Time has come for schools to think about their entries for this year's Esso school's wildlife challenge. The theme of the challenge, which is open to fourth, fifth and sixth class children, is "Wildlife and your local patch".

The competition has two levels. The individual challenge is to compose and illustrate a cartoon based on the theme. The group challenge asks children to survey an area in their locality and take ten steps to improve it, like cleaning it up and planting native trees. The closing date is March 24th.