THE nights are drawing in and its only seven weeks to Christmas - but youngsters at one North Yorkshire school have created their own little bit of summer.

Pupils at Malton Primary School made a sunflower out of raffia to replace a prize-winning example of the real thing.

The children grew their original sunflower in a county-wide competition organised by Fostering North Yorkshire. It grew so large that they won book tokens for their efforts.

And with the original now long dead the children decided they wanted a more permanent reminder of their success.

In the competition last summer, children at many primary schools planted sunflower seeds, then watered and measured them daily to monitor progress.

The county council’s executive member for young people’s services, Caroline Patmore, said: "In a simple way we were trying to show children how with the right encouragement you can make things grow and blossom.

"That’s exactly what we are trying to achieve when children are fostered."

Malton teacher Rachael Worth said it was a project the whole school enjoyed. "As well as growing the sunflowers we had a week long programme covering fostering," she said.

"It has helped children to understand what it might be like to be fostered."

Anyone interested in finding out more about becoming a foster carer should call Fostering North Yorkshire on 0800 389 2362