Schools attempt hand washing lesson world record

Pupils from Shaftesbury Junior School in Leicester joined in the lesson

More than 100 schools across the UK have attempted to break a world record for the largest hand hygiene lesson.

A hand washing lesson was streamed into school assembly halls from De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester on Tuesday.

Students were informed about proper hand washing technique and attempted to break a Guinness World Record.

The lesson involved watching a hand hygiene story being read as well as talking puppets.

DMU experts said the record attempt was a great way to raise awareness of hand hygiene

Glo gel was placed under a UV light box to make germs show up, and the demonstrations of hand washing were accompanied by a song.

Guinness will evaluate the attempt and make a decision about whether the children broke the record.

It said the current record was set in Salem, in India, in 2018 when 4,024 people took part in a hand hygiene lesson.

Prof Katie Laird, professor of microbiology at DMU, said: "This Guinness World Records title attempt is a brilliant way to bring awareness to such an important issue.

"By involving so many schools and children across the country, we're ensuring that young people understand how something as simple as hand washing can have a profound impact on health and wellbeing."

Pupils learned about the best techniques to wash their hands

Ciara Sutton, deputy head teacher at St Vincent's Catholic Primary School in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, said 630 children at the school took part.

"I think they did brilliantly because there were a lot of rules to stick to, which I didn't realise there were to begin with, so we had to be very strict," she said.

"We want children to be in really good habits because we feel that's really important, to be able to look after each other and their families, and hand washing is the simple way to do that."