A Sandbach teacher has established an awards scheme to celebrate the kindness of schoolchildren across the country.

The Be Kind Awards have been founded by Sandbach High School teacher Sarah Gregory to recognise acts of kindness carried out by children.

The heart-warming initiative struck a chord with Crewe-based Mornflake, which agreed to sponsor the awards.

Sarah, head of year 9 at the girls school, said: "I knew there had been so many acts of kindness carried out by our pupils and I knew there was a lot more hope and kindness being shown by children across the country that wasn't mentioned in the media.

"I wanted to promote and celebrate this to make the pupils feel uplifted and proud of themselves and give them something positive to focus on."

When the mother-of-two from Nantwich was unable to find a national award scheme, she set up one herself.

She added: "The awards will recognise young people not just for their academic achievements in school, but also for the way they treat others and show acts of kindness.

"Mornflake are our first sponsor. We emailed them and they very quickly replied with a very supportive and heartfelt response saying they would love to sponsor us.

"This was so exciting, as Mornflake are a local company who have shown, through previous sponsorships, they care about the community.

"We can't be more thankful to them for helping to make our dream a reality."

Mornflake, which makes oat products for a global market, has a tradition of supporting community projects. The food producer sent rescue pallets of porridge to NHS frontline staff, food banks and vulnerable people at the start of the pandemic.

Managing director John Lea said: "We are delighted to sponsor the Be Kind Awards.

"This has been a hard year for so many and if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is to be kind to one another.

"We were impressed by this excellent initiative to spread goodwill and kindness from a young age."

Nominations for the Mornflake-sponsored Be Kind Awards will run from June to December with a ceremony planned for March next year.

There are categories for School of Kindness, Star Pupil, Community Stars, Community Hero and Kindness at Home.

For more information on the awards and how to support them go here.