PUPILS at Corporation Road Community Primary School have raised nearly £600 for Sport Relief by taking part in a sponsored walk and dance through the town.

All 220 children from Year 1 and Year 6, staff, parents and coaches from the Martin Gray Academy all took part by walking through North Lodge Park and dancing in the Market Place before walking to Stanhope Park to dance again.

Ann Pringleton, headteacher at the Darlington school, said: “We have a keen focus on being part of the community and our children fundraise at least three times a year. We do a lot of sports including dance, football and table tennis – we even have a popular running club where we go running with Alfie our school dog on a lunchtime, so Sport Relief was a great opportunity.

“The children really enjoyed not only raising money for a good cause, but the fresh air and the exercise. It was fantastic to see parents and our staff dancing in the Market Square and we had a picnic lunch on returning back to school. Corporation Road Community Primary School would like to thank everyone who took part in the Sport Relief event to help us raise money."

The primary school is part of Lingfield Education Trust, a Multi-Academy Trust of six schools in Darlington, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

The school was recently named as one of the best in the country for pupil progress, ranked in the top one per cent in England for progress between Years two and six for writing and maths in the latest Government Primary School League tables. It was also named in the top six per cent of schools nationally for progress in reading.