TWO south Essex Schools will jet out to the Czech Republic tomorrow to represent their country at the World Schools Athletics Championships.

Rayleigh’s FitzWimarc School’s boys team and Southend High School for Girls will be flying the flag for England at the championships in the Czech town of Karlovy.

The teams were selected for the prestigious event after winning the national schools track and field cup final last summer.

And the two teams of six can’t wait to take on the rest of the world.

Southend High School for Girls head of PE Sue Simpson said: “All the girls are really excited now. This is a very big deal for them and can’t wait to get out there.”

Danny Cowley, FitzWimarc School’s head of PE, added: “I told the boys this week that there aren’t many moments that you remember for the rest of your lives, but next week will be one of those moments for them. They’ll remember it when they are old and gray!”

The two schools’ PE departments have had an incredibly difficult few months selecting their six-strong teams from a large pool of talented athletes who helped them win their national titles.

“It’s such a shame that we could only take six girls,” said Simpson. “We tried to make the selection process as transparent as possible. It’s got to be fair, but it was very difficult.”

Cowley added: “It’s not been easy because we have so many good athletes and a lot of them played a huge part in us getting to these championships. The six boys going are immensely proud and they will be going representing everyone at FitzWimarc.”

Those six FitzWimarc athletes are Year 11 pupils Daniel Stratton, Josh Prentice, Dan Sheffield and Peter Bowen, plus Year 10 duo Harrison King and Jack Longhurst.

“For the Year 11 pupils it will be their last competition for us and what a way to go out,” said Cowley.

The Southend High School for Girls team is made up of Year 12 student Poppy Lake, Year 11 pupil Georgina Duke and Year 10 quartet Michelle Hughes, Jade Packer, Victoria Hiscock and Olivia Sofroniou.

“We’ve got four Year 10 pupils and that age group is very special,” said Simpson. “They have won the English Schools Cross-Country title three out of the four years they competed and the one they didn’t they came second. They are very special.”

Both Southend High School for Girls and FitzWimarc have a history at the event.

Southend High competed in 2009 when they finished third, the best position any English school has ever achieved, while FitzWimarc had a girls team compete in the competition in the early Nineties, but this will be the first time the boys will be represented.

Both schools have had strong support from the local community with sponsors willing to pitch in and help them pay for kit and travel expenses.

Southend High School’s team has been supported by Southend Borough Council, Grant and Livingston Ltd, Fisher Michael’s Accountancy Company and Impex Management Foundation. The girls have been selling cakes, sweets and holding raffles to help boost the fund too.

FitzWimarc’s team have been sponsored by Basildon parcel carriers XDP Basildon and have thanked Mark Aldous at Rochford District Council who secured grants for them and local historian Mike Davies, from Rayleigh through the Looking Glass, who donated a copy of “Rayleigh Through Time” book which the team will show during a tourism event they are required to take part in in Prague.