This time next year, Angus King plans to be on top of the world.

Mr King, 52, hopes to fulfil a life-long ambition and reach the North Pole - on skis.

The Thornbury Primary School head teacher has entered the 2008 Polar Challenge, in which competitors race 350 miles across some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet.

As well as pulling their supplies on a ski sledge, participants travel through an area which is home to 80 per cent of the world's polar bears, in temperatures which can drop to minus 50 degrees.

Mr King said: "I have had this dream for many years. It was planted by my father who was always fascinated by the great polar explorers.

"I hope to be able to motivate and inspire children from my own school and from throughout Bradford and the country as a whole.

"If we get that right the children will follow the challenge and have that dream planted in them too. They will also learn more about the environment, its importance and the effect they can have on it."

Competitors race in teams of three from Resolute Bay in northern Canada to the 1996 magnetic North Pole.

Bradford pupils will be able to follow Mr King's progress on a blog he will write for the event's website, as well as forge links with pupils from Qarmartalik School in Resolute Bay.

Mr King aims to raise £30,000 for his own charity, Chameleon - Developing Education, which supports education projects in Pakistan and South Africa.

Today a Polar Challenge Curriculum Pack was also being launched with Education Bradford, to tell pupils about the challenge and help them use a range of subjects, including English, maths and science, to plot Mr King's route and examine the conditions he will face.

The race will take around two-and-a-half weeks to complete.

Education Bradford has helped secure sponsorship for Mr King.