THE head teacher at St Gregory's Catholic High School has given up his desk to two excited pupils to raise money for a cause close to his heart.

Christopher Knight, aged 12, won the chance to be head teacher for the day and appointed his twin sister Rachel as his deputy.

The students won the prize by buying raffle tickets, with proceeds sent to Healing Little Hearts, a UK based children’s charity that provides free heart surgery in developing parts of the world.

Head teacher, Ed McGlinchey, was inspired to raise money for the charity after his one-year-old daughter had surgery herself in April.

He said: "My daughter had open heart surgery at Alder Hey and I found out about the charity through them.

"Her journey inspired me to give something back.

"There is a cardiac surgeon there, Ramana Dhannapuneni, and I found out he works for Healing Little Hearts- they raise money for surgeons to go to developing countries and do heart surgery for free.

"The money goes to fund the equipment.

"I thought, if he can do that, how can I do something to give back?"

Warrington Guardian: Christopher and Rachel Christopher and Rachel

So far St Gregory's has raised more than £3,000 through a variety of different fundraising events including sponsored silences, teacher forfeits and teachers becoming pupils for the day.

But, the most sought-after experience was getting to run the school.

Together, winners Christopher and Rachel oversaw the decision to install the new school sign, watched over classes, and even made the popular choice of extending break time by an extra 10 minutes.

Christopher added: "Everyone was very pleased and they were happy to get an extra 10 minutes break.

"We have also been doing lunch patrol and seeing if everyone was well behaved.

"It's difficult but it's definitely enjoyable!"