MISS Priim will be missing from Dixons McMillan Academy for the next few weeks.

The head of PE at the Bradford School has gone off to Australia.

But Danika Priim has got a good excuse for taking the time off – she’s representing her country in the World Cup.

Priim is one of ten players from the dominant Bradford Bulls women’s team in the England squad who flew into the Southern Hemisphere yesterday.

Unlike their male counterparts, they are not full-time professionals and some in the group have had to take unpaid leave to fulfil their sporting dream.

“I’m a teacher so I’ve effectively had my holidays,” Priim told the T&A. “But my school have supported me really well by giving me the time off.

“That’s more than enough for me. I have quite a fair few holidays through the year anyway, so to get a few more weeks from them is brilliant.

“We’ve been quite lucky. We’ve got a couple of students in the team who need to get mitigation for their assignments, quite a few girls have taken holiday and some have got paid leave.

“I’m head of PE so the profile for the school in terms of sport probably helps. The department are great in picking up the pieces while I’m away.

“For me, it’s really awesome how excited the kids have been around school. One came up to me other day and said ‘I’m so proud of you, miss!’

“To have a 12-year-old say that to you is great. You feel a little bit like a role model for them.

“Now you can follow everything on social media, they all want to know how you’re doing.”

A “good luck” key ring from her year-nine students hung on Priim’s travel bag as the players jetted out. There is plenty for Bradford to be proud of.

After completing the domestic clean sweep of the Super League, Challenge Cup and Grand Final, interest within the city’s rugby community has grown in the women’s game.

The success of the female Bulls has been a welcome escape from the on-going struggles of the men.

The Top House pub across the road from Odsal, the traditional watering hole, put on several coaches for the Challenge Cup final.

“We knew nothing about it beforehand,” added Priim. “We had over 1,000 spectators and the majority of those were Bradford.

“It was really overwhelming to see them turning up in the shirts and having genuine supporters wanting to have pictures.

“It was great to bring that support to the women’s game just because we were Bradford Bulls.

“There was another good turn-out for the Grand Final and with all the coverage it’s really raised our profile. Hopefully that is the catalyst for other teams to do the same.”

Of course, nothing would catapult the women’s version of league into the spotlight better than returning from Australia with a trophy.

The Bradford contingent certainly bring a winning culture to Chris Chapman’s squad.

Priim said: “We’ve managed to really represent this year. We’ve got one of the best centres in the world, a great full back, a couple of the half-backs as well – it’s a really good position for Bradford.

“There’s a lot of familiarity but the beauty with rugby league is that it’s all very close-knit anyway. The girls in the England squad, even from Featherstone and Thatto, are all really good friends.

“But to go with nine of my team is awesome and has brought us a little bit closer as well.

“When it comes to internationals, we know we’re up against the next level of competition.

“The Aussies won the last World Cup, the Kiwis won the previous three. They are obviously the favourites on paper but that works in our favour because we are the unknown, if you like.

“There’s also the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and Canada so the competition could go any way.”

England open their campaign on Thursday against PNG before the big one with Australia next Sunday. They face the Cook Islands in the final group game a week on Wednesday.

The semi-finals take place on November 26 with the final part of a double header with the men’s World Cup showpiece in Brisbane the following week.

Priim, in her third season of playing league after switching from union, is already dreaming big.

“If I go out there just to play four stages, I defeat myself before I even start. I am talking quite openly about when we go to Brisbane.

“ If you don’t have that self-belief as a team, you’re not going to succeed.

“We’re not going out there to have a holiday in Australia, we’re playing in the World Cup and we want to bring the trophy home. That’s ultimately our aim.

“It’s such an exciting honour for the women to go out there and represent England – and if we could get to Brisbane that would be amazing.”