CHILDREN at a village primary learnt there is more to washing hands than you might think when they took part in a healthy schools award scheme.

The children at Seend Primary were taught by an infection control nurse how to get rid of bugs by washing their hands while singing Happy Birthday To You to make sure they kept cleaning for long enough.

Afterwards they used a UV light machine to see how successful they had been and now have their own light kit after winning a Wiltshire Council run contest to design a germ.

Headteacher Jackie Chalk is celebrating after her soon received a silver award in the healthy schools initiative led by teacher Nicola Coleman and for science teaching led by Aimee Holland.

Mrs Chalk said: "The idea behind the hand washing was to try to reduce absence due to illness that can be prevented through poor hand hygiene which we achieved.

"For the science award we focused on environmental science so we bought some nature signs of trees, wild flowers, mini-beasts and birds to go around the field. We had an activity week where the focus was the environment and the children did lots of learning about recycling, the seasons, linking science with art by making artworks using stones, twigs and leaves.

"The children were also invited to take part in a family learning event and attended a science fair with children from other schools sharing the projects they had been working on."