FOUR district schools will take to the stage and battle it out for prizes in the finals of a northern theatrical performance competition.

High Crags Academy, in Crag Road, Shipley, will take on ten other schools in the J Rock Northern Final on Thursday, June 29.

A group of 30 pupils, aged between seven and 11, will present their performance, called ‘The World Has Lost Track of Its Core Values’ .

This features the school’s values including equality, respect, resilience and love of learning. It is set in a battlefield and a circus.

Teacher Jake Armour said: “I am incredibly proud of them. They have done brilliantly.

“The children have said to me that they are going to the final to win.”

Meanwhile, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College, in Reevy Road West, will take on ten schools in the competition’s Northern Open Final on Friday, June 30.

They qualified for the showpiece after finishing first in the Northern Premier Final of the Rock Challenge contest in Rotherham in March.

The school’s performance, Phobia, follows the story of a boy trapped in a world of irrational fear, who goes on a terrifying journey to fight the demons that plague him.

Meanwhile, there will be a two-way fight for bragging rights between Beckfoot Thornton and Tong Leadership Academy in the 11-school final of the Northern Premier Final on Saturday, July 1.

A team of 65 students aged between 11 and 18 will represent Tong Leadership Academy, in Westgate Hill Street, Tong, at the final, which also features schools from Belfast and Arbroath in Scotland.

Their performance aims to spread awareness of mental health. One of the teachers in charge of the school’s performance, Leanne Vo-Brown, a performing arts teacher, said: “It is our first year as a premier school in the competition.

“The rehearsals are going well. Since we competed in March we have made quite a few changes to the performance. We have re-looked at the piece.

“We are all excited but very nervous and have been working on it since October last year.”

Tong has also raised £800 during its run in the competition, with half of the total going to the YoungMinds charity and the rest paying for performers’ make-up and other costs.

Beckfoot Thornton showcased their 2017 performance at the Northern Premier Final event in Rotherham in March.

More than 2,000 students will take to the stage at the three finals, all held at the Grimsby Auditorium.

The Rock Challenge sees participating schools produce musical and theatrical performances. They are marked on production, design and performance.

School teams made up of 20 to 100 performers decides on a theme, then create the choreography for their five to eight-minute dance-drama performance, select and record the medley of music for their soundtrack, and design and make their sets and costumes.