CHILDREN from a school in Southbourne have stepped out of their classrooms and onto the beach to take part in a mammoth fundraising exercise.

Stourfield Junior School pupils, who have been running a mile every day since the New Year, were joined by parents, teachers and friends when they visited Boscombe beach on Friday (MAY 13) to help pay for new facilities at their school grounds.

Getting all 500 pupils round the school yard can be quite a squeeze, said head teacher Emma Rawson.

So the school has decided to install an all-weather track at their school, costing around £15,000.

Friday's event saw each class walk from their classrooms to Fisherman's Walk where they took part in a fun mile up and down the beach.

They ran all the way to Boscombe pier and back, with help from the voluntary marshals, to kickstart the fundraising for it.

Ms Rawson said: "Since January we have been running a mile every day round the playground but it's quite confined because we have got 500 pupils. So we are raising money to put a grass-locked track in so we can put an all-weather track there.

"This is the start of the fundraising and once we know how much we have raised we can work out if the PFA (Parents and Friends' Association) can top it up at all."

A water station was set up at Urban Reef, and strong runners from year six classes were asked to help some members of the younger classes.

"The aspiration for every child is to finish this," Ms Rawson said at the startline. "It's not a race, it's about finishing, in accordance with our personal learning skills.

"We have got lots of support from our parents, who are walking themselves, or taking part as marshals so we're really, really grateful to them."