QUIZ champs from a Basingstoke junior school are in with a shot at being crowned young brains of Britain after getting through to the semi-finals of a national competition.

Four pupils from Hatch Warren Junior School in Gershwin Road, Brighton Hill, won the first stage of the National Junior Inter-School Quiz Championship, beating pupils from 11 other Basingstoke schools.

Held at North Waltham Primary School in Church Road, children aged between seven and 11 used a personal wireless handset to choose their answers to 40 multiple-choice questions.

More than 1,000 schools will compete during the year at 140 locations across the country, with around 100,000 children taking part.

The four pupils from Hatch Warren – Dylan Gilks, Megan Barnfather, Noah Hazelwood and Luke Watson – have been invited to the next stage of the championship, when they will compete against 11 other teams for a place in the national finals, to be held in Oxford in July.

Ian Burrows, head teacher at Hatch Warren Junior School, said: “The quiz was very close. Our team only took the lead from St Mary’s, Old Basing on the final question. I’m very proud of them.”