YOUNGSTERS on Teesside have looked to the past to improve their playtime activities.

Old-fashioned playground games, involving hoops and skipping ropes, have been uniting children, increasing exercise and reducing playground incidents at Lakes Primary School, in Redcar.

The school's Active Play Project has also won an award from the West Redcar Sure Start Extension, one of ten schemes benefiting from the Redcar and Cleveland Children's Fund.

The school's lunchtime co-ordinator, Anita Calvert, said: "Since we started the project, we have found this has helped with the inclusion of children with poor social skills and taken away a lot of the aggression.

"They're coming back to lessons a lot calmer and not getting into trouble."

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's lead member for children's services, Councillor Valerie Halton, said: "The children who have taken part in these projects have entered into the spirit of community games and friendly competition and have benefited from healthy activity and improved relationships."