A charity auction is being held to help raise funds for a school's next eco project.

The event, being held at Damers First School in Poundbury later this month, also marks a year since it moved to its new location.

Over the past year, the children and staff have settled into their new surroundings and the outside areas and gardens have been transformed into play areas and flourishing gardens with the addition of a bird hide earmarked for the near future.

A clear mission of the school since it moved to Poundbury is to run a number of projects to help and support the environment - for example students recently ran a project to help reduce plastic waste both within the school and the community.

Because of this the school has been shortlisted for the Times Educational Supplement’s (TES) School Awards 2018 in the Sustainable Schools category.

Headteacher Catherine Smith said: “It is great to hear that our sustainability work has once again been recognised at a national level. We are incredibly proud of what happens within our school and the impact that this has on our children’s understanding and care for the environment. We are both honoured and delighted to be nominated within this category.”

TES editor, Ann Mroz added: “It is wonderful to see such innovative ideas and best-practice emerging from our schools and teachers, despite the current squeeze on funding. We had a record year for entries and the standard was the best so far – all those shortlisted should be very proud: it’s an extraordinary achievement."

To bring together the new community and the school’s environmental work, Damers First School will be hosting an auction evening open to residents and businesses, all of whom have been incredibly supportive of the school since its move to Poundbury.

Auctioneer Will Wallis from Symonds and Sampson will be present the auction lots, which include:

* Lunch for two at Pig on the Beach with wine and a tour of the kitchen garden

* Tea for two and a tour of the House of Commons with Oliver Letwin

* Langham Wine Estate tour and tasting for two

* Jurassic Charters will sail up to 8 people along the coast on a luxury 52ft Sunseeker motor yacht

* Weymouth-based Clean Cook will treat you to a day’s worth of healthy meals

* Two day tickets to the Larmer Tree festival

* See behind the scenes at Wessex FM and read the weather

* Two-day sailing course at Andrew Simpson Watersports Centre

* Poundbury Rotary’s action team is offering 20 hours of labour from garden tidying and tip runs to painting and loft clearance!

* Tour of Highgrove gardens followed by afternoon tea with champagne.

Money raised from the event will fund the next exciting stage in the school’s innovative environmental work. The school is hoping to buy a Ridan Food Waste Composter. Any food waste can be placed in the Ridan which is then converted into compost to use in the school’s gardens, as well as saving substantial sums on bin collection costs.

The evening will be held on Thursday, May 24 with doors opening at 7pm for the auction to start at 7.45pm.

Tickets are available from Brace of Butchers, Finca at the Buttercross, Symonds and Sampson, Parkers Property Consultants and Poundbury Garden Centre.

People can bid ahead of the evening at auctionofpromises.com