A SCHOOL'S athletics team is gearing up for the finals of a national competition.

The junior boys team from Laurence Jackson School, in Guisborough, beat teams from across the region to become the Northern winners at a competition held at Gateshead Stadium.

Now, the team of 12 and 13-year-olds is preparing to travel to London next week, to take part in the national finals of the Sky Sports Track and Field Schools Cup.

PE teacher Les Thompson said: "It is the first time in the 20 years the competition has been running that we have got a boys' team through, although a girls' team has gone before."

The school is hoping its success will help in its bid for specialist sports college status.