A WREXHAM primary school held its own 'Awards for Excellence' ceremony.

Following St Mary's Catholic Primary School's invitation to attend Estyn’s awards for ‘Recognising Excellence in Education’ in Wales in October, the school held its own ‘Awards for Excellence’ ceremony on Thursday October 24 to celebrate as a whole school community.

Mrs Acton, headteacher, and other members of senior management represented the school at the Estyn event held in the Radison Blue Hotel in Cardiff.

Having received excellent judgements in ‘Standards’, ‘Leadership and Management’ and ‘Well-being and Attitudes to Learning’, St Mary’s was one of only two schools in Wrexham to have received such a prestigious invitation.

Headteacher, Mrs Rachel Acton said : “I was very keen for this wonderful moment to be shared by the whole school family so the senior managers and I decided to organise our own special awards ceremony following our visit to Cardiff.

"The teachers were asked to nominate their class for a particular ‘Award for Excellence’ and all staff and children were invited to wear their ‘best party clothing’ to mark this very special day.

"The school hall was beautifully decorated with balloons and bunting and there was even an ‘illuminated’ red carpet complete with silver rope barrier posts. Staff and children were not allowed to enter the hall before the ceremony so they were absolutely amazed at the sight of the wonderfully decorated hall and were wowed by the atmospheric ‘Oscar awards ceremony’ music playing in the background!”

Mrs Acton led the ceremony and representatives from each class walked down the red carpet to receive their ‘Award for Excellence’ on behalf of their class.

The whole school clapped and cheered for their friends and the class representatives waved proudly to the audience as they walked down the red carpet to accept their award. Following the awards ceremony, each class had a photograph on the red carpet and celebrated together in their very own ‘after show’ party.

Mrs Acton: “It was an absolutely wonderful day. The children and staff were full of excitement and it was a special way in which the hard work and dedication of all involved with the school could be celebrated together.”