It?s a jungle out there ? at least that must be how some pupils felt on their first day at school yesterday.

But at West Pembroke Primary, groups participating in Learning Support have their own jungle ? at school.

Learning support teacher Freda Trimm spent two weeks decorating her classroom in jungle motif, complete with parrots, tree frogs, snakes, monkeys dangling from a leafy canopy, fruit, palm trees and a fountain that enhances the jungle environment with sounds of a real rainforest.

Even after just one day of school, children are beating down the door to get inside and experience the jungle on the middle floor of the school on North Shore Road.

?I did it for the children,? Ms Trimm said yesterday as she pointed out the plastic crocodile floating in a small ?pond? with water lilies and frogs.

She said she would be building her lessons around the jungle theme and each group participating in the programme would be given a ?jungle? name which they would wear during lessons, along with safari-type hard hats they don when they walk in and start their exploration in learning.

The only thing missing is a sloth.

?I?ve called around and I just can?t find one,? Ms Trimm said.

Against the wall stands the wooden exploration hut ? complete with a leafy roof and and yes, snakes ? in which children have the opportunity to sit and read or write.

?They also get to explore the internet where they interact with children in classrooms across the globe thanks to video up-links,? she said.

But not all jungle animals are as bold as the monkey or the Toucan and some are in hiding. The challenge to first time users of the jungle room lies in finding them.

?Butterflies and caterpillars all over the place,? she said.

Ms Trimm said she did not mind other learning support teachers across the Island copying her idea for their classrooms.

?The children love it and that?s what counts,? she said.

Pupils also have the opportunity to learn about nature and the importance of the ever diminishing rain forest thanks to books on the topic scattered around the room.