The work of talented Perthshire schoolchildren could soon be seen by millions of soap opera viewers.
Posters designed by local children could be used in backdrop for a forthcoming storyline in the London-based soap EastEnders.
The posters were produced as part of a child protection campaign run by Perth and Kinross Council, and it is thought a researcher for the soap spotted the images on the council’s website and was so struck by them, contact was made for permission to feature them.
The council’s education and children’s services executive director, John Fyffe, said: ”We are delighted that the creativity of local young people and the vital child protection work we do has been recognised on a national level like this.”
A spokesman for the show said it will be next year before scenes featuring the posters are aired. The series of five posters feature such slogans such as ‘Be my hero by protecting me from drink and drugs’, ‘It’s everyone’s job to make sure I’m not getting bullied on the computer’ and ‘Children have rights’.
After being selected by a judging panel, the posters have been prominently displayed in council offices and public areas of the other organisations that make up the local Child Protection Committee, such as Tayside Police, NHS Tayside, the Procurator Fiscal’s office, the Children’s Reporter and voluntary organisations.
They also appear on council vehicles and on local buses to circulate the message as widely as possible.
The national prominence of the campaign comes as the council celebrates a Care Inspectorate report glowing in its praise of the authority’s child protection measures.
It included an unprecedented three ”excellent” grades and drew praise from the Scottish Government.