THE longest established theatre group in the county has been awarded Investor in People status as it begins its latest project involving secondary school students.

Formed 19 years ago, Jack Drum Arts is the only community arts organisation in the North-East to gain the accolade, which recognises the extent to which a company involves and enthuses its workforce.

Its presentation by Andrew Dixon, North-East executive director for the Arts Council, coincided with the launch of a partnership between the company and Teesdale School in Barnard Castle, which has science college status.

Mr Dixon said: "Investors in People is a national standard and what is unusual is that this is a very small organisation. You have got to have very strong commitment to training and developing staff."

He praised director Jill Cole and founder member Julie Ward for being totally focused and passionate about gaining the award and the group's work in involving communities.

Artists from Jack Drum are working with 20 year nine volunteers to discover if using drama techniques helps them gain a better understanding of scientific concepts. As part of the Creativity Action Research Awards project, under the umbrella of the Government's Creative Partnerships, they will look at developing pupils' understanding of thermal energy transfer - a hot topic on the curriculum.

Ms Ward said: "The results will be evaluated and the findings made available to schools across the country. It will be interesting, as the project involves schools which are not part of the Creative Partnerships initiative."

The project began with a performance of Sex and Death, written by Ms Ward, based on the scientific theories of ageing. It gave pupils a flavour of how professionals have applied theatre and drama to a scientific subject.

They were then given two weeks to put together their own performance about thermal energy transfer, Blowing Hot and Cold, before presenting it to their peers.

Ms Cole said: "This is a real challenge for us. It's not a subject that lends itself naturally to drama, but we're hoping the process will engage those pupils who might not be over-excited by science."