PEN and paper could soon be a thing of the past for students at an innovative college.

From September all pupils at the Crossways Academy, Sprules Road, Brockley, will have the chance to use their own hand-held computer.

The computers, which cost around £400 each, will allow students to do everything from writing essays and sending emails to watching Shakespeare plays.

All 650 pupils at the sixth form academy, which opened in September 2004, will be given a computer as long as they pay £2 a week towards the cost, with the school subsidising the rest.

Principal Anthony Bravo says Crossways is the first sixth form centre in the country to introduce this idea.

He said: "We are always willing to try anything innovative which will help students with their learning.

"Hopefully it will lead to better exam results."

Computers have already been given to 25 English literature students to help with their A-level studies.