WATER improves brain power and can make you smarter - just asked four-year-old Caitlin Freeman and her pals.

Lancashire health experts have teamed up with United Utilities to encourage parents to tap into healthier lifestyles for children.

They are encouraging parents to send them back to school with bottled tap water to keep up the high standard of concentration - and it seems to have had an impact.

Barbara Booth, head at Shadsworth County Infant School, Blackburn, said the effect on pupils' development was huge. She said: "What is really striking is their increased concentration, meaning they learn more.

"They all know they need eight glasses a day to help them with their work. Also other classes have their own bottles which they can sip throughout the day."

Each child in the Rothesay Road school's reception class has their own coloured plastic beaker, complete with name tag and photograph to make drinking water fun. They can also help themselves from a mini water cooler.

Caitlin said: "I like drinking water every day in school because it helps us play better. Now I like water more than orange juice."

Pal Amy Nicolson, also four, added: "Water is good for you as it makes you big and strong if you drink it every day."

The craze appears to be catching on in Burnley, too.

At Christ the King RC Primary School, in Calderbrook Avenue, kids are urged to use a water fountain. A spokesman said: "They say plenty of water helps you concentrate so at lunchtime each table has a jug of water.

"The children are not allowed fizzy pop so they drink water or fruit juice."

Mebz Bobat, curriculum and learning enhancement manager for Blackburn with Darwen Council, said the Brain Gyms initiative, introduced two years ago, helped learning rise by 30 per cent.

He explained: "Brain Gyms with water get the brain and body moving in a more productive way. Without the amounts our body needs each day, children can get headaches and tiredness."