THE Ridge Junior School won a gold medal and three silver medals at the British Schools’ Acrobatic Gymnastics Finals in Stoke-on-Trent. The team had been training hard for this event having qualified at the recent South West championships and supplied medal winners in all four categories.

Emily Brown, 11, and Tom Conradi, 11, performed a controlled and beautiful routine which earned them silver medals.

Next to compete were the . Conradi was joined by his partner Ryan Martin, 9, in the Boys Pair category.

Their confident and well performed routine earned them the top spot on the podium.

This was Martin’s first year of competition but he managed to hold his nerve throughout and breathed a huge sigh of relief when their fantastic score was held up by the judges.

The final performance in the pairs section was the Girl’s Pair of Lucy Durham, 11, and Brown.

They performed brilliantly and truly deserved their silver medal position.

In the group section, The Ridge competed against 12 teams from other regions of Great Britain.

The girls lit up the arena with a routine performed with precision and charm, but they were pipped to the gold medal by the smallest of margins – just one tenth of a mark.

This put The Ridge team into silver medal position.

The girls in the group were Brown, Durham, Lauren Hodge, 11, Anna Campbell, 9, Libby Smith-Robinson, 9, and Ellise King, 8.

Mrs Jane Mewse, who teaches at the school and coaches the girls, commended the gymnasts in the The Ridge team for their hard work and dedication.

She said: “They were a credit to the school and a delightful little bunch to coach.”