PUPILS at a village primary school near Pewsey have saved the day by using their writing skills and powers of persuasion to make sure a new stage arrived on time for their end of year production.

Woodborough Primary was in desperate need for a new stage for the school hall after the old one broke and got the village involved with a fundraising campaign to help towards the cost.

The school reached its target in June and expected the stage to be delivered in time for its production of Olivia but worries started when the delivery date kept being pushed back.

The worries turned to upset when the school was told the warehouse that was storing it had gone into liquidation. This was when pupil power came into force.

Headteacher Sarah Brewis asked children to use the persuasive writing skills they had learnt in class to good effect. Year 6 children Phoebe Ballenden, William Gray and Jake Hickman wrote to the solicitors representing the warehouse company.

Jake's mum Clara Hickman said: "Two days later a response came through. The warehouse company would release only one item and that was our stage."

It was delivered on Monday just in time for the first performance of Olivia on Tuesday afternoon.

In the letter the children wrote: "We are performing out last ever dramatic performance at Woodborough School. We believed this would be on a new stage. We were all very excited by this thought as we all dearly love acting.

"We have fought very hard to raise enough money to enable us to pay for this stage. We understand our stage is presently stuck in a warehouse unable to be delivered to us. We are extremely disappointed with this."

Pupils, teachers, parents and villagers game money towards the new stage. Mrs Hickman said: "The whole community got behind the project and we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of teachers and staff, parents, former pupils, residents of Woodborough and the wider area.

"The school council, entirely made up of pupils of the school from every year group, have spent the past year arranging fundraising events such as sponsored events and cake breaks and raised an amazing £1,000 to contribute to the cost of the stage."