PUPILS at a Tadley school have been rewarded for penning impressive and effective anti-bullying songs.

Schoolchildren in Hampshire were invited to enter the competition for 10 to 16-year-olds, and the winners were announced at an anti-bullying conference in Winchester, organised by Hampshire County Council’s Anti-Bullying Good Practice Group.

Pupils from Tadley Community Primary School were announced as one of the winners at the conference, which aimed to inspire young people and staff, and to help them address incidents of bullying through the use of good role models.

Teachers and pupils from 27 schools in the county attended the event. Ten winning songs were selected, three of which were written by Tadley Primary School pupils, and those responsible for the entries were presented with certificates and book tokens by Hampshire Constabulary Chief Inspector Julie Fry MBE.

The songs were chosen for their powerful, original and meaningful lyrics about the negative effects of bullying and the positive means to tackle bullies.

Missy-Mae Sheerin, nine, who helped to write one of the winning songs, said: “We put it together and made a tune and thought about anti-bullying.”

Clare Yockney, music co-ordinator at the school, delivered a song-writing workshop for the whole school, before the best tunes were put forward in the contest.

She said: “It really got them thinking about what the key messages are and how to communicate these to their peers. They performed them in assembly.”

Miss Yockney accompanied nine-year-old Ethan Nash to the conference, where he collected certificates and book tokens on behalf of his school. She said: “We are very proud of them.”

Councillor Peter Edgar, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for education, said: “Young people need to know how to cope with all forms of bullying, and how to promote tolerance and understanding of difference in the school and the wider community so we can all beat bullying together.

“It is no surprise to me that we have some exceptionally talented young people in Hampshire. The songs performed at the anti-bullying conference differed in musical interpretation, but they each had one thing in common in that they brilliantly sent out the message that bullying should not, and will not, be tolerated.

“Communicating means to tackle bullying through music is an inspiration, and the young songwriters deserve to be congratulated.”