DO money and happiness go hand in hand?

That is just one of the questions a group of students at Greendown Community School have been asking each other.

It's all part of the school's weekly Philosophy for Children session which encourages them to question the world around them.

And it is just one of the new approaches to learning that teachers are bringing into the classroom.

Philosophy for Children aims to encourage children to think critically, caringly, creatively and collaboratively.

It helps teachers to build a community of inquiry where pupils create and question their own opinions.

Yesterday at Greendown 20 pupils were given a picture of African children doing the family washing.

They had to think about what images the picture conjured up in their own mind before they worked in groups to come up with social questions about the photograph.

It only took the group a matter of minutes before they were asking each other why the western world has become obsessed with money and whether wealth actually can improve life.

Thirteen-year-old Dan Kent said: "Maybe you don't need a lot of money to be happy because the family in this picture are smiling and look happy and they are living in poverty."

Jessie Howard, 14, looked at the picture in another way.

She said: "I was thinking about our lives and what we have.

" These people have to go and collect their water and bring it home. So I was thinking what is the one thing in life that we actually need'?"

Later the group opened up the discussion which moved in different ways from talking about poverty and how that affects lives in Africa and capitalism in the west.

Daisy Leahy, 14, said: "Money has ruined people because once you have some you always want more and you become greedy and don't appreciate what you did have."

Throughout the session students had to listen carefully to each other as they came to an understanding of each other's opinions.

The initiative is part of Swindon's unique Gifted and Talented scheme.

For the first time in the town primary and secondary schools have joined forces to form an excellence cluster.

Geography teacher Jo Hargreaves is Greendown's Gifted and Talented co-ordinator.

"I'm trying to develop their higher order thinking," she said.

"The sessions set their imaginations free to develop their own views about issues."