CHILDREN at a North-East school have the power to decide which teachers they allow to go home and which ones will be detained at school for three nights this week.

In a charity event inspired by recent reality television game shows, youngsters at Yarm School, in Yarm, near Stockton, will be evicting three captives in the morning leading up to Friday's final of I'm A Teacher - Get Me Out Of Here.

Nine teachers volunteered to be locked in the school's resource centre for three days to raise money for local charities.

Every day they will face mental and physical challenges set by the headteacher, followed by a vote which will result in three teachers being "evicted" from their makeshift prison.

The idea is the brainchild of IT teacher Ian McKay, a self-confessed Big Brother addict.

"It came from a discussion about the programme and someone commented that we should do something like that because of all the late nights we put in," said Mr McKay.

"I didn't watch that much of I'm a Celebrity, but I am an avid Big Brother fan, so the idea of being locked in has come from that.

"We have adapted bits of the various shows to suit our own needs."

School security guards will keep an eye on the captives after they are locked in by police from the Yarm station at the end of lessons on Tuesday.

Local businesses have donated food hampers, a DVD player and some films, as well as videos and plenty of magazines, to stop the teachers getting bored.

But they will still have to teach classes as normal, despite spending nights in sleeping bags on a classroom floor.

"The children can't wait because they want to see their teachers making fools of themselves and they are all very excited," said maths and science teacher Carolyn Williams.

"They think they will have an easy week because we'll be too tired to teach, but it will be business as usual in my classes."

Teachers' favourite to win the top prize of an overnight stay in the Tall Trees Hotel, Yarm, is deputy headteacher Phil Hardy.

He is so confident, he does not even think he has any competition - but block voting by parents and a poor show in the challenges could change that.

Mr Hardy said: "We are all quite happy to be taking part because it is for a good cause. I am looking forward to it."

The school is hoping to raise £4,000 for Butterwick Hospice, RNLI, Teesside Hospice, Multiple Sclerosis and Macmillan Cancer Care.

Headteacher Gillian Taylor said: "We wanted to do something that was a bit different and this isn't just fun but lots of fun."