Greenwich & Woolwich MP Nick Raynsford this week attended an awards ceremony in the House of Commons, where South Rise Primary School was named as a London Regional winner in the Make IT Happy competition,

The competition, organised by the Parliamentary IT Commission, intends to celebrate the inspirational work the UK’s primary schools are doing to promote IT skills and teach children and their families about using the internet.

South Rise was named one of the winners in recognition of the school’s online e-safety project. Pupils researched information about personal safety, asking other students for their favourite safety hints. The information was posted onto a website - www.safeandsouth.com - so that others in the community could benefit from the school’s learning. Judge Stephen Darvill from IT services company Logica, said that the website was ‘simple, effective and clearly designed and written’. Pupils with school staff also led e-safety workshops for more than 600 parents, family members and friends.

Speaking on Monday, Nick said: ‘It was a pleasure to see South Rise pupils and their teachers here at the ceremony, and even better to see them collect an award. Safety in the community is an important issue for children - and adults - to learn about, and I am very pleased that the school will be using its prize money to continue to develop its e-safety website. IT experience is often considered essential by employers and learning these skills will put children in good stead in tomorrow’s job market. I am really looking forward to visiting the school once the website is up-and-running and learning a thing or two about the internet myself!’.