YOUNGSTERS at a Hartlebury school have created "special buddies" that will be sent to next month's G8 summit of world leaders.

All pupils at Hartlebury CE First School have taken part in the Send My Friend to School Challenge, run as part of a campaign by the charity, Make Poverty History.

Children at the Rectory Lane school, who have previously helped Comic Relief, chose what nationalities their "buddies" would represent.

They coloured the templates, provided by the anti-poverty campaigners, using paints and collages.

Organisers hope that children will make one million buddies to represent some of the children from around the world who cannot go to school.

Headteacher, Jenny Batelen, believed the project had been of benefit to the pupils.

She said: "I think it is a very good way to involve the children as part of the citizenship programme to understand world issues and it has been very timely.

"Certainly, the older children now know what the G8 summit is after all the recent media coverage," she explained.