CHILDREN at a North Staffordshire school are looking to take their outdoor classroom one step further.

About £25,000 has been spent on creating a learning environment for children attending the new nursery at Bursley Primary School, in Bradwell.

The outdoor play area has plants, trees, flowers, insects and a giant tyre to give children the opportunity to experience the great outdoors.

But all the money set aside for the project has been spent and there are many things the school would like to add to the area.

The school is bidding for one of the three £5,000 prizes up for grabs in The Sentinel's Class Act competition. The money would be spent on building a water track around the play area for children to interact with.

It would also be put towards building a mini-road system to help with road safety lessons, whiteboards and blackboards for creative writing, mirrors of different shapes and sizes, and more vegetation, such as trees, bushes, flowers and long grass.

Nursery teacher Judith Ackers said: "We worked extensively over the summer to create a stimulating environment for children attending the new nursery and our reception class.

"Our aim was to take the inside classroom outside, and create a place where children would want to stay and play all day, regardless of the weather.

"The school put aside a lot of money to create the area which we have now. While it is a big improvement, there are many things we would like to add.

"All of the money allocated for the project has now been spent. We see external funding as a lifeline.

"There are many competing areas of need within the school, meaning it will be increasingly difficult to spend any more money on this worthy cause for a long time.

"If we were successful in winning the money, we would spend it on creating more opportunities for hands on engagement with nature.

"We would ideally like to appeal to the children's interests in water by creating an interactive water feature. Water provides endless sensory opportunities.

"There would be nothing greater than to see the moment their attention is captured and the smile that appears on their faces while interacting with the water, for example, watching ducks swim around the track."

The current play area will be officially opened by Newcastle MP Paul Farrelly on December 12.

Headteacher Steve Cooper said: "Interaction is important to children's learning and we would use the money to create some very interesting features."