has been able to use a computer since he was 3 years old.

"They seem to have a broader range of subjects than we did – it was reading, writing and arithmetic in our day."

Alex said: "This has been the best school lesson all week. We did some measurements and I got a bit confused with the maths but my grandma helped me. My grandma often helps me with my homework and I read to her sometimes."

Teacher Kim Gibson said: "Today we are learning about weights and measurements and many of the grandparents learned the imperial way, so had to use conversion rates."