A BARRY primary school has put itself on the map by being the first school in Wales to gain and renew its geography honour.

Barry Island primary pupils and staff originally staked their claim to the top by by-passing the bronze and silver levels – on head teacher Ty Golding’s premise that an athlete like Usain Bolt doesn’t have to race for each colour medal before being allowed to compete for gold.

And having won first time in 2009 the school has now taken delivery of the Primary Geography Quality Mark - Gold Award.

Gold award schools lead the way in providing excellent and innovative geography.

Geography coordinator and year 4 class teacher, Paul Smith said: “We were the first school in Wales to receive the award in 2009 and the 2013.

“The renewal of our Gold Award reflects the hard work and continued progress across the school to evidence not just what has been achieved but to show how it has impacted where it matters - on pupils’ learning, understanding and enjoyment of the subject.

“The school is dedicated to ensuring policies impact on pupil learning, and is not afraid to take risks, and innovate and challenge to achieve progress in geography. We have focused hard on key threads through the curriculum such as inter-cultural understanding, local fieldwork, environmental issues and dilemmas connected with sustainability. These are explored in a variety of places across the world from local to global. The school uses creative approaches to stimulate learning and places a high value on using real life issues to promote understanding.”

He added: “We are delighted to receive recognition as sector leaders in the delivery geography through the curriculum and we will continue to recognise that geography not only fascinates and inspires young people, but also that it provides them with the knowledge and understanding they need to live in the modern world.”