THE deepening foot and mouth crisis could put Easter school exchange visits to Europe into jeopardy.

But so far, Bolton schools planning excursions over the Easter break have heard no news about whether the trips can go ahead or not.

Schools have been asked to use their own judgement about whether to send pupils overseas but Bolton Local Education Authority (LEA) said that no incidences of schools cancelling trips or being told not to send children to other countries have come to light.

Two areas of Germany have told schools under their control to cancel any trips and last week the French authorities called off a visit by pupils from Albany High School in Chorley.

But, with schools in rural areas facing the brunt of problems, LEA officials say Bolton's mainly urban schools should remain unaffected.

Jacqueline Alderson, acting head at Bolton's Canon Slade school said they had both French and German exchanges planned for Easter.

"It's not something we thought about until now but we do have two trips planned," she said. "We have not heard anything to say that the trips have been cancelled but we will be making further inquiries to see if the trips can still go ahead."

John Lawson, head of Smithills High School, said a trip for 42 pupils to Paris over Easter, will be going ahead.

But he has been forced to urge pupils to stay away from areas near the school that have been classed as "out of bounds" since the crisis began.

"The trip to Paris will be going ahead," he told the BEN. "But areas such as Smithills Country Park and The Jumbles have been sealed off since the foot and mouth crisis began.

"Through our daily school bulletins we have been asking pupils to stay away from these areas when they are coming to and from the school."

Sharples High School has already been forced to cancel a geography field trip because of the crisis.

But school spokesman Denise Makinson said a football team trip to Holland and a skiing trip to Italy were going ahead.

"The geography trip has had to be cancelled because it was on public footpaths in and around Bolton," she said. "Obviously a lot of these have been sealed off so we have to respect this but as far as the foreign trips are concerned we have heard nothing to suggest they might not go ahead."

Chris Smith of Bolton LEA's Strategy Department said they had been advising schools on the precautions to take passed to them through the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE).

"We have had advice which says that schools are required to remain open and provide a full curriculum wherever possible," he said. "This may be a problem in rural areas but in Bolton we are not directly affected.

"Things which may be affected in Bolton schools are such things as visits to farms which would have to be cancelled and visits to outdoor activity centres may be looked at because the number of activities available may be restricted." Holland