A COMMUNITY festival has been shortlisted for a national prize.

The friends of Grove Infant School, Portland, have been selected for their work with the Big Grove Summer Festival.

The community group is one of 18 finalists in the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations Gold Star rewards scheme.

Governors past and present will travel to London for the awards evening on June 23.

The Gold Star awards recognise achievement in four main areas – achievement in parental involvement, changing the life of the school, PTA fundraising achievement and community work.

The Big Grove Summer Festival is shortlisted in the community work section, which has four entries.

With two winners from each section, the Portland group has a 50 per cent chance of winning the £1,000 prize.

Headteacher at Grove Infant School Jane Hurdiss said: “It’s very exciting, we have got a very good chance of winning £1,000, which would be split between the festival and PTA.

“It’s great because the festival has grown from a little village fete to a community festival.

“It’s a lovely family event so we thought we would go for this prize.

“The Festival Committee will have to talk to the judges about the festival and how it has grown, how it’s benefited Portland and taken the school to the heart of the community.”

She added: “It’s putting Portland on the map, because the Olympics are coming and we are aiming to build up to a big celebration in 2012.”

Grove Infant School has worked with organisers of the Portland Young Offender Institution (YOI) for the past three years to create the Big Grove Summer Festival.

The YOI had run the Borstal Bash for many years previously and now organisers are lending their experience to the summer festival.

Mrs Hurdiss said: “The YOI team builds the stages for the event, pays for the scaffolding and builds all of the covers for the trade stands.”

This year’s event will take place on Saturday, July 10, from noon to midnight in the YOI stadium, Grove Road, Portland.

Visit www.grovefestival.co.uk