A VEGETABLE patch, sensory garden, wildlife area and an outside classroom are on the wish list for members of an eco-club.

Trentham High School has become the latest entrant into The Sentinel and Barclays' Class Act competition.

The school hopes to win one of three £5,000 prizes so that the visions of its eco-club can be realised in the school grounds.

More than 20 youngsters in the group meet twice a week and all of them are keen to see their work develop.

But the features in their eco-garden wouldn't just help them in lessons at Trentham.

They also want their facilities to help other youngsters and plan to invite children from Aynsley Special School, in Blythe Bridge, to enjoy the sensory garden.

Eco-schools co-ordinator Fabia Hully, who is also a design technology teacher at Trentham, said: "The pupils are really excited about the eco-garden but the nice thing is it wouldn't just benefit them.

"Children from Aynsley would be able to come in and touch the flowers in the sensory garden and everyone at the school would be involved in the eco-garden.

"We'd like a vegetable garden to grow produce that can be used in food technology, a wildlife area to attract insects and an outside classroom where pupils can have lessons.

"That way, when pupils are learning about parts of a plant in science they will be able to look at it in real life rather than in a book."

The site earmarked for the garden is currently in a state of disrepair and needs a new layer of topsoil.

If the school wins a prize in the competition, the money will be spent on the soil, with any leftover going on plants, seeds or materials to help make the seating area.

Recycled or locally-produced materials will be used for the garden wherever possible and pupils also want to plant trees to off-set carbon dioxide emissions.

The school hopes to have an eco-garden up and running by Christmas next year.

Nicola Beardmore, a 14-year-old member of the eco-club, from Hanford, said: "We have already started work on the eco-garden.

"It is getting better because we have got a lot of the weeds out but it still needs a lot more work."

The Year 9 pupil added: "It will help us learn things like gardening skills.

"But it will also help the school because we will be able to use the produce grown in the garden in the kitchens or the food technology department.

"I think the best part will be the wildlife area or the vegetable patch."

Tilly Wharton, aged 13, from Blurton, said: "An eco-garden would bring everyone at the school together and we could all learn things from it.

"It would also be a new thing to do and would stop us from getting in trouble."

Sian Jones, aged 14, from Trentham, added: "An eco-garden is something a bit different from what we have already got at school.

"It would be good for us to use in science and design technology.

"We'd be able to learn all sorts of stuff, from wildlife to recycling issues."