Occold Primary School celebrates double award win

Occold Primary School is celebrating after pupils won two prestigious awards for English within a week.

The Street school not only won a Reading for Pleasure award after being nominated by children’s author Pippa Goodhart, but pupils also won accolades including one for best in county in the Poetry by Heart competition.

Emily Rowe, head of school, said the school was ‘chuffed’ after receiving the great news in the first week back after half-term.

She said: “It is well deserved by the pupils, who like to enter lots of different competitions and do lots of extra curricular activities – we are very proud.”

The Reading for Pleasure award came after Pippa visited the school’s annual book festival, which is run by Year 5 and 6 Students.

Emily said: “Pippa came for the morning, working with all the school’s classes and talking about how she got into writing.

“After her visit she emailed to thank us and told us she had nominated us, which was amazing, and now we have won it, it is just incredible.”

The Poetry by Heart national competition is run by the individual schools with their winners being videoed giving their performances to an audience, of a pre and a post 1914 poem, and that being sent for national judging.

Pupil Alina Voloshina-Suggate won the Best in County award with Gabriel Westmancott received a Highly Commended and Trixie Harris and Year 6 pupil Esther both being awarded Commended in the competition.

Emily said: “We were really impressed with these students and all who took part and to be given these awards on a national stage is great.

“I am really proud of the school for getting national recognition in both these competitions.

“We, as a school, work really hard to build a positive reading culture here that hopefully will see our children take on into their futures and make them passionate life-long readers.”