PUPILS from a village school in between Oswestry and Welshpool have retuned triumphant after winning a national reading competition recently.

Year 6 pupils from Llandysilio Church in Wales School, Four Crosses, picked up the victory at BookSlam, a national reading competition held in Aberystwyth.

The competition is based on reading English-language books, and five youngsters from Llandysilio – Jude, Theo, Scott, Ruby, Penny and Ffion – came together to secure victory.

Headteacher Amanda Williams said the group, picking up a win for the first time in the school's history, had made them all proud.

"this is the first time the school has entered the competition and we are so proud that our pupils represented the county in the national finals and won," she said.

"The feedback from the judges was fantastic.

"Huge congratulations to the Bookslam group on their amazing achievement."

Together the book club read two books last term in class guided reading sessions with the teacher and at home independently, with chapters being followed up and discussed in class the next week.

The books chosen were The Black Pit of Tonypandy, which four of them discussed in detail with the judges, and Where the Wilderness Lives, which all six created a persuasive advert on.

Their teacher, Sian Rogers, praised the pupils for working as a team to plan, develop, record and edit the advert.

Feedback received from the judges stated the advert put together by the pupils was of an incredibly high standard.

They said: "Well, what a wonderful video.

This is a proper advert, beautifully acted and put together – it wouldn't be out of place as a TV trailer for a Famous Five adventure.

"The enthusiasm for the book was infectious, as were the smiles."