YOUNG first aiders at a primary school have scooped first, second and third place in a competition.

The Durham County round of the St John Ambulance national schools first aid competition took place on Friday, at the organisation's county headquarters in Langley Moor, near Durham.

Eight teams representing junior and senior schools from Lanchester, Chester-le-Street and Darlington took part.

Children were sent to rooms, where they had to react to different first aid scenarios.

In scenes acted out by volunteers from St John Ambulance, they had to help a man who had fallen from his ladder and was surrounded by broken glass and another who had been scalded by a kettle.

Pupils at Newker Primary School, Chester-le-Street, won the junior section, as well as a second and a third, while the senior section was won by St Bede's RC, in Lanchester.

Mandy Jones, a teacher at Newker Primary, said: "Children on the school council decided they wanted to enter this competition and they have really enjoyed it. It's also taught them lots about first aid."

The winning teams now qualify for the regional finals, which take place in Goole, Humberside, in May. The finals will be held in July at London Zoo.