Child protection has not only been under the media spotlight, it has also preoccupied the minds of students who designed a poster and reached the finals of a national competition.

Tomorrow (Thursday) youngsters from Harefield Academy, in Northwood Way, will find out who has won the poster design contest organised by the European Commission and Kidscape, a regis-tered UK charity committed to keeping children safe from harm or abuse.

The competition was open to all schools and youth groups and there were more than 100 entries in their category (15-18-year-olds). They know they will be in the top three, but their exact position will only be revealed tomorrow.

Teacher Louise Dunton, who is no stranger to competition success - she was in a national final last month after becoming Special Needs Teacher of the Year for

London, said: "We had a big discussion about child protection which was the theme for the posters.

"We talked about bullying, and the Victoria Climbie case and they all said she should have been better protected.

"We've since discussed Baby P and they have been shocked and cannot understand how anyone could do that to such a young child."

The poster they have designed has bars across children's faces, and though they are hemmed in by tags which say things like abuse, cruelty and hunger, the words, 'let me escape', appeal to society to take action to prevent such cruelty.

The students are thrilled their poster might help raise awareness and if they win at the Tate Modern tomorrow they will go on to Brussels in December to represent the UK in a Europe-wide contest.

Mrs Dunton, who works in an inclusion unit at the academy with pupils who need support out of class for a variety of reasons, would like to see them succeed, but said: "I am just proud they have got this far. It's a real achievement." Harefield Academy pupils Billy Newman, 15 and Ben Sutton, 16. Front row is Fred Smith, 15 and Billy James, 14.