Creative writers at Park Gate Primary School planted a Royal Oak to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Millie Ellis, Aliyah Bhuiyan and Ruby Gilgallon plant the royal oak tree
Children at the school in Northmore Road wrote catchy poems and painted beautiful drawings of an oak tree with the theme of the Queen’s 60 years on the throne.
The competition was open to all pupils, with children in Year R and Key Stage 1 creating a piece of artwork based on an oak tree for the competition, while children in Key Stage 2 wrote 60 words for 60 years – based on the competition on the Woodlands Trust website.
Millie Ellis, nine and Aliyah Bhuiyan, 10, took part in the literary part of the competition and Ruby Gilgallon, five, painted a lovely oak tree to each be crowned the winners of the contest out of the 25 who entered.
Millie was delighted her poem meant she could help plant the Royal tree.
She said: “I did the 60 words for 60 years and felt quite relieved because I didn’t think I’d be able to plant the tree. I feel very proud as well. I was really, really happy to win.”
She said she planned to celebrate the jubilee with friends and family at a street party, and added: “The Queen is a very important person and there is quite a lot to celebrate about her.”
Every school in Hampshire has received an oak tree sapling, grown from an acorn collected on the Royal estates.
All the children who entered the Park Gate competition received a certificate and watched the planting.
The school will unveil a plaque for the Royal Oak at a celebratory Jubilee Garden Party on May 31.
Head teacher Rebecca Kingsland said: “The competition has been for the children to recognise that the acorns have been collected from the Royal gardens of the palaces and that the tree is going to be there for 60 years to grow as a significance of the Queen’s reign.”