They may look cute – but students at Droylsden Academy will discover for themselves the hard work that goes into looking after a baby when students, for the first time in the Academy’s history, get their first taste of parenting using virtual babies.

Year 11 Health and Social Care students, 29 girls and 1 boy, will look after the babies from Thursday afternoon till they return them back on Monday morning. The virtual babies are designed to imitate all the demands a real baby places on their mum, dad or carer - from being hungry to needing a nappy change or a nap.

The project which is part of the GCSE Health and Social Care course will be a learning curve for students, giving them a taste of the responsibility and time you have to put in to being a parent. The babies are designed as an aid to help young people make informed decisions about parenting. Specifically caring for the baby helps young people to explore the emotional, financial and social consequences of parenting. Students will come into school as normal on Friday, dropping their babies off at a crèche enabling them to carry on with normal lesson before taking them back home for the weekend.

At the end of the project, teacher Mrs Morgan, after getting feedback off each student as to how they feel they faired during the task, will be able to download a written report of how well each student has cared for their baby.