KINGSBURY Green Academy schoolgirl Steph Jones from Calne has secured success at the world's biggest dogs show.

The Year 11 pupil had little time for last minute revision for her mock GCSEs last week – she was busy securing third place with dog Poppy in an agility event at Crufts at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Steph, 15, whose Labrador crossbreed reached the finals of the 2020 Young Kennel Club agility dog of the year competition, began training Poppy four years ago.

Steph said: “I wanted a hobby that included Poppy, and someone at mum’s work had experience of dogs and agility, so I started training with her.

“She explained that I’d need to start with foundation work, getting Poppy to pay attention to me and to be obedient, which took about a year, and then we moved on to the agility tasks themselves.”

Poppy, whose name on the agility register of the Kennel Club is Pop Stayley, gradually learned to jump over obstacles and touch the bottom of them, weave in and out of poles in a particular order, one shoulder facing a specific direction, run through tunnels, walk up and down a seesaw, and perform tasks both close to Steph and further away.

Steph and Poppy attended qualifiers around the country and eventually reached the semi-finals at Crufts last Thursday.

“I was nervous, but when I started training four years ago I watched Crufts and I thought ‘I could do that’ and that became my end goal. What I really wanted was to get through to the final, so that we would be in the main arena. We got up on Thursday at 5.30am to get to Crufts, and Poppy came second in both runs before the final, so I was really excited.

"In a way, when we were in the main arena, I was less nervous than in the semi-final, because I’d achieved what I set out to do. When we came third, it was amazing – all that hard work had paid off.”

Mum Kathryn said she found the day equally nerve wracking.

“I was so proud of her, she worked so hard on this over the years, and I wanted her to enjoy the experience.

"I knew her main goal was to get to the main arena, and when she achieved that I could relax a bit. It was an incredibly long day for her, and she was back at school the next morning doing her Citizenship and French mock GCSEs, so she’s had quite a week.”

Steph is keeping her future career options open, but would like to work with dogs.

“I’ve got a wide spread of interests, so I might do something science-related or drama related,” said Steph, “but it would be amazing if I could do something related to dogs too.”

Kingsbury Green Academy principal Jason Tudor said the school is delighted at Steph’s success.

“Steph has set herself a tough goal and then worked extremely hard to achieve it.

“As a school we have created a culture of aspiration and confidence, and we aim to give every student the tools to achieve their own personal goals.

"Steph’s success is a superb example of how young people can set themselves challenges that may seem huge, but with determination and hard work they can achieve great things.”