Staff at Deri View Primary School in Abergavenny are celebrating after being awarded a research grant.

After launching a pilot grant scheme last autumn, the school was received a £2,000 bursary from the Education Workforce Council to fund research in the classroom.

Education staff across invited to apply for the grants to support close to practise research to improve learning outcomes. ?

The school will use the money to explore the impact of philosophy lessons on the communication and thinking skills of pupils.

Teacher Sharon Phillips said, "The money allows us to free up time to implement weekly philosophy sessions in order to measure and improve their oracy skills. Philosophical enquiry encourages exploratory talk and discussion and encourages pupils to develop their opinion, questioning and explanations around subjects which are of interest to them.

"We are very keen to see whether introducing this method will help in closing the gap between the achievements of boys and girls and between children who are eligible for free school meals and those who aren’t.

"We will also be visiting other schools who already implement the scheme for good practice, including Willowtown Primary in Ebbw Vale.

"We look forward to seeing the impact on pupils’ confidence and wellbeing as they prepare for transition into secondary school."