A GROUP of 14 students from Hreod Parkway have been learning new skills by building an enormous dragon.

Children from year eight constructed the long-nosed beasts out of umbrellas as part of an annual project to build a dragon for the brolly parade at the Swindon Arts Jazz Festival in April.

The two-day project involves the students designing and preparing the dragon for construction with Gordon Dickinson and Toni Robinson, community artists from No Added Sugar.

Toni said: "This is an extremely ambitious project. The students are having to learn all kinds of new skills including sewing and gluing and working to a budget."

The dragon is around 17-18 metres long.

Toni added: "It is proving to be great fun to make and two days is a very short time to create something like this."

Amy Carnell, head of the arts faculty at the school, was pleased with the hard work the students were putting in. She said: "This is a fantastic opportunity, its great to have a team of experts come in and help. The skills they learn from this they will be able to use in class."