SCHOOLS have less than two weeks to be in for a chance of £7,500 of Olympic-themed improvements to their school.

For the second year running, the Oxford Mail has teamed up with Abingdon-based construction company Leadbitter to give primary schools the opportunity to win money for improvements or refurbishments.

Last year, the School Build Save Our Schools competition was hotly contested, with schools collecting thousands of special Oxford Mail tokens, before North Kidlington Primary School was crowned the winner.

This year, the theme is the Olympics and organisers are hoping to hear lots of ideas about how to use the money to inspire pupils to get involved in sport.

Leadbitter regional director Richard Nixon said: “A lot of our work is in the education sector and we like to be able to give something back – that is what this is all about.

“Last year there was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm from the children of the schools, and we were overwhelmed when we all sat down as a team to review the submissions.”

He said the contest had been tweaked slightly to make sure it was fairer to schools of all different sizes, meaning that the number of vouchers collected by each school will be weighted according to the number of pupils it has.

Schemes could be for anything from tennis nets, to maintenance of existing facilities such as swimming pools or sports areas.

Schools are encouraged to support their applications with drawings, photographs and statements from parents, pupils and teachers.

Oxford Mail newspaper sales manager Margaret Marsh said: “We are delighted to be running this competition again, after a huge response last year.

“This is a brilliant opportunity for schools to apply for money to build or improve something that they otherwise could not afford to do.

“I am looking forward to seeing lots of imaginative plans for how schools can really make a difference both to pupils and to the wider community.”

The deadline for applications, using the entry forms printed in the Oxford Mail, is Monday, June 7.

On Wednesday, June 9, a panel of judges from Leadbitter and the Oxford Mail will select 10 finalists. Their schemes will be outlined in the newspaper.

Then it’s down to each school to collect as many tokens as they can, which need to be returned to the Oxford Mail by July 6.

Applications need to explain the pro-ject in detail explaining its benefits and how it will be sustainable.

Projects must not need planning permission or building regulations.