HUNDREDS of school children from across the North-East took to the stage today (Wednesday, May 6) in a Song for Europe contest.

The nine and ten-year-olds all sang in a foreign language of their choice when they gathered in Durham’s Gala Theatre.

The winners were St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School of Durham, who sung You’ve Got a Friend in Me in French, while the runners-up were Newbottle Primary School, near Houghton-le-Spring, performed a Spanish song.

Brian Stobie, international relations officer at Durham County Council said: “We had 380 children from 26 schools taking part.

“Each school had to perform a song in a language other than English and had two months to prepare.

We had a range of languages - French and Spanish were the most common of the languages sung todaby. There were also songs in Irish Gaelic, Norwegian, Polish, German, Italian and Hungarian.

“All the children gave excellent accounts of themselves and really shone on the stage. It was a really good competition.”

The children were all marked by their peers.

Mr Stobie said: "Many children will take up jobs which will see them working in different linguistic and cultural settings.

“We want to show children that learning languages can be fun – especially for those young people who have chosen a language they haven’t been learning at school.

“It shows they can apply language learning techniques to pick up very different languages. It’s all about listening carefully and then developing their speaking skills.”

The event was organised by Europe Direct North East England. The actual Eurovision final, which is televised each year, will take place in Vienna on May 23.