MORE than 500 children from schools across the Tees Valley are taking part in an Olympic-style sports festival next week.

The Tees Valley Spring School Games are the culmination of a series of school and inter-school competitions which have taken place in the five Tees Valley districts.

Young people aged between nine and 16 will participate in the Games at Polam Hall school in Darlington on March 21 and the daytime finale will include competitions in wheelchair basketball, netball, rugby union, golf and table tennis. There will also be a Swimming Gala at the Dolphin Centre from 6pm.

The Games’ opening ceremony will celebrate Darlington’s cultural talent and will be kicked off by Darlington Mayor Paul Baldwin and Gemma Collis, a member of Paralympic Team GB who competed in the 2012 wheelchair fencing. The Swimming Gala will be opened by Charlotte Ellis, the 2012 European Paratriathlon Champion.

The School Games is a national initiative which launched last year and is supported by Sainsbury’s.