PUPILS from Coastlands School in St Ishmaels took a break from the classroom recently, to raise money for international charity WaterAid.

Dressed as pirates, sailors, mermaids and fish, pupils took on the 'pipeline challenge', in which they had to work together to pass 20 litres of rainwater in buckets across a distance of 600metres.

The event was supporting WaterAid’s work to bring safe water and safe toilets to poor communities in Ethiopia and around the world.

Each pupil brought in £2 - which is the cost of metre of pipeline needed to transport clean, safe water to children in developing countries.

They also made and sold cup cakes decorated with blue icing and water-themed decorations.

In total, the school raised almost £200 – enough to pay for 100m of piping.

Teacher Mrs Thorpe said: “It’s very easy for the children to take clean water for granted, so the pupil pipeline was a fantastic way to teach them about the millions of people around the world who are not lucky enough to have this vital resource at the turn of the tap.”

Pupil Chloe Owens said: “It was really good fun when everyone was in the field and we had to pass the buckets down the line, we had to go over the activity trail but the best thing was when we had to go under the giant cargo net.”

Across the world, 748 million people have no access to safe, clean water while 2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation.

Every single day, 1,400 children die due to diarrhoeal diseases caused by the lack of these basic services.

WaterAid works with the poorest and most marginalised communities in 26 countries around the developing world to set up practical and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects.

To find out more or to make a donation please visit www.wateraid.org.