YOUNG tumblers took to the floor with a series of impressive displays at the Furness Academy cluster Key Steps One gymnastics finals.

Pupils from seven schools displayed their acrobatic excellence as the youngest competitors to take part in the Cumbria School Games structure.

Yarlside Academy, St George’s, Dane Ghyll, Brisbane Park, Cambridge Primary, Ramsden Infants and Parkside CGI Academy were all represented.

The Years 1 and 2 pupils making up 11 teams impressed the judges at Furness Academy with their efforts on the vault and floor.

After testing themselves in the warm-up, the children start with marks of 10.00 for each routine, with deductions – if there are any – made for any errors or deviations.

The highest score a team can achieve is 100, with the top two teams from the cluster qualifying for the Furness area finals in March. Yarlside emerged as the school to beat, as they took first place with a score of 91.39, just ahead of St George’s, with 90.78.

Furness School Games organiser Oliver Carswell was pleased with the standard of gymnastics on display, and said: “Overall, the competition went very well, it ran smoothly with lots of praise coming from staff members of the competing schools.

“The standard of the gymnasts was very good, with the top two teams both in the 90s for their overall score and a further five teams in the 80s.

“It shows how close the competition was, with only small margins between qualifying and missing out.”

The Key Steps Two competition, for Years 3 and 4 pupils, will take place on Monday at Furness Academy, with Key Steps Three at the end of the month.