SCHOOLCHILDREN have been rewarded for trying to make their community safer.

Pupils in Year Four at Downley School, School Close, were the winners for Buckinghamshire in this year's Thames Valley Partnership Schools in Action competition.

The children wanted to foster a sense of ownership and pride in the new school building they are moving to in January, 2002.

At present, the school is split-site and has experienced vandalism involving local youths, some of whom have been former pupils.

But the children want to make sure present-day pupils have pride in their school so no one will return to vandalise the premises.

They became involved in planning and designing pieces of permanent art for the new site, including sculptures, stained glass and a mosaic.

The project became cross-curricular as they used drama, story-telling, maths, history and other subjects to explore the wider reaches of their research.

They also started to learning signing in efforts to build links with special school Maplewood, which will be sharing the new site with Downley.

Schools in Action challenges schools to put ideas into practice to make their community a safer place.