Mary Hare School runner-up for scarecrow in special schools competition

A SERIES of awards were presented to teams from three West Berkshire special schools recently as they went head to head in the annual Agricultural Challenge.

Run by the Newbury and District Agricultural Society, the Agricultural Challenge aims to celebrate all that is great about farming and living in a rural community, and the teams from Mary Hare Primary School, Newbury, Prior’s Court School, Hermitage, The Castle School, Donnington, and Addington School, Reading, competed in five categories in the annual event.

Overall winners were Addington School pupils who were praised for their hard work and unusual ideas, with Mary Hare Primary School close behind in second place and The Castle School’s Bamburgh Class in third place.

Awards were also presented in each of the challenge’s five categories.

Taking home three awards was The Castle School, for best country scene collage, tastiest muffins containing fruit and vegetables, and evidence of animal husbandry.

Mary Hare Primary School won awards for the best scarecrow made of recyclable materials and most successful growing of a herb plant, and Prior’s Court School, Hermitage, won best country craft task.

All pupils received a certificate for participating, along with a £100 contribution towards the school’s costs for attending, while there were additional prizes of £100 for first place, £75 for second and £50 for third.

Mary Hare Primary School headteacher Pam Robinson said: “Everyone at school got involved with the Agricultural Challenge and we held a celebration assembly to show our parents what the children had achieved.

“The children really enjoyed their projects and working together as a team.

“The children decided to make a deaf scarecrow called Harry and fitted him with a hearing aid and cochlear implant so he was just like them.

“We thought it was a great way to mark national Deafness Awareness Week.”

For more schools news this week, see pages 20 and 21.