Teenagers from a school in Stafford Borough have been helping the local council improve the area.

Nine students from Walton Hall Academy in Eccleshall have been carrying out litter picking, planting, and feeding the animals as part of their work experience duties.

The students aged between 16 and 19 years old braved the inclement weather during the week and received a glowing report from council workers who were on hand to help them carry out a number of tasks.

And they even got to meet the Mayor of Stafford Borough, Councillor Mark Winnington, (pictured) to let him know what they had been doing.

They cleaned up rubbish, planted and designed flower beds at the award-winning Victoria Park, and fed the snake and chameleon in the park’s greenhouse last week. They even found a lost identity badge which they handed in to the nearby college.

The teenagers also made posters telling people not to drop litter - and helped write this article about their experience.

Everyone agreed that holding and feeding the snake had been the highlight of their week. And during their work experience, visitors to the park thanked the young people for making the area look better.

Walton Hall Academy is a special secondary school for students aged from 11 to 19 years which caters for a wide and varied range of learning needs.

Louise Major, class teacher, said: “We would like to give a special thank you to Kelly from the council for organising our work experience and to Bryan and Kieran and their colleagues for looking after us in the park.”

Jack, 18, who became spokesperson for the group, said: “We were litter picking and picked up lots of cans and bottles. We fed the chameleon and I held the snake.”

Council Leader, Aidan Godfrey, had a chat with the students and said: “It was great to see how enthusiastic the young people were about what they had been doing - and it is obvious that they got a lot of positive things out of their week with us.”

Press Release No 6304