A school which pledged to ensure students still enjoyed opportunities to use their creativity despite lockdown has been shortlisted for a national award.

Thomas Gainsborough School, near Sudbury, has made it to the final eight in the Creative School of the Year category in the TES Awards.

Assistant headteacher Ed Clark said: "We have always been very proud of the creative opportunities we have offered to students.

“The last year has been challenging for us all, but we didn’t want the lockdowns - and move to largely online learning - to prevent these opportunities from taking place.

“Staff have gone above and beyond and we would also like to thank our partners who have helped provide such a rich and varied creative curriculum.”

Over the past year, students have benefited from a series of online resources and creative mini-sessions as well as innovative partnership projects.

The Great Cornard school worked with the Wellcome Trust on an arts and science collaboration and the Protein Data Bank in Europe on an online art exhibition.

The winner of the award will be announced during an online even on Friday, June 25.