A WEEK of community activities have been hailed a success by Swindon Academy pupils.

More than 200 students from the Pinehurst school took part in a range of events for their annual activities week.

The initiative is structured around the concept of ‘pay it forward’, which encourages students to repay acts of kindness to other people instead of the original benefactor.

Monday saw the schoolchildren complete a litter pick around Pinehurst alongside the Neighbourhood Wardens, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue service, EnviroCrime and the local police.

During the rest of the week pupils helped cook for a community lunch at St Peter’s Church Hall in Penhill, as well as gardening for nearby residents.

And the youngsters made hedgehog houses to encourage wildlife and decorated plant pots to donate to a local care home.

Pupil Shayla Dunne, 12, said: "I really enjoyed the week.

“It’s nice when we do things like this and it makes a difference for everyone.”

Lorraine Jordan, the vice-principal who is leading the project, said: “We hope that our students appreciate the benefits of doing acts of kindness like this, and that they keep doing such things off their own back because they want to, not because anyone has told them to.”