A STAR twinkling in the firmament will be shining brighter for children at a Hexham First School after they were given ownership of it by a housebuilder.

Barratt Developments North East, which includes both the Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes brands, awarded the star to pupils at Hexham First School to say thank you for their help in designing a birdhouse for its Woodland Rise development in the town.

The company was awarded a maximum five-star rating in the Home Builders Federation customer satisfaction survey conducted earlier this year.

In celebration of its five- star rating for the eighth year running, the company is awarding five schools in the North-East region with their own, exclusive star as recognition of their valuable contribution to the community.

Hexham First School is now the proud owner of 1421852 – Cetus, a star visible to the naked eye from the UK.

Abby Armstrong, a pupil at Hexham First School, was the winner of the competition to design a birdhouse. The children were asked to design a birdhouse so that the wild birds around the Woodland Rise development would be able to live and nest as usual.

Thanks to Abby and her classmates at Hexham First School, the birdhouse is now installed in the show home of the luxury housing development, on Corbridge Road, which is home to two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom properties.

Ashlea Wright, sales manager at Woodland Rise, said: “We all loved Abby’s floral birdhouse design and it looked even better on the birdhouse itself.

“It really stood out as a winner for us and that’s what made Hexham First School an obvious choice for us to award. The amount of work and effort the children put in to their designs showed a great level of talent and the star they received was well deserved.”

Becky Jackson, headteacher at Hexham First School, said: “We’d like to thank the David Wilson Homes team. It was a great honour to receive a star from them.

“The birdhouse competition gave the children a great opportunity to be creative and learn about the wildlife in the area, and Abby was thrilled to see her design on the birdhouse.”