Vision rewarded with £5,000 chance to make change

"IT'S my new best friend," said 10-year-old Abigail Douglas wryly, as she hugged the giant cardboard cut-out of herself.

Minutes later, the six-foot version of little Abigail was being bundled out of the door of Vale Park, en route to Wistaston Green Primary and Nursery School, in Crewe.

"I'm going to take it back on the bus and put it in the school entrance," she said. Rather aptly, the cut-out featured her holding a sign, which read 'welcome' in both English and Polish.

This bilingual greeting was also an ideal way to officially welcome guests to the fourth annual Class Act awards ceremony, which took place yesterday at Port Vale's ground.

The competition, jointly run by The Sentinel and sponsors Barclays, challenged pupils and teachers across Staffordshire and South Cheshire to come up with projects to improve life at their schools.

Judges whittled down the shortlist to three overall winners and each of these schools has now been presented with a £5,000 cheque to put their project ideas into action.

As well as Wistaston Green Primary, this year's winners included James Brindley Science College, in Chell, and Churnet View Middle School, in Leek.

Dozens of ecstatic youngsters cheered on their classmates as they went up on stage to collect the awards. And the shrill sound of kazoos almost drowned out Signal Radio DJ Louise Stones, who was compèring the event.

The winning idea from Wistaston Green was sparked by growing numbers of Polish and Slovakian children at the school.

To help them settle in and improve their English, staff want to buy a range of dual language resources. They will also be getting translation aids so they can translate school letters and text alerts for parents.

Families in the community will benefit as well, with a new parents and tots group. And all the school staff and pupils will also be trained up in Makaton sign language techniques.

Wendy Stones, the school's learning mentor and EAL (English as an additional language) co-ordinator, said: "It is very visual and is a way of communicating with the children who arrive here with no English. If a child gets lost, they could sign. It will also help their self-esteem and confidence."

Izabella Kokot, aged 10, moved to Crewe from Poland more than three years ago. She now has an excellent command of English and even translates for other children.

Like other new arrivals, she was matched up with a buddy to help her settle in at Wistaston Green. But she says it would have been even better if she'd had access to more specialist resources.

"We will now be buying stuff that will help Polish children feel better at the school," she said.

At James Brindley Science College, pupils came up with an unusual winning formula for Class Act. They want to regularly collect leftover vegetable fat from local takeaways and turn it into bio-diesel to power their school minibus.

Chemistry GCSE students will be trained in how to use the new bio-diesel generator. And motor vehicle technology students will be converting the bus so it can run on the more environmentally friendly fuel.

The chemical process will produce glycerine, which will be used to supply the school kitchen with soap and other liquid soap dispensers around school.

Fifteen-year-old pupil Kim Steele, from Packmoor, said: "It's good to take a waste product and turn it into something useful and to help the environment. It's also good because it's the students who are running it, not the teachers."

Eventually, the school hopes to buy more equipment so it can convert the bio-fuel into electricity to provide heat and light for some of the classrooms.

Clare Copestake, director of science at James Brindley, said: "We are chuffed to bits to win this award. We will be getting the students used to the bio-diesel process first, which involves quite complicated chemistry.

"Then we will officially launch the work in March during national science and technology week. Initially, 20 chemistry students will be involved, but they will training others up so we can keep the project going."

James Brindley will be demonstrating the exciting concept to pupils from other schools.

Presenting the bright young sparks with their Class Act award, Louise Stones was clearly impressed. "Is this an excuse for you to have more takeaways?" she quipped to 14-year-old Ryan Allen.

Ryan, from Chell Heath, set her straight. He said he was "surprised and happy" to be part of the winning team.

For Churnet View Middle School, winning the Class Act money has literally been music to children's ears.

They want to create a recording studio at school and buy more musical instruments. It will enable them to explore their talents in lessons and through clubs, produce their own CDs, and even make 10-minute radio shows.

Liam Barlow, aged 14, from Leek, said: "We want to get more people into music. We have several guitars, keyboards and a bass at school. But a lot of people want to play musical instruments.

Twelve-year-old Molly Belfield, who lives in Cheddleton, added: "We really want to record more music."

Churnet View youngsters say their musical influences range from rhythm and blues to rap.

Teacher Steven Fryer is also brimming with ideas. Last year, he wrote a Christmas song and is now looking at recording it at school.

"We could put something together for the Haiti disaster appeal. The CDs could be made for charity," he said. "The recording studio would be used for practice and for producing music."

Compère Louise told the audience yesterday: "Remember, you saw them here first. It will be X Factor in a few years' time."