PUPILS and staff at North Yorkshire's 390 schools will soon be heading in the right direction, thanks to £50,000 of investment in new signage.

Each of the county's schools will this month receive between £100 and £400 to re-site or buy completely new signs, courtesy of North Yorkshire County Council's education department.

Special care will be taken to make the signs easily understood, particularly by people with dyslexia or other visual impairments.

"Simply replacing the old 'toilet' sign with the equivalent symbol can have a massive impact on people with dyslexia," said Coun Chris Metcalfe, executive member for education.

"Many of our signs were from a different era and didn't meet the needs of people with learning or visual difficulties.

"We now know better, and signs should be symbols where possible. Where it isn't, they should be in particular fonts, at the correct height, be tactile and of the appropriate contrasting colours."

The need to improve signage in schools was highlighted after teachers across North Yorkshire received training in the Disability Discrimination Act earlier this year.

After being taught how to survey their own schools and make them more easily accessible, one of the main problems staff raised was badly-placed or difficult-to-read signs.

Coun Metcalfe said: "This investment will allow us to put this right and for a relatively small sum of money have a huge effect on the quality of people's lives."

Updated: 12:39 Wednesday, September 10, 2003