SCHOOL'S out for the summer but more than 140 young people have returned to the classroom for a summer holiday club.

Tom Hood School, in Terling Close, Leytonstone, has for the past five years run clubs for pupils out of school term time.

The free club has increased in popularity every year and this year pupils have been doing a wide variety of activities including playing basketball, football, handball, as well as skateboarding, cooking and doing drama workshops.

At the end of the club, which lasts a fortnight, the young people will be taken to Thorpe Park theme park in Surrey.

Radhika Bynon, Tom Hood extended schools manager, said: “When we started this club we were not sure if the children would want to come into school during the holidays, but we have been surprised.

“The club gives young people the opportunity to learn new skills in a safe environment and teaches them to work in groups while having fun.

“It is much better than them hanging around in the park or on the streets and parents love it.”

The council-funded holiday club is open to pupils from all schools who are aged 10 to 16 years.

Among the young people taking part were 16-year-olds Makiya Davis-Bramble, Beverely Madlin, Joyee Islam and Khadijah Malik, who have been painting a colourful mural on a corridor wall in the school's science department.

Makiya said: “We wanted to brighten up Miss Morriss's (science teacher) wall.

“Our painting shows the different things taught at Tom Hood.”