We’ve got the Spanish X Factor!

TEACHER Clare Higgins with the winning pupils.

WHO needs Simon Cowell when we’ve got our very own “X Factor” winners right here on our doorstep.

Twenty-nine 10 and 11-year-olds from Shaw proved they’ve got what it takes to be stars when they were unanimously voted top in a video-linked schools competition.

The youngsters from Year 6 at St Mary’s C of E Primary School took to the small screens with their rendition of “La Bamba” — in Spanish — and walked off with the trophy, beating contestants from 15 other Oldham primary schools.

Language teacher Clare Higgins said: “It was great to win so resoundingly. The children were really chuffed. I think it was our dance that clinched it!”

The competition, hosted by Holy Trinity C of E Primary in Dobcross — which provided a panel of judges just like its ITV namesake — was a singing competition with a difference: all the entries had to be in a foreign language.

Clare, who has worked at St Mary’s for three years, has been teaching Year 6 Spanish since September, and readily admits she’s not much more than a novice herself. “All primary schools must offer a foreign language by 2010, we’ve been teaching Spanish since September.

“I spent a half term break this year in Spain on a training course, working with a Spanish primary school for one week and then another week in university there learning song and dance.”

OUR picture shows teacher Clare Higgins with the winning pupils.