The jungle with its huge elephants, colourful parrots, striped zebras and leaping monkeys isn't always the first image in mind when you think of school.

But at the Holy Family Junior School the strange connection became reality inside the building they opened a corner with a huge mural of the jungle.

The painting, which took 10 months to complete, was created by year 12 GNVQ students Michael Blackwell, Luke Carpenter, Kieran Cronin and Pasquale Fasulo from St Joseph's School under the supervision of art teacher Helen Flinders.

The students changed a grey wall into a colourful jungle, which was the scene voted for by the 188 pupils, during school time and out of school hours.

As a result they gained their Millennium Volunteers Certificate.

"We often got advice from the pupils on how they wanted it to look," said Michael.

Holy Family head teacher Maria Nowell pointed out that the mural has educational as well as aesthetic value.

She said: "The pupils can sharpen their observation skills in regard to the different aspects, and counting the animals will help with their maths."