A PUPIL has rhymed her way to the top, securing publication for the second year running in the Terry Kelly Poetry Prize Anthology.

Six-year-old Alexandra Prideaux, a pupil at Yarm School, was shortlisted for the top prize with her poem I Love School and only narrowly missed out, despite her being the competition’s youngest entrant.

The Terry Kelly Poetry Prize celebrates the life of Terry Kelly, a respected journalist and writer. The prize, set up by his family, encourages young people across the North East to develop a love of poetry.

Several of Alex’s poems have previously been published. Swimming was featured in two anthologies last year and also features on the iRead educational software distributed to hundreds of schools around the UK and the EU by University College London.

She said: “I’m very happy to have had my work published, I feel very proud. I really love writing poetry and I get lots of encouragement from my teachers at Yarm School.”

Joanne Speight, pre-prep coordinator at Yarm School, said: “What a fantastic achievement – we’re incredibly proud of Alex and her poems."