CHILDREN have been highly commended for their work in building relationships at school.

The school council at Silver End School applied for an award from the Speaker's School Council Awards this year.

They had taken on a 'buddy bench' project earlier this year in order to promote friendship and positive relationships.

They had to summarise the project with their assistant head teacher to explain how well the project had worked.

The children took on the responsibility of evaluating the project and considering the next steps and they received a 'highly commended' award as a result.

The council is made up of year 6 pupils George Bentall, Bethan Hogg and Chloe Boot.

George said: “I think that the buddy bench was a good idea because a lot of people have used it and they have been able to make new friends.”

Bethan added: “We had to ask a lot of people on the playground about how they used the bench before we sent off the summary of our project.

"A lot of people now feel they don't have to use the bench, so the project had been a success.”