INNOVATIVE pupils have ensured they look their best when representing their school by designing their own uniform.

The novel approach to fashion has been adopted at St Silas Junior School, Blackburn with every single pupil involved in the successful project to come up with a new PE kit suitable for girls and boys.

The project snowballed after teachers had grumbled that prior to the kit's creation, pupils were wearing a "mis-match" of multicolours and styles when engaging in sports.

Teachers feared that without a common uniform, the school was not looking its best not just within PE lessons but when standing shoulder to shoulder with other schools during sport fixtures.

But rather than simply introduce a new uniform, the school came up with the pioneering approach of asking its pupils to put their design skills to the test and create the kit themselves.

As a result of the project's success, uniform makers are now urging other schools to follow suit.

Sarah Wanless, a PE coordinator and supervisor of the school's council explained: "It is really a new approach. We wanted the whole school to be involved so referred the project to our school council.

"It has representatives from reception classes right through to Year 6 and members went back to their classes to ask them what they wanted."

After plumping for decking out shorts, sport trousers, and T-shirts in the school's colours of Royal blue and yellow - all pupils entered a competition to decide what emblem should be emblazoned on the kit

The school eventually decided on an amalgamation of three pupil's efforts, incorporating a cricketer creation of Talha Shah, nine; a footballer from Fahmida Rahman, ten, and a netball player dreamed up by ten-year-old Fazila Bunglawala.

"We then called in Whittakers Schoolwear, Blackburn who kindly agreed to put the design into practice and gave a CD personal stereo to the winners.

"It has proved a great success and the uniform is now on sale."

Gary Whittaker, managing director of Whittakers schoolwear based in Ainsworth Street said the project was an undoubted success.