A nine-year-old boy has donated £580 towards creating a new playground for young children at his Oxford primary school.

Thomas Roberts raised the money by taking part in the 4km Junior Great North Run in September last year.

Half the money has been spent on new equipment and games for SS Mary and John CofE Primary School's Hertford Street playground.

The rest will be spent on a project to create a new playground at the site.

In 2003 the school, which also has a nursery, merged with the former Isis Middle School, in Meadow Lane, as part of the Oxford's reorganisation of schools. It has since been operating from split sites.

The merger meant the nursery got a large part of the playground and primary children at the Hertford Street site had only a small hard surface to play on.

Parents formed a committee to raise funds to create a new playground. They want to demolish a disused canteen at the site to allow for a grass area and a wildlife area.

Committee member Fabianne Pagnier, whose seven-year-old son Kian attends the school, said: "Thomas's money is helping with the project. He came up with the idea himself and we are very grateful.

"It's a great amount of money for a young boy to have raised.

"What's more touching is that he isn't even based at the Hertford Street school, because he's moved up to Meadow Lane."

Thomas, of Warneford Road, east Oxford, whose sister Alice, six, attends the Meadow Lane site, said: "I knew about the playground appeal and I wanted to help."

He trained with his mother Rachel Rowe and completed the run in 26 minutes 42 seconds.