STAFF at Upavon Primary School and their pupils are celebrating the receipt of an Artsmark gold award.

The award from the Arts Council of England was in recognition of the excellence in art, music, drama and dance.

Headteacher Beverly Martin is delighted with the award received just a few weeks before the end of term when she will be leaving.

The award was seen as a huge achievement for the school especially as in an Ofsted inspection in March 2003 one of the areas for development was the arts.

The school had to submit a lengthy and detailed file of its arts, music, drama and dance activities with photographs of the arts area together with details of musical instruments the school possesses.

An Artsmark representative visited the school and met staff and children to talk about the subjects in detail.

Now the waiting and worrying has paid off and the school has heard it has won the gold, the highest possible award.

A teacher and two pupils will be going to the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon on July 15 to a presentation ceremony when they will officially receive the award.