PUPILS at a Lowestoft primary school will be 'seen and safe' in future.

Children at Roman Hill Primary will be able to don high-visibility vests and back-packs when they are out and about on school visits, after Suffolk county councillor Mary Rudd provided funding from her locality budget.

The grant has enabled the school to buy 70 vests and back-packs – enough for a whole year group.

And now, when the teachers take the children on trips or local visits, they will be much more visible and more easily recognisable as belonging to the Roman Hill School group.

Headteacher Sandra Batley said: 'Our children's safety is a top priority at Roman Hill Primary, so we are very grateful to Mrs Rudd for helping us to make sure that when our pupils are out and about they are seen – and safe.'

Roman Hill is one of a number of primary schools in the Lowestoft area that have received funding from county councillors to purchase high-visibility safety equipment.

In the current financial year, councillors were given a total locality budget of �771,000, and this sum was divided between them according to the number of people they represented. Councillors can make recommendations about where money should be spent within their local area.

In the Waveney locality group, the 13 county councillors that represent the district have a total available budget of just over �185,000 for 2012/2013, with thousands of pounds already allocated.

Among the other local schools to benefit was St Mary's Primary, which also received reflective back-packs in January, after Pakefield councillor Kathy Gosling and Lowestoft South councillor Bill Mountford gave �550 and �500 respectively from their locality budgets.

St Mary's headteacher Veronica Short said: 'We're delighted to have received these wonderful reflective bags for the children at our school and would like to say a big thank-you to councillor Mountford and councillor Gosling who kindly funded this initiative.

'These bags will help our children be seen when travelling to and from school.'