St Clement pupils Barry Beatson, Summer Carstairs and Eva Clark exercise on the trim trail (01058721) Picture: DAVID FERGUSON

IT is all about the great outdoors and getting back to nature for Island schools which have signed up for the JEP’s Cash for Schools competition.

Outdoor seating areas, climbing walls, gardening equipment and nature trails are just some of the things schools have said they would like to spend the prize money on.

The promotion, which will offer three cash prizes of £5,000, £3,000 and £2,000, is sponsored by Dominion trust company and begins today with the first of the special tokens to collect on page 15 of today’s Jersey Evening Post.

So far more than half of the Island’s primary and secondary schools have signed up to the competition, with the majority of them wanting to spend the winnings on outside areas and equipment.

One of the schools which will be collecting tokens over the next month is St Clement’s which is keen to add to its ‘trim trail’, a selection of exercise equipment in the playground.

Any money the school wins would also go towards creating a shady area so the children could be safe in the sun during their breaks.

Deputy head teacher Richard Heaven said that the school would be encouraging everyone to get collecting in a bid to be one of the prize winners.

‘The Cash For Schools competition provides a simple way for schools to have a chance to win money that can help encourage children’s learning both inside and outside the classroom,’ he said.

‘At St Clement School I think the token competition prizes would be an excellent opportunity to extend our existing outside areas, particularly our trim trail.’

Among the other ideas put forward by local schools if they were to win was an outdoor climbing wall at Le Rocquier, a wildlife pond and quiet outside areas at Victoria College Prep, outdoor seating areas for the children and local community at Les Landes and developing a school garden at St Peter’s School.

Mont à l’Abbé School would also like to buy outdoor play equipment to enable its physically disabled pupils to play alongside their able-bodied friends within an outdoor sensory space, while Haute Vallée would spend the money on creating an outdoor classroom.

The competition, which is weighted according to the number of pupils at a school to make it fair, continues until Saturday 23 October with tokens being published daily in the JEP.

The value of tokens will vary throughout the week with special 500 tokens published in Saturday’s paper.