Deadline nears for Hartlepool school equipment competition

There are just days left for parents, family and friends to support Shop for Schools, run by Middleton Grange shopping centre in Hartlepool.

The initiative has been running since September last year and closes on Sunday, January 31.

Over the last four months 25 local schools and nurseries have been racking up points as a result of money spent in the shopping centre and regular bonus tokens printed in the Mail.

A final token to give the school of your choice a 100-point boost is printed today.

Lynnfield Primary School continues to top the table for the most points collected per pupil.

Shop for Schools works by shoppers getting a one-point token for every pound spent in any of the mall’s stores.

Anything spent on Sunday is worth double points.

A total of 18,200 points have been collected in this year’s campaign from the Mail’s bonus tokens.

The participating schools will be able to use the tokens collected to buy everything from digital cameras and televisions to telescopes and sports kits.

The more points each school collects the more equipment they can claim.

Schools’ totals are calculated by dividing the total collected by pupil numbers to give an average point score, meaning bigger schools do not have an advantage over smaller ones.

Competition organisers changed the dates this year so the initiative ran more during school time instead of over the summer holidays.

Collection boxes for each school are located at the Customer Service desk.