CROSSGATES Primary School has been awarded a prestigious national honour by sportscotland.

The school has been recognised for innovation and achievement in delivering physical education and extra-curricular sport to young people in the school community.

The sportscotland Gold School Sport Award was presented to staff and pupils at the school last midweek by Andrew Watson from sportscotland. The pupils celebrated their achievements in sports at Crossgates with special invited guests who have supported staff and pupils to achieve the award.

They were congratulated on their achievement by MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Claire Baker and local councillor Darren Watt.

The sportscotland School Sport Award is a national, Lottery funded initiative designed to encourage schools to continuously evaluate and improve PE and school sport opportunities.

The sportscotland School Sport Award inspires schools to self-reflect, improve and put young people at the forefront of decision making. It also supports schools to increase young people’s opportunities and engagement in PE & school sport, putting PE & sport at the heart of planning, practice and ethos.

In order to achieve Gold status schools must show excellent practice across eight core areas. Schools submit evidence for each area and an independent panel of experts carry out an extensive assessment before awarding Gold status.

Jemma Thomas, Principal Teacher at Crossgates, said: "We are delighted that we have been awarded a sportscotland Gold School Sport Award. "We are one of only a handful of schools in Fife to be awarded Gold and that is testament to the hard work of our pupils and staff.

"Our whole school community have worked incredibly hard to ensure that our pupils have the best possible learning experiences and opportunities to participate in sport at all levels.”