Sky's the limit for Oaklands

It was one of two winners of the Sky News Weather Challenge in the nine to 11-year-old age group. Its winning poster, showing storm damage to the West Pier in Brighton, will be used to illustrate the Sky News weather report this month and in April.

The school has won a range of prizes, including a widescreen television and DVD player for the children plus a television for the staff room.

As part of their prize, the pupils of Oakfield Middle School have also won a special visit from Sky News, involving a weather masterclass by presenters Francis Wilson and Lisa Burke and the opportunity to watch and take part in a live Sky News weather broadcast from their school.

The Sky News Weather Challenge was open to seven to 11-year-olds learning about the weather as part of the National Curriculum. The school children were invited to design an eye-catching poster, using the theme "Weather in the News", which Sky News could display as the backdrop to its weather bulletins.

Mr Wilson said: "The pupils really took the theme 'weather in the news' to heart and came up with some striking images of the storms and floods that have hit their own communities. Oakfield pupils showed the devastating effect of last December's storm damage on the West Pier at Brighton. This really was an example of weather in the news."

The best 16 entries will be used as backdrops to the Sky News weather reports and the top six schools will be the venue for live weather forecasts.