GREEN-FINGERED youngsters are making sure their school grounds look blooming lovely.

Pupils at Kelloe Primary School, in Kelloe, near Coxhoe, belong to the school's gardening club and over the past four years have devoted themselves to developing a school garden.

The site, ten metres by six metres, started life as a Marie Curie Cancer Care Garden of Hope planted with daffodils, but it now boasts much more plantlife. There are daffodils, tulips, a cherry blossom tree, daisies and polyanthus. There is also a vegetable garden and wildlife garden and the Hope Garden, as it is still called, has a quiet area.

Headteacher Carol Musztacs said the children, aged five to 11, devoted two lunchtimes a week to their gardening under the supervision of teaching assistant Hazel Hanson.

"The children have worked so hard. The idea of the garden is to encourage in them a love of, and care for, the environment," said Mrs Musztacs.