READY, steady…bake! Students at a North-East school donned their aprons to take part in a Christmas Bake Off event to raise money for a charity.

The North East Autism Society (NEAS) challenged schools in the region to organise a Great Christmas Bake Off to make and sell tasty treats baked by students and their families and friends.

Pupils from Hurworth School’s Autism Resource Base spent a morning baking and decorating cakes with teacher Helen Whitten, who manages the provision.

“We were contacted by NEAS who asked us to get our students involved in the challenge. They were very keen to take part, and each child was allowed to bring a peer along with them,” said Helen.

“It’s not something that they’ve done before, and they really enjoyed the experience. They also made some bunting to decorate the classroom where the sale was held.”

Around 25 students took part, including some of the school’s peer mentors from Years 9 and 10, who work with the resource base students in other ways throughout the school week.

Each year, between 30 and 40 students at the school apply to be peer mentors, and they get to know their mentees by supporting them with games and play, in the resource base.

Natalie Douglass, Head of RS and Personal Development, said: “This has been a lovely whole-school event, with the children making cakes both to take home with them, and to sell at lunchtime.

The sale raised £215.78 on the day, and another £230 was pledged in advance.

NEAS Chief Executive, John Phillipson, said: “We’re delighted that Hurworth School agreed to take part in this event to help to raise funds to support our vital work. It’s lovely to hear that their neurodiverse students are taking part in these whole school events and are being supported by other pupils.”