Schoolchildren in Ashby now have more time to take part in the Raring2go! Letterwriting Competition, as the deadline has been extended until May 4.

The competition invites children in the local area to write about their lives during lockdown, in the hope of brightening the days of local care home residents.

Open to all Primary and Junior-age children, the letters will be sent to care home residents to read and will then be displayed in a unique community exhibition at The Brewhouse Arts Centre in Burton.

The winning letter will receive £200-worth of books for their school courtesy of H&H Spalding Books in Barton-under-Needwood.

The winning school will also win a Raring2go! stationery bundle and two runners' up will win mini book bundles.

Five additional letters of merit will be selected by Raring2go! magazine - which is distributed free of charge primarily via primary schools - and will win a family pass each to either a live or streamed show hosted by The Brewhouse.

Alice Johnson, Editor, Raring2go! Burton & Ashby, said: "We have had more than 50 entries so far, from children ranging from four years old to 11, and they have been entertaining, poignant and well-written.

"With non-key worker children returning recently, we have extended the deadline to allow more time for children to craft their letters and take part in the unique exhibition."

The winning letter, along with the second and third-placed entries, will be published in the Summer edition of Raring2go! Magazine Burton & Ashby.

The maximum word count is 300 while the minimum is 40.

A selection of letters will also be displayed on the UK-wide Raring2go! online network, which reaches hundreds of thousands of families every month, from Aberdeen to Bournemouth.

Entries should be emailed to Alice Johnson at [email protected] by the May 4 deadline - and can either be photos of hand-written letters or word documents.

Winners will be notified of their success before the Summer magazine is published in June.

Gemma Callaghan, Editor, Hoo's Writing Corner, who will be judging the competition, said: "At Hoo's Writing Corner, we believe that learning doesn't have to come from a class textbook and can be taught practically from a variety of different resources – that's why we created Hoo's Writing Corner.

"The benefits of creative writing include engaging the creative side of the brain to come up with differentm scenarios, problem-solving, spelling and sentence construction, imagination as well as expressing emotions."

Entries should be labelled with the child's name, age and school.

Children's names will not be published without prior parental consent. Raring2go! Burton & Ashby has also provided a downloadable PDF letter writing template, to help schools take part in the competition.

This can be downloaded HERE.

If you are a care home that is willing to receive letters for their residents, please get in touch with the competition organisers.