FITZWIMARC School’s young sports stars are gearing up for one of the proudest moments in the school’s history — but they need your help.

The school’s all-conquering athletics team have been selected to represent England at the World Schools Athletics Championships in the Czech Republic in June.

But they are desperately looking for sponsorship from a local company to make their trip as successful as possible.

Dan Cowley, who is head of PE at the Rayleigh school said: “It’s a big event and we are very proud to represent England, but we do need some help.

“Most of the schools we will be up against are private schools and we don’t have the same funding as they do. We are just a comprehensive school.

“We are hoping that a company might be able to help us out so we can get the team new tracksuits for the trip and to help cover the travel costs. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for our pupils.”

The FitzWimarc team reached the competition after winning the English Schools Track & Field Cup last summer — a feat both their junior boys (Year 8 and 9 pupils) and intermediate boys (Year 10 and 11 pupils) achieved.

“It’s an unbelievable achievement,” said Mr Cowley. “I am so proud of the children. They have created this oppor-tunity.

“They come in morning, noon and night and work so hard and this shows what can be achieved.”

FitzWimarc will only be able to take six athletes to the championships in Karlovy, which is about two hours from Prague.

It is an under-19 event so they will be picked from the Year 10 and Year 11 athletes.

If anyone can help with sponsoring the FitzWimarc team, contact the school on 01268 743884.