The Community Department in partnership with Education Staffing Solutions had been running a writing competition for junior schools throughout the region, and with literally hundreds of entrants it was Deighton pupil Laura Huckbody who won the first prize of a signed Dragons jersey.
She was presented with her award on the pitch by ESS Branch Manager, Celine Gulliford and Dragons star Steffan Jones, and she was given a rousing cheer by her classmates who came down on the coach from Tredegar to see her collect her prize.
Alongside her was her proud mum and Mr Mike Gough the schools head teacher who had arranged the school outing in a record breaking time and brought 50 kids and parents to the match.
“The standard of the entries was extremely high, and there were loads of them!” said an overworked and more than usual grumpy Phil James our education officer.
Nevertheless he managed to make his way through them all and alongside Laura’s winning entry Brody Griffiths from Woodlands Community School in Cwmbran and Jack Taylor from Eveswell Primary in Newport were both singled out as excellent runners up and they and their teachers were also rewarded with tickets for the Treviso match.
Celine from ESS was also delighted with the number of different schools throughout the region taking part in the competition, “It is wonderful to see the success the teaching staff are having when you observe the standard of writing this competition has raised. We can be very proud in Gwent of the way in which writing is being taught” she smiled.
And so to prove the point Laura’s winning entry follows:-
Hello Mr Sage and Mr James (and of course the Dragons). My name is Laura Jasmine Huckbody from Deighton Primary School, Tredegar. Seven short months ago we came to visit you. We learnt a lot more about rugby and had a superb time (not forgetting when we saw Sam Parry!)
Personally I think our school is the best because; we don’t suffer from bullying, play a lot of sports and are inquisitively and well behaved. If we win the signed rugby jersey it will put our school on the map and also make our school known for sports. In addition our class would also get to come back to the best trip we have ever been on in our lives.
I hope you choose Deighton Primary School’s Year 6 to come and make you win your last match!
P.S- you know we won’t let you down. J
Finally, thank you to our community partner ESS, who many of you will know through their professional expertise at finding supply teachers even at short notice and who are very proactive in supporting our community activities.
