Sir Thomas Abney school is one of three runners up in London-wide competition

A Stoke Newington school has been awarded �2,500 to build “a little garden of paradise” for pupils to learn more about nature.

Sir Thomas Abney School in Fairholt Road, got through to the final round of eight London schools - along with Jubilee Primary School in Filey Avenue - in a competition to design a wildlife garden.

The winning prize of �10,000 went to a Camberwell school, but the judges were so impressed with the entries, that waste management company Veolia Environmental Services came up with an extra �2,500 for three runners-up, to help make their wildlife gardens a reality.

John Clarke, teacher at Sir Thomas Abney said: “The children are really pleased, they put a lot of input into the initial bid, and they are looking forward to using the garden.

“With all the news about plants and animals going extinct, it’s great to know that we’ll be helping create new places for wildlife - it will be a little garden of paradise in Sir Thomas Abney.”

They hope to base their garden around an existing pond, adding a ‘bee hotel’, an ‘insect hotel’ and a bat box.

Judge Simon Bussell, managing director of Veolia Environmental Services, said: “Picking a winning entry was really tough – all the schools had worked hard,

“Even more impressive is they thought about sustainability – with ideas about reusing materials and harvesting rain water in all the entries,” he added.

The project has enabled the London Wildlife Trust charity to encourage schools to create and improve wildlife areas, in an attempt to reverse habitat losses.