A 12-year-old boy died hours after canoeing with school friends on an organised activity centre outing.

James Todd was discovered on his bunk in a dormitory at the outdoor activities centre in Northumberland, on the final day of the two-day residental trip.

A friend raised the alarm after James failed to come down for tea after the party returned to the centre, near Berwick, following the canoeing session on Thursday.

James, of St Paul's Drive, Washington, was among a group of youngsters who had travelled to the centre from Biddick School Sports College in the town on Wednesday.

Police said yesterday that there were no suspicious circumstances.

They said it appeared the youngster died of natural causes, although no specific cause of death has yet been released.

Richard Wilkinson, the headteacher of the 1,070-pupil school, said that despite the efforts of trained first-aiders, a local GP and then paramedics, the youngster could not be revived.

He confirmed that James had been discovered lying on his bunk in a dormitory.

Mr Wilkinson also confirmed that the youngster had suffered from a medical condition dating back years but he was not aware of any current medical problem.

The headteacher said that the youngster had not complained of feeling unwell to any staff members during the trip.

However, one of the schoolchildren had mentioned on the journey back to Tyne and Wear on Thursday night that he had told her that he had a headache.

Mr Wilkinson confirmed that 28 children and three staff had been on the two-day outdoor activity expedition, which left the school on Wednesday for the 90-minute drive to Belford in Northumberland.

Following their return to the school on Thursday night, the children were told they need not attend classes yesterday.

Their headteacher said: ''The school is trying to maintain as much normality as possible.

''We are a community, a family if you like, and will work together at it over weeks and months to make sure we come through stronger and better.

''We have yet to look at the day in great detail, but when we get time alone as a school we will go through every detail.''

Biddick School was granted specialist sports college status in 1997 and that was renewed for a further three years in September 2001.

It recently received a glowing Ofsted report which labelled it ''a beacon of community sports development''