YOUNGSTERS at St Joseph's and St Bede's Primary left other schools green with envy when their number came up this week.

The Bury school won £300 to help improve its environment after collecting the most Yellow Pages directories in a recycling initiative.

St Joseph's and St Bede's came first, collecting 688 old directories. Greenhill Primary came second, winning £200, and Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary came third with the school being rewarded with £100.

And for every pound Yellow Pages has awarded to schools, another pound has been donated to the Woodland Trust to help protect native woodland.

In total, 32 schools and more than 7,000 pupils across Bury took on the Yellow Woods Challenge and collected 6,000 old directories in six weeks. These will be recycled by Bury Council into cardboard, and animal bedding.

Each school which rose to the challenge was also awarded a certificate, named after a woodland tree. The top six schools received CD-roms and videos to teach children about the wonders of ancient woodland.

And now all the schools which took part will be entered into the Yellow Woods Challenge UK finals to compete with up to 1,000 schools across the UK to win one of three top prizes of £2,000.

Keith Holland, Bury Council education officer, said: "This has been a very exciting competition and we are delighted that teachers and pupils have shown such enthusiasm during the challenge.

"I wish our schools all the best of luck in the UK finals next September."

Richard Duggleby, head of external relations with Yell, the publisher of Yellow Pages, added: "The response of schoolchildren is a very encouraging indication of how seriously they take issues relating to the environment and its protection.

"I'd like to thank the council for organising the Yellow Woods Challenge in Bury and also congratulate all the children, teachers and parents who worked so hard to make the challenge a success."