Two local lads who recently came second in the World Championships in Acrobatic Gymnastics are off to Downing Street to share their experience with the Prime Minister.

Luke Rooney, 15, from Ushaw Moor and Richard Hurst 14, from Esh Winning flew the GB flag at the recent Under 17 World Championships in Acrobatic Gymnastics in Lievan, France where they competed in the Junior Men's Pair event. They only just missed out on Gold - the Russia favourites taking the title.

"Both boys have come through the talent Identification programme set up at Deerness Gymnastics High Performance Centre and to finish second in the World is an outstanding achievement. They have worked very hard over the past two years and they deserve all the success. They are a credit to both the Centre and their school".

Said Karl Wharton - British Gymnastics National Coach and former Head of Physical Education at Deerness Valley School.

Luke was identified as a future talent when Karl was still Head of PE at Deerness School. Karl was seconded to work as a World Class National Coach for British Gymnastics, running one of the new lottery funded World Class start programmes. In the first year, 9 feeder primary schools were selected after consultation with Durham LEA PE Advisory unit. All the students in these schools were tested with the support of Loughborough University for future gymnastic talent. Richard was identified as another future talent. Subsequently, Karl took up the full time position of National coach at the centre.

Anne Lakey - Head Teacher at Deerness School said of the two boys: "Luke and Richard are excellent ambassadors for our school and excellent role models for their peers. They are intelligent and mature young men who have the most amazing drive for perfection in their sport.

The school has a unique curriculum link with the Deerness Gymnastics Centre enabling gymnasts to operate on a flexible timetable, sometimes starting school at 10am.

In our recent OFSTED inspection our community sports programme was judged by inspectors to be "excellent".

We believe that our high standards in sport enable us to deliver a high quality citizenship education for students as it enables them to develop leadership skills, the ability to take responsibility for themselves, independence and the ability to co-operate and work as a team. We are immensely proud of our talented gymnasts".

The two boys have been working on a special programme to nurture their talent at the new gymnastics centre. They train twice a day, several times a week, with a morning session before school and evening sessions starting at 5pm. Their academic work has not suffered, indeed, they have made great progress in school.

As a result of Luke and Richard's great achievement they have been invited to 10 Downing Street to have a reception with the Prime Minister and Mrs Blair to celebrate excellence in sport on Monday.

Karl, their coach, has also been invited.