GREEN fingered children dug in to help brighten up their schoolyard.

Year three pupils at North Park Primary School, in Spennymoor, wanted to inject a bit of colour and sunshine into the school grounds for pupils, staff and visitors.

So they worked alongside school community governor Mark Spooner to design and plant hanging baskets that have been used to enhance the grounds.

The youngsters visited nearby Thinford Nurseries where they watched a hanging basket demonstration and chose the plants they wanted to use in their baskets.

They then used their newly learnt skills to plant up baskets to hang around the school.

The project enabled Mr Spooner, who works for housing and communities company livin, to transfer his skills to the children and was a practical way to boost their knowledge of the science and technology curriculum.

He said it is important to develop the horticultural knowledge of the children and support the community development work of livin.

Headteacher Patricia Monk said: "The children are delighted with their finished baskets and feel they have made a huge difference to the school grounds."