A new school for child patients being treated at West Suffolk Hospital welcomed its first student this week.

New pupil Sadie will be staying on top of her learning while she's receiving treatment thanks to an on-site school run by the Raedwald Trust.

From this week, skilled teachers will be providing support to young people being treated at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

The programme hopes to replicate the success of the well-established Ipswich Hospital school, which currently supports around 750 children each year.

Young people who study here will have access to 'telepresence robots' which takes the place of students in their classroom at school, allowing the patients to hear and speak to their teachers and classmates through a live-feed camera.

Maria Hough, who works in Specialist Education Services at Suffolk County Council, said: "These children are very vulnerable.

"They have lots of appointments and that interferes with the consistency in their education.

"The beauty of a hospital school is that the teacher is there for their education and has nothing to do with the hospital side."