A SCHOOL is hoping to breathe new life into its outdoor play area by winning a share of a £6,000 construction makeover.

Run by building company Leadbitter and the Dorset Echo, the School Build Challenge is offering makeover prizes worth £3,000, £2,000 and £1,000 to lucky schools in Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester and the surrounding villages.

The competition is open to all primary, middle and secondary schools in that area and all entries must be in by Friday, June 10.

So far entries have included a variety of ideas from bicycle workshops to fruit gardens and outdoor shelters.

The Dorchester Learning Centre is a school for children aged seven to 16 who have been permanently excluded from mainstream education. It also caters for children with special educational needs, pupils in care and those, such as travellers, who are not accessing other education. English teacher Lorraine Greenham said that if the centre won a makeover they would use it to revive their old outdoor ropes course.

She said: “Due to the size of our learning centre we do not have a hall, gym or playground.

“To address this we built a ropes course in our grounds.

“This offered all students an opportunity to take part in an outdoor physical activity, encouraged team building and personal achievement, whilst monitoring the health of the students and their wellbeing as part of our Healthy Schools Plus recognition.”

She added: “Over the last few years, the ropes course has deteriorated to the extent that it no longer meets the requirement for health and safety.

“This has had a considerable effect on both staff and students as we are no longer able to offer the physical activities that were so enjoyed by all students.

“If we were to win, we would be able to restore our much needed ropes course to a standard that can once again be used by all our students and we as a centre could be proud of.”

To be in with a chance to win one of the three makeovers, fill in the application form on this page and tell us in no more than 200 words about your project, what it would involve and why you need it.

After the closing date a judging panel will sit down to whittle the entrants down to the finalists before Dorset Echo readers decide the final three winning projects by a voucher collection system.