A SPECIAL task force has been formed to record the construction of the new £2.3 million Matchborough First School.

The Environmental Group is made up of 25 seven and eight year olds who meet fortnightly after school and will take photographs and record their thoughts as the school is built.

The results will be placed in school archives for future generations.

The youngsters will also explore and design environmental and play features in the school grounds.

The new building will bring together children from two different schools currently operating on sites three quarters of a mile apart.

The group has been formed as part of a programme to build one identity for the two schools, ready for their integration when the new school opens in September 2003.

The new complex will house 450 five to nine year olds and about 40 pre-school children and special features will include a rainwater recycling system to flush toilets.

The school will bring together children from Claybrook and Icknield first schools on a site next to the closed Moatfield Middle School, which will be sold for redevelopment.

The Claybrook and Icknield buildings will be refurbished when the new school is open - one site will become the base for LEA staff supporting special needs pupils and the other a school for seven to 14-year-olds with emotional and behavioural difficulties.