ST HELEN'S Catholic Primary School have presented one of their young pupils with a cheque for nearly £2,000, to help give her the trip of a lifetime to Florida once her cancer treatment is complete.

Ellie-May Haggard was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma - a particularly rare form of bladder cancer - eight months ago, but she has since responded well to treatment and her family hope that five-year-old Ellie will be declared cancer-free in the near future.

Having become aware of Ellie's diagnosis late last year, staff at St Helen's Primary set about thinking of different ways to try to support their young pupil in her fight against the disease.

Amidst the challenges, stress and concern surrounding her treatment, the school thought it would be fitting to help give Ellie something to enjoy - a trip to Disneyland, Florida.

"We knew there was a possibility that Ellie may be going to the United States for her treatment, so when we found out that she was going to be treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital we still wanted her to be able to have her trip to America," said head teacher, Kathy Giernalczyk.

"We thought of different activities that we could do for Ellie to raise money, and because she had received her treatment on Rainbow Ward, we decided to hold a rainbow day."

Mrs Giernalczyk said that one of the challenges of the day was thinking of different ways to raise money for children of a variety of ages, but that the children all played their part in making the event a huge success.

She also wanted to pay tribute to the work done by parents and the wider school community, who contributed their time and efforts on behalf of Ellie-May.

"The support we had from the whole school community was outstanding," she said.

"The parents were excellent. They baked cakes, we had face-painting, we had 'guess the number of sweets in the jar'. Everybody throughout the whole school was involved.

"One of our year six pupils brought in their whole money box to donate for non-uniform day - over £30. We were so proud of everybody who was involved."

Having raised nearly £2,000 in a single day from the event (the figure has since exceeded £2,000), Mrs Giernalczyk was understandably proud of the school for both their fundraising efforts and the consideration and support they have shown Ellie-May since her diagnosis.

"The children in her class and throughout the school have been so caring towards Ellie," she said.

"We had a little assembly to tell the children that she had been in hospital and that she needed our thoughts and our prayers. They've all been excellent.

"It's just been a wonderful achievement for the whole school."

A fundraiser for Ellie-May is taking place this weekend at Barry Leisure Centre between 2.15pm and 4.15pm on Saturday. All money raised will go towards Ellie-May's trip to Florida.

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jordan-harrison.