A Bolton teacher is setting up classes aimed at developing the skills of toddlers before they start school.

Isabel Potter was looking for something to help with her daughter Lily's development but said she found the town did not have much for educational development before school.

She has now set up a new class for toddlers which will develop the skills of little ones before they join reception.

The classes, called Fundamentals, will begin next month and take place at St Margaret's Church in Heaton.

Mrs Potter, 29, said: "I'm a mother to a toddler and I found that there just is not much out there for our toddlers that helps them develop the fundamental skills they need for school.

"So I'm setting up toddler classes to do just that.

"The primary areas we will work on are personal, social and emotional development, physical development and also communication and language.

"It will begin at 18 months but take people all the way to beginning reception.

"One of the main selling points is that I am have been a teacher for ten years."

The classes will include "dough and dance", where youngsters will learn to roll and squish dough to develop their motor skills.

Another session, "move and mark", will involve using different shapes such as a circle, line or a hump to make letters of the alphabet or numbers.

There will also be "consonant vowel consonant" classes, which encourages younger children to say a simple word like cat and older children to spell these words.

Mrs Potter recently ran a session with a young child with autism which got postive reviews as the parent said the toddler had never been so engaged.

She said: "One of the key things is that it is inclusive."