PRIMARY schools hoping to get a cash boost now have an extra week to get their applications in.

For the fourth year running the Oxford Mail has teamed up with Abingdon-based construction company Leadbitter to offer £7,500 to go towards improvements to primary schools.

The deadline has been extended until the end of this week.

Mill Lane Community Primary School in Chinnor has become the latest to enter our Leadbitter School Build SOS competition.

The school is hoping to improve its toilet block and changing rooms so it can become a more attractive place for the children.

At the moment the block has a rotten door and window frames and cubicle locks which are falling off.

School secretary Jenny Dunse said: “We have four classrooms outside in portable buildings and the children in those classrooms have to use the block for their toilets.

“The block was built shortly after the school in 1974 and the building is sturdy enough but we have been trying for years to get this sorted.

“It costs more money than we can spare and when we heard about this competition we thought it was ideal.

“The children have been so excited about it.”

Leadbitter regional director Cliff Thomas said: “We spend a lot of time working in the education sector and we are an Oxfordshire-based business so we feel this gives us an opportunity to give something back to schools and the community.”

Entries, using the form, which appears in today's Oxford Mail, need to be sent to School Build SOS Campaign, Oxford Mail, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0EJ by Friday. They must explain in at least 300 words the project, its benefits and how it would be sustainable.

Drawings, photographs and pupil, staff and parent statements can be used to back up the application.

Once all the entries are in, a panel of judges from the Oxford Mail and Leadbitter will pick a shortlist.

Then it is over to the schools and their supporters to collect as many tokens as possible, printed in the paper alongside profiles of the projects. Tokens will be weighted mathematically to ensure small primaries can compete equally alongside larger schools.

The work will be carried out by Leadbitter over the summer holidays.