SCHOOL children in Accrington have got creative to beat pupils from around the country to visit the Houses of Parliament.

Three youngsters from St Christopher’s CE High School attended a Earth Hour Parliamentary Reception after winning the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) ‘The Future We Want’ contest.

The competition was open to schools around the UK and invited pupils to share their hopes for the future in the form of a poster, poem or letter to the prime minister.

St Christopher’s Naomi Roston, 13, was the winner of the letter category and a joint entry from Rhiannon Murphy, 13, and Olivia Altham, 12, won the poster category.

The pupils were presented with £500 on behalf of their school by triple Olympic gold medal rower Andrew Triggs Hodge.

Their teacher Wendy Litherland said: “It was great to see the pupils do so well, it was an exciting day, they loved travelling down to London for it all.

“The letter from Naomi was very good, I don’t think Theresa May has had chance to read it yet, but I hope she will.

“The girls were very clever with their poster as well, they made great use of the space.

“It’s nice because it’s getting the children involved with thinking about environment issues, and it was great to have three winners from this school in a national competition.”

The entries from the children looked at topics such as fracking and sustainable energy resources.

The competition had two age categories: Key Stage Two primary and Key Stage Three secondary.

The presentation was hosted by Dame Caroline Spelman MP.

Cherry Duggan, head of schools and Youth at WWF-UK, said: “This competition is yet another amazing example of how serious and committed young people are about tackling climate change and protecting the future of our planet."