CHILDREN at an infants' school are going to have their say over a £100,000 building project.

The pupils, aged four to seven, who attend Oliver Tomkins Infant School in Toothill will be asked by teachers how they think their new classroom should look inside

This is a major project for the school since it will eliminate the unpopular mobile classroom, which has been home to a class of 28 pupils for more than five years. It will mean all of the school's pupils will be housed under one roof.

The single storey room will be built as an extension to the current main building leading from the school hall and will include toilets and a sink.

Bristol based construction company Bluestone is building the £103,000 extension and has visited the infant school and Oliver Tomkins Juniors, to emphasise the dangers of children playing on building sites.

Deputy head, Rhian Cockwell, said: "We have one mobile classroom and the teacher does an excellent job but we would prefer to have the children in the main building because of the sense of community it brings.

"If the children come to the main building for assembly or PE lessons they have to put their coats on and bring their snacks with them. It's nicer if they can walk freely around the school.

"The teacher, Janet French, has made the room look bright and colourful but she is limited with what she can do because hanging things from the ceiling will set the burglar alarms off, and the gas heaters there are not as reliable as the central heating.

"Bluestone has been superb by coming in and talking to the children, who are all really interested in what is happening."

Miss Cockwell explained the new building had become the children's project for the summer term.

As well as visits from Bluestone's site manager Phil Keen, the children have been follow- ing the building's prog-ress and looking at the materials used.

Bluestone managing director John Berry said: "The important issue is safety. As a company we are in the middle of a drive to improve our health and safety standards.

"We want to work with teachers and pupils so the message gets home. Building sites might look like fun places to play but they are actually very dangerous."

"We like to emphasise the positive side of the construction industry too, and in the past we have taken pupils on guided tours of sites and talked about our working environment."