Shropshire pupils won't miss solar eclipse wonder

Schools across the county said they would be making arrangements for youngsters to look at the phenomenon safely.

They said they would not be following the lead of Whitchurch Primary School in Cardiff, which has told youngsters they will not be allowed to watch the eclipse for health and safety reasons.

Here's one way to look at Friday's solar eclipse without hurting your eyes – by creating viewers through cardboard crisp tubes.

Pupils at one Shropshire school have been hoarding the crisp packs ahead of Friday's phenomenon. The eclipse takes place on Friday, when the moon will partially obscure the sun from around 8.45am to 10.41am, with an anticipated peak at 9.31am.

Although not a full solar eclipse – the next one of those will not take place until 2090 – the event is still far from common with the next taking place in 2026. Some schools in the UK have banned pupils from looking at the sun because of health and safety concerns. But at Mary Webb School, in Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury, youngsters are ready with home-made pinhole viewers.

Jane Halliday, from the school, said that pupils and staff now have their fingers crossed that poor weather will not detract from the event.

The home-made viewers will be used to project the sun's image, without any risk to their eyesight. The school will also be using a telescope to project the image so it can be safely seen. Mrs Halliday said: "It will be something extraordinary, but will also be a good learning experience. We are aware that looking at the sun directly can harm your eyes, so the tubes will be used."

The Faroe Islands will be the best place to view the eclipse, with 100 per cent of the sun expected to be obscured from view.

Pupils at the Cardiff school were this week told they would have to settle for watching eclipse on a live video feed instead, over fears that pupils could be blinded.

The eclipse is expected to reach its peak in Shropshire at around 9.31am.

At Thomas Adams School in Wem, youngsters will turn up early to watch the eclipse with maths teacher Kath Mooney, who will explain the mathematical and scientific reasons for the event.

Headteacher Liz Dakin said: "This rare event is a wonderful opportunity for them to relate what they learn in the classroom back to real life. It is a great social occasion too. I certainly remember where I was at the last eclipse so in years to come hopefully our pupils will look back on the day they watched it with friends at Thomas Adams."

Mrs Dakin said the safety of children was paramount and the school would be taking all the necessary precautions. Science teacher Tom Cuthbert has bought specialised glasses for pupils to wear to protect their eyes when they look at the sun.

At Shrewsbury's Grange Primary School, headteacher Marie Sibley said the school would definitely be covering the eclipse in some way, although it was not yet decided how they would be doing this.

"We owe it to the children to cover it and I am sure they will be asking why it is going dark," she said.

"We will be covering it in some form although I think we need to do some more research first."

Jane Halliday of Mary Webb School in Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury, said pupils would be watching the eclipse through special "viewers" they had made from cardboard tubes with pinholes in them which will project the event on to paper.

"They will also be using a telescope to safely project the image so that no one will be looking directly at the sun for safety reasons," she said.

Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman Russell Griffin said it was important that people remembered to take the relevant precautions if they planned to view the sight.

He said: "While we want everyone to enjoy this rare event, we would ask that people remain mindful of the potential hazards of looking directly at unfiltered sunlight.

"People – especially children – are advised not to look directly at it, whether with eyes, binoculars and certainly not with a telescope unless it has proper optical filters."

Cloud is forecast for Friday morning, although the Met Office said visibility should be "good". The last major eclipse was on August 11, 1999, when the entire sun was covered – when viewed from Cornwall.