A water company has given children 500 bottles of water to apologise for flooding their school.

Southern Water made the gesture after a tree root blocked a sewer pipe in the grounds of Leechpool Primary School in Horsham.

The flood in February closed the school for two days.

Southern Water staff worked through the night and most of the next day clearing up the mess.

The company's spokesman, Geoff Loader, said: "We felt donating the bottles would be a good way of saying sorry.

"Drinking water is the healthy option to fizzy or artificial fruit drinks.

"There's no better way to promote that message than to provide water bottles which children can readily refill at school, at no cost to themselves, direct from the tap."

A spokeswoman from the school said: "We were really grateful for the donation.

"We do our best to encourage all our students and staff members to drink water throughout the day."