A school has bagged £12,000 to improve its outdoor learning area with a range of new features, including a pond and sensory garden.

Sprowston Community High School was awarded the money through the Tesco Bags of Help funding initiative this month.

As part of the competition, shoppers were asked to vote in stores across the country for their favourite outdoor community projects.

The school said the money will be used to pay for new accessible path, a sensory garden and wildlife pond in its outdoor learning area.

Malcolm Johnston, the school's community events manager, said; 'We are absolutely thrilled to have secured the top award and would like to thank everyone who voted for our project.

'We now look forward to developing the area and inviting the community to join in with our celebrations.'

As part of its ongoing partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society, the school is also keen to hear from volunteers who would like to be part of the project, by sharing their horticultural knowledge with its students.

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: 'Bags of Help has been a fantastic success. We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and it's been great to give people a say on how the money will be spent in their community. We can't wait to see the projects come to life.'

Voting ran in stores from October 31 to November 13 – with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.

Tesco estimates that around six million votes were cast in stores up and down the UK.

Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £24m across 2,421 local projects.

And from today, customers will be able to vote for local groups all year round, every time they shop and grants will be awarded monthly – meaning that thousands more projects will benefit from the scheme.

Funding will now be awarded to groups who are seeking to use and develop outdoor spaces in ways that will benefit their local community, and money will be available in smaller amounts, making it more accessible.

Anyone can nominate a local project.

To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp

Are you looking to improve your community? Call 01603 772684