A PRIMARY school in Caerphilly teamed up with the star of one of this year's most popular Christmas adverts to spread some festive joy.

Chris Dunkley - also known as Nick the Sweep from the Sainsbury’s Christmas advert - along with his mum Jenny visited Markham Primary School and joined year four pupils in a visit to Hill View Care Home in Aberbargoed.

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The pupils wrote letters to local businesses to ask for donations and delivered six Christmas hampers to the residents when they went to perform carols.

All of the events of last Friday were part of the school's annual topical work around the true meaning of Christmas.

The discussion for the year four group for this year was Christmas adverts, and they compared the differences and similarities of the Sainsbury's and Very festive adverts.

After deputy head Dave Thomas tweeted about the work the class were doing, Mrs Dunkley asked if she and her son could visit the school and accompany the children to do the carols.

Mr Thomas said: "The most important gift we can give at Christmas is kindness.

"It has been a pleasure to see all the pupils in year four not only gain an understanding of the true meaning of Christmas, but really be a force for good as they used this understanding to give back to the community."

Addressing the children, he added: "You have all worked so hard, and should be very proud of yourselves.

“I would like to thank Chris and his mother, Jenny, for coming along with us today. As a school we try our best to communicate with parents through social media. All of this happened as a consequence of a single tweet. Thank you both for reaching out to us and providing our pupils with great school memories.”

Deputy mayor of Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cllr. Carol Andrews - who attended the care home with the pupils, headteacher Lindsey Pritchard, Mr Thomas and the Dunkleys - said: "I had a great time visiting Hill View Care Home where I had the chance to listen to the beautiful carols sang by the children from Markham Primary School and seeing the hampers they donated.

"It is wonderful to see so many young people offering support to others in their community. You should all be very proud of yourselves."