|TOP|Students from Hreod Parkway, a Swindon school, took part in the World Cup by wearing colours of their nations as part of its International Day.

Each student paid £1 each to dress up for the project, with the cash going to the school's Ugandan water well project run by the Busoga Trust, a Christian charity working in Uganda. The school has raised thousands of pounds for the project in the village of Gavu, where there had been no clean water before.

Head of German Rachel Peach came up with the idea for the day.

"This has been a great way of raising the international awareness of the students and it's also given them a chance to experience new things for themselves," she said.

|AD|Lessons were given with a theme taking a closer look at countries taking part in the tournament, while each of the 27 tutor groups in Years 7, 8 and 9 were named after a specific country.

"The different international themes in classes have given the lessons a new twist. We also had a competition where the students were able to pick up either a goal, penalty or free kick card and that has allowed them to pick up points for their class and ultimately a prize.

"Events like this will go a long way to helping the school achieve its international status as we build up our associations with other schools in other countries."

In addition, the students were able try out many different types of food that each counrty has to offer, plus bake some World Cup-themed pizza.

The students raised around £800 for the chosen charity.

The FIFA World Cup 2006 has begun in Germany, Friday 9th June 2006, with the hosts opening the tournament with an exciting 4-2 win over Costa Rica, in what was the highest-scoring opening match in the history of the World Cup.