SPLENDIFEROUS students are celebrating their success after winning a Roald Dahl inspired literacy competition.
Year 5 pupils at Springfield Academy, Darlington, are in line for a peach of a day after being named regional winners of the Vision for Education’s Magnificent Roald Dahl writing contest.
The grand prize for the 31 students, who each submitted a poem inspired by the much loved children’s author, is a themed costume party complete with music, games and activities, where students and staff will dress as one of the many fizzwiggling fictional fantasy figures from the world of Dahl.
Assistant head teacher and head of English Lynne Simpson, who will transform herself into the grand high witch for the party, said: “I couldn’t stop smiling when I got the news that the whole of Year 5 had won first prize.
“The competition rules stated that only one entry per pupil could be submitted so when the judges said that the standard of writing from the whole class was so good that they couldn’t pick just one winner I was so proud.
“This is the first writing competition that we have entered so to take first place against all of the other schools in the whole of the North East is an absolutely incredible achievement.”
The contest, held in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roald Dahl, set students the task of producing a piece of swashbobbling squibble in the form of a book review, short story, poem or biography of the author.
Entries were judged on handwriting, inventive use of language, punctuation, grammar and creativity.
Student Rebecca Austen, nine, of Darlington, who wrote a phizz-whizzing poem about the BFG said: “We have been studying Roald Dahl’s work and reading The Witches as our class book.
“I really enjoyed writing the poem for the competition and I was really happy when we all won – Mrs Simpson was especially pleased with us all.
“I’m really looking forward to the party and even though my favourite Roald Dahl book is Skin and other Stories I think I’ll be dressing as Matilda.”