Oakley Primary Academy celebrates competition win and a special visit from MP

Oakley Primary Academy is celebrating the success of Year 6 pupil Thea Neal, who emerged as the winner of Richard Fuller MP's Christmas Card Competition.

The Conservative MP for North-East Bedfordshire visited Oakley Primary Academy last week to celebrate Thea's achievement and before delivering her Christmas card personally to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street, who was amused by Thea's charming creation.

Thea's outstanding design was chosen from hundreds of entries and features a picture of a 'broken' snowman and highlights the hazards of casually discarding banana skins.

During his visit, Mr Fuller presented Thea with a certificate and multiple copies of her winning design. The school, which is part of The Meridian Trust, was buzzing with excitement as Mr Fuller met with the school council, who impressed him with their many achievements this term. The MP also addressed pupils at the whole-school assembly, where he spoke to an engaged hall, about democracy and his role as a local constituency MP.

Mr Fuller said: “It was my great pleasure to visit Oakley Primary Academy this morning and present Thea Neal with her certificate for winning my Christmas card competition as well as some printed cards and envelopes for her to send to her friends. Clearly, the school is thriving under headteacher Mr Brown, and I'm grateful to him and all the staff for making my visit so enjoyable.”

The school’s newly appointed headteacher, Callum Brown said: “We are all so happy for Thea. Her festive creation was a worthy winner of the competition. I’d like to thank Richard for coming to speak to the pupils. He spoke brilliantly about how he was elected as an MP and shared some fascinating insights about his role. The children found it really interesting and asked some great questions.”

The success of Thea's design reflects the creativity and talent within Oakley Primary Academy, while Mr Fuller's positive remarks highlight Oakley Primary Academy’s thriving environment under the leadership of new headteacher Callum Brown.

All students who participated in the competition will be recognised with a certificate next week.