CHILDREN can enjoy a new play area at a Bicester secondary school after it took on a Ground Force-style makeover project to create a sensory garden.

Pupils at The Cooper School, in Churchill Road, were joined by the team at Rationel Windows in the town, who rolled up their sleeves to get gardening after donating £6,000 to the project.

It was part of the school's plans to create a relaxing space for children to take time out of traditional school lessons and learn in an outdoor environment.

Leading the project for the school was higher level teaching assistant (HLTA)sensory specialist Karen Webb, she said: "The new garden was designed by the students with help from Gavin Jones gardening services.

"It benefits the school greatly by providing a space where students can come to relax and it provides a calm and peaceful learning environment for students.

"The garden includes a rabbit area, sensory raised planters with plants that stimulate all the senses. It's interactive and available to all.

"It also has a summer house, where we will do one-on-one work with students or it will be used for quiet times if some of our vulnerable students need a bit of space."

The school has already started making the most of the new learning resource with pupils being taught outside and enjoying the new flower-decorated garden.

It was created over half term with both pupils and the team from Rationel Windows digging in and planting bulbs and building up the area.