Dutchie and Beyonce keeps Llanelli pupils on the left

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-24148276

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Snippets of songs by Beyonce and 80s chart-toppers Musical Youth are being played in a school's corridors to encourage pupils to keep to the left.

Youngsters at Llanelli's Bryngwyn School have heard Beyonce singing "to the left, to the left," from her 2006 hit, Irreplaceable, between lessons.

But Musical Youth's reggae number Pass the Dutchie is the current hit at the 800-pupil comprehensive.

The dining area also has footprints on the path to help youngsters steer left.

The songs are piped into hallways after the buzzer sounds between lessons.

Head teacher Paul Jones said the music was part of the school's keep-left initiative to smooth out the movement of staff and teachers at busy times.

It began with Beyonce but has since moved on the No 1 hit from 1982, Pass the Dutchie, which included the line "on the left hand side".

Mr Jones said: "The idea is simple; the musical extract simply repeats the message 'on the left hand side… on the left hand side... on the left hand side'.

"In turns of outcomes, it has been really positive, with the pupils and staff responding well."

The music extracts are played over the school's tannoy at the start of lessons using a CD player.

The idea came from pupils at a school council meeting.

Mr Jones said: "The school hopes to get the pupils to compose their own work for later in the year as a part of a curriculum project to develop an in-school radio station."

The keep-left initiative also involves bilingual English-Welsh posters and novel footprints on the walkways in the dining area.

Pass the Dutchie was a No 1 for three weeks in October 1982 and went on to sell more than five millions copies worldwide.