PUPILS have seen their designs come to life when their classroom was transformed after they won a national competition.

Youngsters from St Mary and St Joseph’s RC Primary School in Blackburn unveiled the new-look room after they were shortlisted from hundreds of entries for an award run by Dulux.

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Their design, which won the Smarter Spaces 2016 Young Designers Competition, was based on the idea that the 'the sky is the limit'.

Simone Addy, assistant headteacher, said: "The competition has been a fantastic experience and has empowered the pupils to take ownership over their school.

"Working as a team helped improve the pupils' team work skills and collaborating with Dulux to bring their design to life allowed them to thrive through using their imaginations and creativity.

"The pupils were really excited to see their design up on the walls when they returned following the summer break and felt a real sense of pride seeing the result of their hard work."

The classroom was unveiled at a special ceremony by Blackburn MP Kate Hollern and town mayor Cllr Hussain Akhtar.

The winning pupils wanted their design to focus on creating a classroom that could be used as a warm and inviting space for all pupils, particularly those with special educational needs.

The ceiling has been painted as a blue sky and long green grass has been painted along the bottom of the classroom's four walls.

Mrs Hollern said: "The school's victory in Dulux's competition is a tremendous achievement and reflects just how effective teamwork between pupils and teachers can be in helping schools to flourish.

"Their design was inspirational to create a calm classroom where pupils, particularly those with special educational needs, can thrive and demonstrates the school's ethos of working together to support every child to develop their full potential.

"The new classroom will clearly help to support pupils' academic learning and creativity for years to come."

Rebecca Orton, Smarter Spaces manager at Dulux, said: "It is great to hear teachers saying how much this newly-designed classroom will have a real impact on the attitude and behaviour of pupils.

"As a result of the school's hard work, we have no doubt that the new classroom will stimulate pupils' imaginations and engage them with their learning."

The Young Designers Competition is a key part of the Smarter Spaces campaign which aims to raise awareness of the positive impact that well designed classrooms can have on learning.