Three schools with sporting initiatives reaped the rewards for their hard work at the Brighton Primary Schools Championships at Withdean Stadium.

A record 1,600 children from 24 schools took part in the annual competition which has been run by Dorothy Stringer School for the last four years.

Schools were split into three divisions based on the number of pupils and took part in running, jumping and throwing events.

All competitors were awarded certificates, with the first three in each of the 96 events presented with gold, silver or bronze medals.

Patcham Junior School won the blue division, which was for the largest schools, Carden Primary took the intermediate-sized red division and St Bernadette's Primary were the champions in the green division for smaller schools.

All three schools have introduced schemes to increase sporting participation and believe that is the reason for their successes.

Patcham won the title for the second successive year and deputy head teacher Ray Carter puts it down to a special lunch-time athletics club.

He said: "After winning last year, the kids were so keen to do well again so we put on extra training at lunch time.

"It gave them the chance to train for the competition and seems to have done the trick. We love competing in the event and we will be looking to complete a hat-trick next season.

"We are such a sport orientated school anyway and run every sort of club under the sun. It's great for the kids and the fact we have been successful shows how much they enjoy it."

Carden Primary had two reasons to celebrate as they also won the throwing cup. It was the first time the school have ever won a title at the championships and their success comes just six months after introducing a specialised PE teacher.

Catherine Coleman joined the school in January and has been teaching pupils the importance of fitness in a weekly sports day.

She said: "We have really been focussing on increasing sport participation for the last six months, so we were over the moon to win two trophies.

"I joined on a trial basis in January and then the board of governors decided to create a unique position on a permanent basis. It's great because PE often gets neglected at primary school level.

"It allows me to plan lessons properly and give more focus on increasing fitness. I take the children for half a day of intense PE and so far it has been very successful."

St Bernadette's have also put a new emphasis on sport this year. They competed in the championships as part of a sports week.

They also held a tennis competition called mini-Wimbledon and staged a mini-Euro 2004 football tournament.

Head teacher Bernadette Connor said: "To win the green division was a great achievement and was the first competition success we have had at the championships for many years.

"We all went sport mad because of our PE focus week and I think that's why we did so well. We started it this year and everything was about sport, even the lessons. If the children had numerical classes, they were about sports scores. We had been training for six weeks and it rubbed off on the children. The whole school wants to raise the standards of PE so we can do as well next year."

St Martin's Primary School won the Relay Cup, which was raced over 60 metres for competitors in year four, 70 metres for those in year five and 80 metres for athletes in year six.

Woodingdean Primary, who won the relay cup last year, took the jump cup which involved competitors performing a standing jump with their feet together.

This year's championships also introduced a new initiative. It was part of the Active School's programme run by Government body Sport England.

It provides schools with support, training and resources needed to help children achieve the highest standards.

Dorothy Stringer teacher Andy Marchant, who helped organise the event, said: "The competition was the best we've ever had. There were a record number of schools and children and hopefully it will keep growing.

"Our aim is to have less adults involved, so we can keep kids interested in all sport. As well as the competitors, we had 14 and 15 year olds from Dorothy Stringer and Patcham High School who were Sport Leaders. They helped organise events and the children.

"We want to help produce the athletes and coaches of the future and hopefully we can do that by developing the championships further every year."