A STUDY by an optometrist from Wareham claims that three out of four children are underachieving at school because of their poor eyesight.

Geoff Shayler did studies in a Bournemouth and London school and hopes his research will mean better eye care for children.

The 45-year-old optometrist said: "Eighty per cent of children who are underachieving in schools have got a vision problem, which is a treatable problem.

"These children can be helped by glasses, weak lenses or visual training."

In 2002 he did his first study at Elmrise Primary School in Bournemouth with 90 key stage one - six to seven year old - pupils. He repeated the test twice in the same school the next year, with 60 children each time from key stage one and key stage two - eight to 10 year olds - then with 60 key stage one children in Ragland School, London, last year.

Teaching assistants held cards of text in front of pupils and tested for long-sightedness and short-sightedness.

The findings were then compared with SATS results in maths, reading and writing.

This showed which pupils with bad eyesight had not done as well in tests as teachers believed they could.

Mr Shayler's research will be published in the magazine Optometry Today and he opes eye tests for children will improve - particularly as routine eye tests are not longer given in schools.

He said: "I have to change optometrists' minds first, and need to encourage parents to take their children into opticians for a regular eye-test."

Married Mr Shayler, an optometrist for 32 years, started researching children's eyesight as one of his three children has learning difficulties.