A NORTH-EAST school that is the first in the country to be powered by a wind turbine has won a prestigious environmental award.

Cassop Primary School, near Durham City, has won the World Wide Fund for Nature and Junior Education Challenge 2000 Award.

Durham County Council and Northern Electric and Gas installed the 50kw turbine that provides electricity for the school and feeds surplus power into the national grid.

School headteacher Jim McManners and his 91 pupils scooped the award for their "innovative" environmental work.

As well as the turbine, they look after a small nature reserve near the school, graze a small flock of sheep on the land, and have collected seeds and cleared litter.

Mr McManners said: "The council is committed to promoting schemes which help reduce CO2 emissions and Northern Electric and Gas was keen to demonstrate that community-based wind generation could work.

"I saw the potential to develop the educational and environmental opportunities for schools and for the community."

An awards spokesman said: "A strong feature of the schoolwork has been the high quality of creative writing and poetry inspired by children's first-hand observations."

The award will be presented to the school at a ceremony, which will be held on Wednesday.

l The Cassop turbine has been shortlisted in the environment initiative of the year category of the 2000 Building Services Awards.

Winners of the awards, run by the magazines Building Services Journal and Electrical Contractor, will be announced today at a dinner in London.