A VIRTUAL learning environment has been launched at a Worcester school giving pupils access to a host of resources 24 hours a day.

Students at Blessed Edward Oldcorne College will now be able to log on to their school files from home, complete and submit homework and access teacher notes through the special software. They also have easy access to other resources such as e-mail, online revision and e-portfolios.

By 2008 every school in Britain is required to have a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and Blessed Edwards' system is based on software used by the University of Oxford, called Eclipse. Paul Edmunds, director of ICT at the school, said: "The possibilities within this are endless. Each pupil is given their own log-in details and password. Within the site they can access lesson notes, revision plans and can submit their homework. In the future, hopefully in January, we also hope that parents will also be able to log-in and check their child's attendance and their performance."

Mr Edmunds said the site took about a year to develop and contains a host of useful information for students.

He said: "The way we learn is changing all the time. This kind of thing is the future. Perhaps one day in the future pupils won't need to attend lessons but will be able to do all of their learning online."

The VLE allows teachers to carry out assessments in the form of tests, which give students instant feedback, as well as upload all of their lesson notes so that pupils can access the information around the clock.

Headteacher Sean Devlin said: "Staff at the college have been very enthusiastic in ensuring the curriculum resources for their subjects are on the VLE. The VLE shows how much the school is progressing with technology."