Students and PE teachers from the Urswick School hold a handmade banner to support Mauretania in the Olympic Guard of Honour

Students from The Urswick School have been making the most of Olympic opportunities offered to them thanks to their involvement with Get Set, the London 2012 education programme.

As the world tuned in to watch the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, eight students from the school in Paragon Road took part in the celebrations and welcomed the athletes to the Olympic Park.

The school was one of 250 in the UK chosen to form a 2,000-strong student Guard of Honour lining the athletes’ route from the Olympic Village to the Olympic Stadium.

The group held lanterns and a banner they created to support Mauritania, one of the 204 competing teams.

They were also given a guided tour of the Olympic Park and a chance to hold an Olympic torch ahead of the opening ceremony.

“Although we didn’t get to see the opening ceremony, it was really exciting to see all of the athletes walk past us,” said 14-year-old student Harry Myers, who recently won gold medals himself in 1500m races at the Borough Championships and Schools Athletics Championships.

“It was just the most amazing atmosphere.”

Meanwhile the school’s new sports centre, which was opened a year ago as part of a £17million rebuild of the school, has been used as a training base during the Games by the Russian volleyball teams.

Headteacher, Richard Brown, said: “Students at The Urswick School take part in many after school sports clubs including trampolining, cricket, basketball and tennis. “They have been further inspired by the Olympics and are looking forward to continuing to participate in sports in September, particularly in our now Olympic-standard sports facilities.”