Five pupils at Portishead Primary School pocketed a prestigious prize at the Bristol Together Championships.

The annual football event, run by Community of Purpose, brings together Year 5 children from Bristol schools in areas diverse in ethnicity, race, class, faith and geography with the aim of connecting and building friendships across perceived divides.

The Portishead quintet were paired with five students from Bannerman Road Academy in Easton and together they formed an immediate bond. After four separate training sessions together, alternating between the two schools’ grounds, the newly formed team travelled to The University of West England to compete in the finals.

There, the self-named ‘Bannerhead Sharks’ enjoyed 6 hard-fought matches, winning 1 of those and drawing another. Even though they weren’t able to win the overall championships, the Sharks were recognised for their team spirit and named the 2024 Team of the Tournament - collecting the Ubuntu award, an African saying meaning humanity to others.

Speaking about their own experiences and how the event has benefited them, one of the Portishead pupils stated: “It was really fun. I’m a massive football fan so it was great to just play football so much. It was really interesting to go to a different school and I think it was quite easy to get along with the other children as I like socialising with others. It’s made me more confident and I would definitely recommend this to other people.”

Another pupil added: “The best bit was getting to know new people and obviously playing lots of football.”

Ky Capel, a teacher at Portishead Primary, commented: “We are extremely proud of our pupils. They represented our school tremendously, displaying all the characteristics we aim to promote at Portishead Primary. They showed courage, teamwork, respect and kindness, and fully deserved their award.

“Many thanks to Jess Angle from Community of Purpose who organised this fantastic event and played a huge part in our team’s success. We’d also like to thank the children and staff at Bannerman Road for being so welcoming and putting so much effort into building a rapport with our own pupils.”