THE dramatic scenery of the Lake District provided a perfect backdrop for children taking part in a music, acting and play-writing event.

Five youngsters from Blackfyne Community School, in Consett, were selected to join in the drama residential on the shores of Derwent Water, along with pupils from Fyndoune Community College in Sacriston, Deerness Valley School, Stanley School of Technology, Durham Gilesgate and Moorside School, Consett.

The youngsters aged 12 to 14 are considered More Able and Talented (MATs) and their schools are members of the Leadership Incentive Grant Collaborative Partnership, which receives funding to set up challenging projects in different subjects for MATs pupils.

The challenge was to write a 20-minute play and a musical in only 72 hours then return to the Lamplight Theatre, in Stanley, to perform it first in front of parents and siblings and then 250 school friends.

Both productions were based on young people meeting through an Internet chat room then later discovering differences between them that initially were invisible.

The event was organised by three teachers and Andy Booth, director of Quondam Theatre Company, in Penrith, Cumbria, who turned the youngsters' ideas into scripts.

Janet Byrne, MATs co-ordinator at Blackfyne School, said: "I have learned things about the children I teach that I don't think I would have ever uncovered in the school classroom.

"It is astonishing what's been achieved and it is a lot more than academic achievement.

"We have raised confidence levels, broken down barriers and developed their theatrical and musical skills.

"It has been a wonderful, creative experience of working together and looking forward with excitement to the performance, although the process of working with the kids in this way is more important than the final outcome."