A primary school in Oldland Common has won funding to buy signs for its conservation area.

St Anne's Primary School won a Wessex Watermark award of £250 to buy the signs to enable students to identify the different wildlife areas in the school's grounds.

The large grounds have been transformed into a sensory garden and conservation area.

The sensory garden is designed to be a quiet place children can go to, to think and reflect. They have made sculptures and artwork for it.

The school's conservation area features a pond and "minibeast motel" constructed of recycled pallets stacked on top of each other.

School secretary Jackie Powell has been running the gardening and nature club, which looks after the two areas, for just over a year at the eco school.

She said: "In the spring, each class was in charge of a planter. They could grow whatever they liked in it. Some grew flowers, some vegetables and some grew herbs. We also had one with plants to attract butterflies."

"The children's enthusiasm for this activity and their thirst for learning never cease to amaze us.

"It made me realise that they would benefit from having some permanent information in our conservation area to help them in identifying anything they may see.

Sean Quinn, head teacher at St Anne's, said the school has great plans to extend its gardens in the future.

He said: "The sensory garden stimulates all sorts of different senses.

"You get the smells from different herbs and the sounds from different types of grasses.

"We want to continue to develop the garden and are pleased to be able to do that with the award."

The Watermark award provides funds for environmental projects within the Wessex Water area. Now in its 16th year, it has supported nearly 500 environmental initiatives.