Four swimmers from Abbey CE VA Primary School were crowned Hertfordshire Small Schools Freestyle champions.

Jemima Samols, Iorwen Ellis, Hannah Barker and Amandine Geurts came second in the Eastern Region small schools freestyle relay final, at the preliminary round of the English Schools’ Swimming Association Primary Team Championships in Watford on Friday.

At the event they competed against 20 other Hertfordshire small primary schools and teams from Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

The Abbey team also came third in the small schools mixed stroke relay final.

The girls will now have to wait until later in the year to find out if they qualify for a place at the ESSA National Finals in Sheffield in June.

Samols, Ellis and Geurts all swim regularly for City of St Albans Swimming Club while Barker swims for Harpenden.

Headteacher Emma Fenn said: “It’s a great honour for our school to win the Hertfordshire Small Schools Freestyle relay event.

“I am absolutely delighted for the girls, as they are all committed club swimmers and train up to five times a week.

“This is the third year we have entered the National Swimming Championships. Last year Jemima and Iorwen were part of our school team that represented the Eastern Region at the National Championships in Sheffield, and they reached the medley relay final. Hopefully this year’s team will also get the chance to compete at the National Final in June.”