ELECTION fever has prompted staff at one Darwen primary school to launch a student council -- with the added promise of new school toilets.

Pupils at St Edward's Primary School, in Blackburn Road, took part in the project which involved 33 year five and six pupils splitting into different 'parties' and electing candidates which the remaining 250 youngsters voted for. Based on national and school issues, each group designed its own manifesto. There was also a Jeremy Paxman-style question time and children made ballot papers and boxes.

And now staff have pledged to act on the children's suggestions with the launch of the new student body.

Some of the things pupils want include:

Improving the school toilets.

Allowing girls to wear trousers in winter. Draining the playing fields.

More benches in the playground.

Non-uniform days on Fridays.

Teacher Karen Hirst was very impressed with the suggestions and said: "The stuff they've done has been absolutely amazing.

"Even the younger children really got into the spirit of it. Who they were voting for and why even replaced their usual playground talk. The children have come up with so many ideas about what they think could be improved around the school and we have decided to use the scheme as a springboard for our first ever pupil council which we will be setting up in September.

"The ideas they have come up with have been brilliant and each manifesto was very different. They came up with things the staff would never even have thought of.

"It's all relevant stuff and most of the ideas are all things that we can change.

"The whole idea has got them engaged with democracy and citizenship."