Pupils at the Plume School in Maldon have raised about £1,000 for charity.

In a week-long bid to get people to hand over their cash, the students did everything from eating cream cakes to auctioning their teachers.

Head girl Rebecca Leach hopes the figure will reach £1,000 once all the money is in and counted.

The highest bidder at the auction for a staff member was Phillip Nash, 14, whose £10.60 bought him head Sarah Dignasse.

She did two lessons with him - tennis and maths.

Phillip said: "I did the working out and Miss Dignasse did the writing down. It was a lot of money and I was going to stop at £7.50 but my friends urged me on."

Winner of the gluttony contest, Jonathon Kitchener, 16, scoffed bread, cream cakes and a cucumber washed down with lemonade to claim his prize of a meal at McDonald's.

All the money raised will be shared between Essex Air Ambulance, Swans and Crossroads and the head girl has thanked all businesses who donated raffle prizes.

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