A Bradford school is hoping a clean-up blitz will help some of its youngest pupils enjoy a brighter start to their education.

The walls of Girlington Primary School's recently-opened Early Years Centre were covered in unsavoury graffiti and images.

But with the help of the Big W superstore at the nearby Victoria Shopping Centre in Thornton Road, the graffiti is to be blasted away by experts.

Big W manager James Redford decided to help after being shocked at the state of the centre on a visit to the school.

The company has paid for graffiti removal experts from Bradford Council to carry out the clean-up operation, to the delight of head teacher Sue Wood.

She said: "Graffiti was an existing problem when we took over the building, so we're really pleased that Big W is helping.

"Its not just paying lip service either, but actually doing something for us. James is even going to be on our board of governors.

"By removing this horrendous eyesore we can regain pride within the local community and I am certain the children will be really pleased to see the graffiti removed from their new school building."

Girlington Primary, in Girlington Road, took over the former social services building in 1999 to create the extra classrooms it needed to cope with its transition from a first to a primary school.

Mr Redford said: "When we first came we thought it was a shame the kids had to walk past all this stuff so we decided to pay the council to clean it up.

"This is just the beginning of our co-operation with the school and I'm looking forward to becoming a governor which should be superb."

Future joint projects with Girlington Primary could see the company sponsoring book bags and helping with a new prospectus.

e-mail: jim.jack@

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