A PRIMARY school is bidding to bag a cash boost from a supermarket initiative to build a wooden pirate ship.

The British School, in Wotton-under-Edge, has been shortlisted to receive a grant from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative and now needs help from the public.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork to offer grants of £8,000 to £12,000 – all raised from the 5p bag charge – to help environmental and greenspace projects.

Shoppers can vote for who they think should be awarded the grants at Tesco stores.

Staff at The British School are hoping to use the funds to build a wooden pirate ship, The Jolly Roger, on the school field to enhance the provision of quality free time for the children.

Groundwork’s national chief executive, Graham Duxbury, said: “Bags of Help is giving our communities both the funding and the support to create better, healthier and greener places for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.

“They’re all fantastic projects that make a real difference in our neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”

Voting is open in stores from September 26 to October 9.

Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

This is the second round of the initiative - the first round saw approximately eight million shoppers vote in stores up and down the country earlier this year.

Lindsey Crompton, head of community at Tesco, said: “The first round of the Bags of Help initiative was a fantastic success.

“In total 1,170 community groups were awarded £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 - that’s a massive £11.7 million being invested into local projects.

“We are already seeing some great results from groups transforming their own environmental and greenspace areas.

“We are absolutely delighted to open the voting for round two. There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life in hundreds of communities.”

For more information visit tesco.com/bagsofhelp