When primary school teacher Sam Mosley sent her children out to take photographs she was amazed by the results

You could never accuse these Ribble Valley youngsters of being slow developers - especially when the subject is photography.

Teacher Sam Mosley let them loose with digital cameras in the award-winning school grounds and they came back with a stunning set of pictures, some of them featured on these pages.

‘We were so impressed that we have decided to create our own calendar,’ said Sam, who teaches ten and 11-year-olds at Barnacre Road Primary in Longridge. ‘We also put them into an exhibition and we had a grand opening. We sold �57 worth straight away.’

As we report on page 32, the Best Kept Village Awards, supported by Lancashire Life, have recently been announced and the Barnacre school grounds were among the winners.

‘It wasn’t something we entered - it came as a complete shock to us and the head, Simon Wallis,’ added Sam. ‘We staged an Eco Week with the children making willow sculptures and tie-dying using natural ingredients. We wanted to capitalise on the awards so we decided to turn it into a photography project.

‘Never in a million years did I imagine the results we would get - they are so good we are staged an exhibition of the artwork, offering them for sale, and we are choosing the 12 best to create the calendar.’

They were inspired by parent and keen photographer Wendy Thorpe, who went into the class to explain how to get the best from their cameras.

The school has been making a name for itself thanks to its approach to the environment. United Utilities has given an area of woodland to develop near the schools and 60 youngsters were out recently planting 300 trees.

‘A chap walked past and said “We never did stuff like that when I was at school” - well, neither did I,’ laughed Sam. ‘It was quite a day. I don’t know about the children but I certainly slept well that night.’