Chance to Shine school Oak Tree Primary School from Mansfield have won the national ASDA Kwik Cricket Girls Competition. The girls were victorious in the national final which was held at Leicestershire's Grace Road ground earlier this week (16 July).

Around 12,000 schools from around the United Kingdom entered the competition and Oak Tree were triumphant after beating Shawlands Primary School from Yorkshire in the semi-final and defeating a school from South Wales in the Final.

Oak Tree Primary School in Nottinghamshire has been involved in Chance to Shine right from its launch in 2005. In that time the school has successful ingrained a massively successful cricketing culture with success on the pitch and in the classroom as a result.

Speaking about the day, Head of PE Paul Gash, said "What a great advert for a Chance to Shine school, we are national champions. What a day, what a year, what a performance, what a bunch of girls! Six tournaments played, six won, undefeated all year. For a school like ours to win this competition is amazing, it's like Mansfield winning the Premier League, it shows what can be done with effort hard work and belief."

Paul also spoke passionately about the Chance to Shine scheme, saying,"It (Chance to Shine) was the turning point of our school's life - 2005 was the turning point in our school's life. The school before 2005 was not the best to work at but now it is an outstanding school to work at. The confidence the children, to channel them into something worthwhile and to see the success we've had and to see their faces when they're winning things. I'd recommend any school to go for it.