STAFF and students at a Darlington sixth form college dressed up in old school uniforms to raise more than £600 for victims of the Beslan massacre.

The students' association at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form organised a St Trinian's Day to raise money for the Red Cross Beslan Appeal, in the wake of the hostage crisis at a school in Russia.

Assistant principal Anita Blackburn said: "It is based on the old films about St Trinian's School, where all the girls were out of control.

"The girls came in stockings and suspenders with their blouses loosely done, like the archetypal bad girls.

"Some of the boys came in dressed as girls with skirts and blouses on. It was a fun day, partly to raise money and partly to make the first students settle in, and the atmosphere was really great.

English teacher Helen Lunn kept everyone in line, patrolling the corridors with a mortar board and a cane.

Mrs Blackburn said: "The staff have been involved.

"It was very easy, because everybody has got an old school uniform.

"Students have been going round with buckets and everybody has been generous, and people have been putting notes in so they have collected a lot of money."