Generous youngsters at Corsham School enjoyed a fundraising and box-making extravaganza in a bid to spread some seasonal goodwill to children less fortunate than themselves.

Pupils at the secondary school made up 321 boxes of gifts for Operation Christmas Child, which distributes shoeboxes crammed with goodies to needy children in Eastern Europe.

They created a veritable mountain of beautifully decorated boxes, which were collected from the school on Children In Need day.

Teachers Charlie Sloan and Emma Fairbairn organised the Operation Christmas Child project in the school.

This is the second year the school has taken part in the appeal, though last year only one year group was involved.

This time around, with the whole school on board, hundreds of boxes were put together.

"We thought it was a nice thing to do for children at Christmas," said Ms Fairbairn.

"Each tutor group had an empty box and children were invited to bring something to put in it, and this prompted many more to make a box of their own at home."

Pupils also took part in a Wacky Tie day for Children In Need, while sixth formers donned fancy dress and sold cookies.

They raised an impressive £800 on the day for the Children In Need .

Gazette offices in Devizes and Chippenham are also acting as drop-off points for the shoeboxes.

Anyone taking along filled boxes must make sure that while the box and lid are wrapped, they are not sealed, as all boxes will need to be checked to make sure they meet Customs requirements.

Leaflets explaining exactly what should and should not go in the boxes, along with stickers to indicate what age group the gift is suitable for, are also available at our offices.