ARNOLD Hill Academy have enjoyed a fantastic debut season at national level after two of their girls football teams reached the quarter-finals of a schools tournament.
Both the under-13 and under-15 girls' teams made it through six stages of the English Schools' Football Association tournament to reach the last eight.
Louise Wray, team manager and sports teacher at Arnold Hill, formed the girls' football squads five years ago when she first joined the school and this year was their first attempt in the national competition.
Wray said: "When I first arrived at the school there was an obvious playing talent and enthusiasm for the game – we just needed to provide the outlet.
"It was an immediate success and the girls' teams have consistently collected a number of tournament wins at county level.
"The girls at Arnold Hill have shown a real flair for the game, done extremely well and enjoyed enormous success – so much so that I thought it was time to take the next step and see how we would fare in larger, national tournaments.
"I never dreamt that we would do so well with two teams in just our first year of entering."