SCHOOLCHILDREN in Hartlepool are to feature in the making of a DVD to demonstrate how their town has achieved excellent grades in maths.

The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics is producing the DVD, which will be sent to all secondary schools in the country to help in maths teaching.

Filming is taking place this week at High Tunstall College of Science, where head of mathematics Alison Smart is working with students focusing on improving standards.

Hartlepool was invited to take part in the DVD because of the excellent progress in improving attainment levels.

Last year, Hartlepool was the only North-East town to achieve above the national expected level in Mathematics at Key Stage 3 (students tested at age 14).

Geraldine Chapman, the council's secondary strategy manager, said: "This is a great opportunity for Hartlepool to showcase to the rest of the country some of the initiatives to improve performance in mathematics.

"Our performance levels have obviously attracted the attention of the National Centre of Excellence and I am confident that we can build on last year's results with the continuing focus and measures we have in place."