A CONSTRUCTION company, which offered £10,000 of school building work in a competition, has unveiled the result.

Longfield School, in Darlington, was chosen as the winner of the Shepherd Schools Challenge, and for the past three weeks work has been going on to create a new yard at the school.

Pupils at the school came up with the idea for the Millennium Yard.

They wanted a safe, pleasant place to relax before lessons and decided the yard would be a good idea.

They chose the theme of time for the work, in honour of their late headteacher Dr Bill Ions.

The school was chosen from nine national finalists to receive the money, and the expertise of Shepherd Construction to transform the yard at the front of the school.

A group of pupils were chosen to form the school's project team and were involved in all the stages of the development.

They worked with Shepherd Construction staff on the design and co-ordination of the building work.

To thank the six-member team for their work, they will have special plaques fixed on benches in the new yard.

In tribute to Dr Ions, who was particularly concerned with punctuality, the new yard incorporates a memorial clock which was unveiled by his wife, Linda.

She said: "I am extremely touched by this tribute and know that he would have been tremendously proud of the outstanding achievements of the students involved."

As well as the new benches and clock, the yard is linked to the rest of the school by a new walkway and the area has been resurfaced.

The competition was organised through Shepherd Construction's strategic educational liaison and career development programme, which encourages young people to consider the construction industry as a career.

It hopes to show young people what they can gain from a career in construction and how they can move on through apprenticeship, studentship and university sponsorship.