STUDENTS at one of the area's high schools have excelled in the volunteering section of an international programme.

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) participants at Ponteland High School accumulated a total of 1,066 hours of voluntary services to the local community between April 1 2019 and March 31 2020.

The DofE, founded by Prince Phillip in 1956, is a youth awards programme.

A total of 129 Ponteland High School students are enrolled across all three levels of the programme and are working towards their 2020 Certificate of Achievement.

The 2020 Certificate of Achievement is a one-off award for all DofE participants who complete their skill, physical and volunteering sections of the programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The certificate is in addition to achieving full Bronze, Silver and Gold awards, which participants would normally receive after completing all sections.

A spokesperson for Ponteland High School said: “It is a real pleasure to be supporting and encouraging so many of our students in such a worthwhile qualification.We know they are working extremely hard to achieve their 2020 Certificate of Achievement and to complete their full DofE awards during these difficult times.”

In the UK last year, 295,490 young people started a DofE programme.