THREE cheers for a troupe of young Burnley dancers who went for gold in the Manchester Velodrome!

Brunshaw County Primary School’s cheerleading team, the Brunshaw Allstars, picked up the National Schools Championship crown for the KS2 Pom Dance with a mark of 173.

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The 16 girls were led by the school’s sports coach Kevin Kay and Sophie Boyle of Clarets Cheerleaders, who support the football stars at Turf Moor.

They produced a step-perfect performance to songs from Little Mix and Ke$ha, with a rousing choreographed routine to Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk.

Mr Kay said: “We are very proud of them and all the hard work has finally paid off.

“This is the eighth year we have entered but we have never won before.”

Cheerleading is designed to raise self-esteem, build confidence and encourage self-discipline as well as developing friendship, mutual trust and respect through teamwork in a fun environment. Assistant teacher Claire Beneduce was overjoyed for the youngsters, who are aged nine to 11.

She said: “They danced to a mashup when three songs blended into each other.

“I think they were awesome. They didn’t do a step out of place once and all the jumps were perfect.

“Having said that we were a bit worried when they weren’t placed second or third. When we won there was a lot of high-pitched screaming – we have always been second or third in the past – although Mr Kay probably screamed loudest.

“Sophie has an older group and her team has just gone to Croatia and our girls could one day join them.”