Across Leicester, children at OAK schools have been stretching their grey matter once again to create yet another amazing collection of stories for this year’s OAK 500 Words Competition.

On Friday 5th July, staff celebrated the standout writers and the publication of this year’s 500 Words Competition short story book!

Stories inside include a fantasy adventure involving a powerful meteorite, a brother and sister story playing with the fabric of time, and an investigation into some very strange magical creatures, among much, much more. 

This year, the book also includes some really impressive artwork from our pupils throughout the pages.

After the incredibly difficult process of selecting from an amazingly deep pool of fantastic entries, our board of staff reviewers selected a gold, silver, and bronze winner, plus five commended for each of two year groups, Year 2 and Year 6.

This year’s trophy winners were:

Year 2

• Bronze: Khush Joshi, Brookside Primary School, Year 2

• Silver: Anaya Badiani, Woodland Grange Primary School, Year 2

• Gold: Clara Miodrag, Overdale Infant School, Year 2

Year 6

• Bronze: Tilly Brett, Overdale Junior School

• Silver: Prasaea Athwal, Overdale Junior

• Gold: Tehya Soni, Woodland Grange Primary School

Every commended pupil is included in the book, which has been specially designed for the event by a local graphic designer. This book, which is shared through all our schools and with the winners, is 100% written by our pupils and is a fantastic achievement, and gives our pupils something to be proud of long into their futures.

The winners and commended pupils also receive book vouchers for Kibworth books in Leicester, so that they can keep reading and develop their creative muscles even further.

Initiatives like the 500 Words Competition are so rewarding for everyone: staff getting to see the results of their teaching, parents celebrating their children’s achievements, and most of all, pupils getting to develop and showcase their talents.

We can’t wait to go again next year, and we’re excited to share that we have even more ambitious plans for shining a light on our pupils' wide range of talents that we look forward to sharing!