A group of students, from a school in Eccleshall, have been helping to improve the local area.

Last week, nine students from Walton Hall Academy, a special secondary school for students aged from 11 to 19 years with a varied range of learning needs, took part in work experience organised by Stafford Borough Council.

The pupils, aged 16 to 19, carried out litter picking, planting and fed animals in Victoria Park, all while battling bad weather.

Council workers, who were on hand to support the teenagers, were impressed by the efforts made by students when completing their assigned tasks.

As part of their work experience, the pupils cleaned up rubbish, planted and designed flower beds and fed the snake and chameleon in the park's greenhouse.

This was a highlight for many of the students.

They also found a lost identity badge which was returned to the local college and made posters telling people not to drop litter.

Many visitors thanked the group for helping to improve the appearance of the park.

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The teenagers also had the chance to meet Mayor of Stafford Borough, Cllr Mark Winnington, to give him an update on what they had been working on.

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."

One of the students, Jack, 18, 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."