Hundreds of children across Powys will be wearing their favourite festive jumpers today (Friday) for a special cause.

Christmas Jumper Day is a charity event by Save the Children to help their work in more than 100 countries to make sure children stay safe, healthy and keep learning.

Excited pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School in Newtown are gearing up to wear their silliest and jazziest jumpers in the lead-up to Christmas.

Cornelia, Amelia, Tallulah and Harvey have been finding ways of getting the whole school involved. They have been helping to collect spare Christmas jumpers so that pupils don't feel left out, and they are happy with the dozens of donated jumpers from their friends.

Tallulah, nine, said: “Instead of buying new ones we can re-use them and bring into school for someone else to wear them on Christmas jumper."

Harvey, also nine, added: "It's important that people don't feel left out because some people don't have as much as we do".

A report by the Children's Commissioner for Wales found that special events such as Christmas Jumper Day can be a "pinch point" for families living on a low income, risking children experiencing stigma.

Headteacher Sarah Ruggeri said: "We were very concerned to find out that Christmas Jumper Day is responsible for the biggest absenteeism in schools, so we wanted to make sure all of our children could take part."