A FORMER Bolton teacher has launched a bid to make being clever cool.

Ian Fisher, a maths teacher turned education consultation, has designed a website called Boffin Squad.

Mr Fisher is managing director of Bolton-based Ten Ticks and says traditional ways of testing intelligence are not always effective.

But he has come up with a test which helps identify an individual's strengths and how they can be channelled for them to get the most out of their school life.

This could include learning through visual aids or activitiy rather than listening.

Mr Fisher, who was a maths teacher for 15 years having worked in and around Bolton before leaving to set up his own business in 2000, said: "Teachers in mainstream schools rarely use different methods because the majority of children will pretty much pick up what they are being taught.

"Using different methods geared to the child's strengths enables them to get more out of learning."

Mr Fisher has been working on his website for two years.

"This is absolutely free and on boffinsquad.co.uk you can find your intelligence profile by taking the quiz in the activities area," he said.

"Once you know your dominant intelligence profile you can then target your best learning style."

He added: "There are negative connotations to being a boffin, but we want to get the message across that everyone is good at something - everyone's a boffin, in fact, despite how the education system labels children.

"We want children to see that it is cool to be clever."