MORE than 100 children took part in an inter-school sports tournament.

About 120 year three pupils from 11 schools in the Bishop Auckland area competed in the mini tennis games contest at the town’s Bishop Barrington School, on Wednesday, May 7.

The four top performing teams qualified for a district final which will be held at Bishop Barrington, which is a specialist sports academy, on Friday, June 6.

They were Woodhouse Community Primary School and Cockton Hill Junior School, both in Bishop Auckland, Copeland Road Primary School in West Auckland, and St Joseph’s RC Primary School, in Coundon.

James Oldfield, a school sports coordinator, said: “The pupils thoroughly enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to the final.”

The event was part of the Sainsbury's School Games project which aims to motivate youngsters across the country to take part in more competitive school sport.

Thousands of young people across the UK will take part in the initiative which includes competitions in schools, between schools and at a county or area level.

It is designed to build on the Olympic spirit of London 2012 to enable every young person to enjoy healthy, competitive sport including meaningful opportunities for disabled youngsters and is backed by the Government, Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust.