A SCHOOL is to be paid a visit by a former pupil at its annual speech day.

Sally Darling, who is a television script supervisor, will be guest speaker at Teesside High School, Eaglescliffe, where she was a pupil from 1987 to 1994.

Formerly of Hartlepool, she is now working on ITV's Today with Des & Mel show.

She said: "The speakers at my speech days were a Baroness and an MP and I don't consider myself on a par with them.

"Then I realised what an honour it was, and hoped that the girls might be interested in some of the shows I've worked on."

At the speech day, on Monday, December 8, Miss Darling, a member of the Royal Television Society, will encourage students to take up a career in something they are really interested in and not be put off by competition or hard work.

Having decided on a career in the media, Miss Darling spent much of her spare time at school and university gaining work experience.

She went to University College Warrington where she achieved a joint honours degree in media and business and has worked for a number of television companies, on programmes such as Big Brother, Have I Got News For You, Test the Nation, Fame Academy and This Morning.