SEVEN senior Poole High School students have bagged a key role in the Olympics after beating more than 30,000 applicants to become Young Games Makers.

Michaela Catchpole, Alex Rea, Liberty Hammond-Forge, Kim Jarrad, Callum Mackenzie, Liam Jacobs and Joe Bartlett have been selected to work as technology volunteers at the Paralympic Sailing in Weymouth and Portland in early September.

Their role involves assisting with the building and technological aspects of the event as well as distributing results for the live broadcasting services.

The first stage of their bid was to submit a detailed application including why they wanted to become volunteers and what legacy they could leave for future generations.

They were then invited to an all-day interview at the London 2012 Olympic headquarters in Canary Wharf which involved two teamwork tasks – building the tallest Olympic viewing tower and producing a TV advertisement for the Games.

Their team leader and physical education teacher Gareth Williams said: “The interview went extremely well with an email arriving during the half term break stating that the committee were highly impressed with the skills the team had shown and that they had been accepted to fulfil their chosen role”

The team is due to travel to London again in July for orientation training and to collect their Adidas-sponsored uniform before two training days in Weymouth and Portland leading to The Games.

Poole High’s acting head teacher Frances Heafield said: “The school is very proud of the students who are taking part and thank both them and the staff who have supported them in this highly competitive bid.”