Wonderful efforts of Padiham schoolchildren mean they can adopt three koalas caught up in Australian bushfires

Some of the children at St Leonard's Primary School with the items they made to raise money to adopt koalas and donate to the Australian bushfire fund also

Pupils at St Leonard's Primary have been working hard to create items to sell to raise the money for the adoptions.

Around 100 students aged five to seven, in years one and two, raised £410 in a table top sale, enough to adopt a koala for each class and donate to the bushfire appeal also.

The teacher who organised the event was Mrs Rachel Bradley, who explained how she came up with the idea.

She said: "I was preparing a series of geography lessons and the curriculum meant that we had to compare England to another country outside Europe.

"As I was preparing it, the television news was constantly feeding us with the disastrous results of the fires in Australia, and in particular the effects on

wildlife.

"With an estimated 1.25 billion animals being killed - including 30 per cent of the koala population in the mid-North coast of New South Wales I thought it was an ideal project to put before the children. They can learn about the country and understand the devastating effect of the fires on such cute animals as the koala.

All the key stage one teachers worked together and the children made Australian themed items including small cushions shaped like koala faces, pompom key fobs with koala faces, pot plants with a kangaroo, friendship bracelets, and an Australian favourite, Anzac biscuits.

Parents and friends of the school were invited to the sale to help support the children's marvellous efforts. Mrs Claire Marquis, Key Stage One leader, said: "This was a wonderful effort by all and enabled us to show the children that even in the disaster which a country as far away as

Australia is going through we can help a little."