WHILE children are enjoying a week away from classes, some of their schools are hard at work on entries for our School Build Save Our Schools contest.

This year primary schools can win £7,500 of work to upgrade or build sports facilities for their pupils.

There are just 12 days left to come up with projects that could be in with a chance of winning.

The Oxford Mail has teamed up with Abingdon construction company Leadbitter for the second year running to offer one lucky school up to £7,500 improvements or refurbishment work in our Olympic themed competition.

Organisers are looking for imaginative ways of spending the money to make a real difference to the schools sporting facilities – and the wider community – and will pick 10 schools based on their applications.

Applications could be for: l New or improved changing rooms l A refurbished toilet block l Swimming pool improvements like lane markers l Tennis/basketball court upgrades l Pitch improvements, viewing areas l Vital equipment for the refurbishment of existing facilities.

In fact applications could be for anything with a sporting flavour that can help inspire children to be our sporting stars of tomorrow and get enthused over the London 2012 Olympics.

Oxford Mail newspaper sales manager Margaret Marsh said: “I am really excited to see what different schemes the schools come up with.

“Last year it was a really tough choice picking just 10, because the ideas were so inspirational and it was obvious they that could have a genuine impact on children.

“We all know school budgets don’t always cover everything you would like to do in a school – this is a fantastic opportunity to get some money for those extras that you might not otherwise be able to afford.”

Last year, North Kidlington Primary School came out tops in the School Build Save Our Schools contest after pupils collected thousands of tokens, getting a new bird hide.

But because Eynsham Primary School was neck-and-neck with the Kidlington school, Leadbitter decided to carry out improvements to its swimming pool as well.

Leadbitter regional director Richard Nixon said: “I would like to hear something that is slightly different and has been well-considered by the children submitting it.

“We have been back to see both of the schools we helped last year and everybody is delighted. This money can make a real difference.”

The deadline for applications to be returned is Monday, June 14.

Applications need to explain the project, outlining its benefits and how it will be sustainable. Projects must not need planning permission or building regulations.

Leadbitter would also like to see photographs to support schools’ applications and comments from children, teachers or parent groups.

Judges from Leadbitter and the Oxford Mail will meet on June 16 to select 10 finalists.

Each of them will be profiled in the Oxford Mail and the race will then be on to collect as many School SOS tokens as possible.

Unlike last year, the tokens will be mathematically weighted so that schools with large numbers of pupils will not have the advantage over smaller primaries. So every token will count.