GETTING two tonnes of soil from a school's main driveway to a new garden could have proved a mammoth headache.

But 370 pupils and staff at Derby's St Mary's Catholic Primary grabbed their buckets and spades and to shift it themselves.

They formed a chain snaking across the school's playing field in Broadway and the buckets were handed along from child to child to reach the garden.

Eight raised beds will be created in the garden – one for each class in the junior age group.

Assistant head teacher Janet Cooke said: "We were hoping that someone from the school would come forward and donate the soil.

"At first we had no response and then, out of the blue, a parent said he could arrange it and it would be arriving this week. But when the lorry came it was too large to come all the way up the drive and so we had to have the soil dumped and think how to move it.

"So on went the wellies and the children brought in their buckets to move all the soil."

Five parents also lent a helping hand and it had all been cleared within three hours.

The eight beds are likely to have vegetables grown in them, to be cooked in the school kitchen or sold to parents.

"We will probably start by getting each class to plant potatoes and then we will set up a gardening club at lunchtimes for those pupils who want to get involved," said Mrs Cooke.

"The children had lots of fun moving the soil and I think it will have given them a great sense of achievement. This will be even better when they see things growing."

The school already has one garden for infant children, where both plants and vegetables are grown.

It is extending the garden as part of a plan to use the outdoor area more for lessons.

There are also plans to create a peace garden with seating and scented flowers to attract butterflies.

Pupils seemed to have enjoyed their first gardening experiences.

Dominik Harrison, six, said: "I liked the passing on of buckets and I especially liked carrying the heavy buckets. I hope we can eat some of the potatoes when they have grown."

Fellow pupil Aoife McKenna, nine, said: "I enjoyed moving the soil. It was fun to pass the bucket along the line.

"I'm looking forward to growing loads of different vegetables to eat in school."