PARENTS who helped a Worcester school boost its supplies of a unique learning aid have been reaping the rewards.

Three parents of children at St Clement's CE Primary School are to be presented with an Open College Certificate Unit in story sacks.

This is part of an initiative to launch these teaching devices in schools. The campaign provides sacks containing a book and themed toys and learning-orientated games.

The eventual result will be a selection of story sacks that parents can hire from libraries to help their children's basic skills.

The parents involved have also been awarded a sum of money from Sure Start to help towards the next lot of story sacks.

"I'm really proud of the way they've worked hard," said headteacher Maggie Goodwin.

"We can now use the sacks in the classroom as we've got enough to use. It's hard when you've only got one or two.

"They've supported one another and gone a step further, organising fund-raising themselves. We started it off and now they run it."

The story sacks are meant for parents and carers to use at home with their children, giving them confidence to enjoy books together.

They include traditional fairytales such as Jack And Beanstalk and The Ugly Duckling, alongside more recent stories such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

"They've made a lot of games for the sacks and they're beautiful," said Mrs Goodwin.

"They've worked every week in school without fail. They've shown they can achieve something.

"They didn't have a lot of confidence but they've got wonderful skills."

The sackmakers have approached businesses to sponsor the sacks and organised fund-raising events in school to fund the sacks.