PUPILS at a Bury primary school raised hundreds of pounds to help provide relief following the recent devastating bushfires in Australia.

Youngsters at St Stephen's CE Primary School in Colville Drive were so saddened by the tragic images they had seen and news they had heard of the natural catastrophe that they decided they had to do something to help.

Deputy headteacher, Sally Denney said: "Our children have been so moved by the recent bushfires that have spread across Australia and they really felt they needed to do something to help.

"As our school mission statement is, 'Learning, loving and growing; together as God's children,' we believe it our responsibility to help in any way we can whenever we see a need. Our children certainly did that."

The efforts were led by Year 5 pupil Millie Smith and the school's fundraising and ethos team (FunThos).

Pupils were invited to come into school in non-uniform featuring the Australian national colours, for a donation.

They could also take part in a number of games, including name the kangaroo, name the koala, and guess the number of sweets in the jar.

In the lead up to the "Help Australia Day" event The FunThos children had further given an assembly talking to key stage 1 and 2 pupils about the bushfires and what people could do to help.

Mrs Denney added: "The fundraiser was well planned and the amount raised was a huge £421.

"A huge thank you to our children and their families for helping us make a difference on the other side of the world.

"We want the children to be outwardly focussed and make a valuable contribution to the world in which they live. This was a perfect example of this ­— they make us very proud."