A GROUP of students from a Penarth special school are hoping to rocket to the top of the charts with their Christmas single.

The Rocketeers, a band consisting of six pupils from Ashgrove School, have written, performed and recorded their song "It's Christmas Time" with the help of staff members Dan Willmore and Darren Fellows.

The band was put together through the School of Rock project involving pupils and staff from across Ashgrove, Erw Y Delyn and Maes Dyfan in Barry, schools that work with children with learning difficulties, autism, Downs Syndrome and physical and mental disabilities.

The finished song is available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify and has been uploaded to Youtube.

It's Christmas Time was based on a riff written by guitarist Ryan Higgs and then built on by singer Jamie Cabral, guitarist Jake Owens, drummer Sam Chick, bassist Isobel Goold-Jones and trumpet player Gemma Cooper.

Frontman Jamie, 16, said: "I'm really happy with the song. We put in a lot of effort and I hope that we can become very famous one day.

"It would be amazing if it could get into the charts."

For Dan Willmore, getting the song into the top 40 would be a bonus on top of what started as a way to teach the pupils about music.

"It's just been about having fun," he said. "We would start off just getting the guys in a room and making loads of noise."

Speaking about the finished single he said: "I couldn't be more proud. Now we really need people to get behind it."

The finishing touches to the song were made with singing and percussion from Erw Y Delyn students and a choir from Maes Dyfan school, Barry.

It’s Christmas Time by The Rocketeers is available on iTunes now and you can listen to the song on Youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=vujdoBrVrfU

Any money raised from sales will be used to support music at the new Ysgol Y Deri school.