ONE OF Dorset’s most famous landmarks provided the setting for the latest handover of the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership Olympic torch.

Pupils from the Thomas Hardye School jogged up to Maiden Castle before handing over the replica torch, which is doing the rounds of schools in the area ahead of the Games, to their counterparts from the Dorchester Learning Centre.

Assistant headteacher Kaye Chittenden said: “We had 16 representatives from the Student Voice and they ran up to Maiden Castle and we met students at the top of it to handover the torch.

“It all went smoothly, despite the wind and the drizzle but that’s all part of it.”

The Thomas Hardye School was in possession of the torch over Christmas after taking it on from Dorchester Middle School at the end of last term.

Mrs Chittenden said the school’s main role in the DASP relay had been to record the torch’s journey through the different schools, with students from the school taking photographs and video footage of each stage.

In the summer the recording of the various events at all the schools will be collated.

She said the school has been making the most of the Olympics coming to Dorset this summer by linking up with the Doon School in India as part of the Olympic Dream project.

The Thomas Hardye School has now also received notification that it will be involved in the Get Set Go project, another scheme run by the Olympic Committee to promote the Games in schools.

Mrs Crittenden said: “I think we have been selected partly because of what we have been doing with DASP and the school in India.”

The school will also have an Olympic themed day for students to get pupils in the mood for the Games.

Lorraine Greenham from the Dorchester Learning Centre said they would be marking their possession of the torch with a mini Olympics event at Redlands Community Sports Hub, Weymouth as well as taking the torch to their satellite provider in The Mill, Bridport.

They will also taste foods from around the world at the learning centre this week.

She added that they also had a special handover event planned on Monday, as they had arranged for pupils to head out on boats from the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy to handover to their counterparts from the Winterbourne Valley First School on the water.