YARLSIDE Academy and St George's vaulted into the Furness finals of the Cumbria School Games Key Steps Two gymnastics competition.

Pupils from six schools made up eight teams at the Furness Academy cluster finals, with Year 3 and 4 children testing themselves with floor and vault routines.

Dane Ghyll, Greengate Juniors, St George's, St James, Victoria Academy and Yarlside battled it out to impress the judges, who were all pupils at Furness Academy.

Each team had a chance for a warm-up and practice before competing, with three judges assessing them on each of the floor and vault displays.

As with the Key Steps One competition – where the Year 1 and 2 teams from Yarlside and St George's advanced last week – each gymnast starts with a mark of 10.00 on both disciplines and deductions are made based on their displays.

The difference for Key Steps Two is that the skills they have to perform on are more complicated, requiring a great deal of concentration, stability and flexibility to pull off.

The Academy judges enjoyed the competition and found it very close to call – a factor shown in the results, as there were only 3.9 points between first and fourth.

Yarlside topped the ranking with a score of 88.9, with St George's second with 87.7. Both progress to the Furness Schools finals, with the winners there representing the district in the Cumbria School Games itself.

Furness School Games organiser Oliver Carswell said: “The competition was incredibly close, with all participants representing their schools very well.

“The difference between qualifying and missing out this time was only 1.9 points, which equates to a couple of wobbly balances on the floor or not landing on the vault properly – very tight margins.

“It was great to see all the children enjoying themselves, with each of them having a big smile on their face once they had finished their routine.”

The Furness Academy cluster Key Steps Three final will take place after half-term, with the Walney and Catholic Schools cluster final also being held.