BRIDPORT'S pioneering World Music Week, which involved students from 10 schools in the summer, has won a national good practice award.

The project, which was co-ordinated by Burton Bradstock headteacher David Powell, has won £200 for his school.

The money will now help fund two concerts next month that will be open to parents and the wider community.

Organised by the Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, the awards celebrate the achievements of schools and PTAs.

A delighted Mr Powell said: "This project is very dear to my heart as I thought up the idea and my school played a key role.

"But we couldn't have run such a successful event without contributions from Dorset Education Authority, the One World Band, every primary school in Bridport and the surrounding area and volunteers from the local community."

NCPTA director David Butler said it showed what it was possible to achieve if schools and volunteers from the local community worked together.

The aim of the event, which also involved Mountjoy special school and the Sir John Colfox School, was to create 'bridges of understanding' between cultures and countries through music and songwriting.

It involved a band of musicians from The Gambia, Chile, India and England performing at each school last spring and then running songwriting workshops. All the primary children then worked on creating songs that reflected living in their community in the year 2001.

A similar project took place at Colfox where musician Billy Bragg, who lives at Burton, ran weekly workshops with students.

Musicians from the One World Band then visited schools in their own countries and brought back to the UK songs written by the children. Schools were connected with each other and the West Dorset children swapped information with their counterparts. These links are still continuing.

In June the One World Band revisited Bridport and all the schools combined to present an open air concert of the songs they had created. It was followed by an evening performance by the Colfox children, backed by Billy Bragg and his band, The Blokes.

Burton Bradstock School PTA secretary Wendy McLean said: "Burton Bradstock is only a small village primary school but David Powell's brilliant idea brought together the whole community."

Two evening performances will now be staged at Freshwater caravan park on December 3 and 4.

They will feature The One World Band, Billy Bragg and the combined Bridport school choirs.

Tickets are available from next Monday from the primary schools involved.

An album of the songs will be created in the New Year with profits going to the partner schools abroad for much-needed equipment, particularly computers to help stronger communication.

More details about the project can be found at: www.dorset-lea.org.uk/clusters/bridport/wmmusicproj