A team of staff from Oasis Academy Bristol were doing a three peaks challenge this weekend in memory of their late headmaster John Williams.

Nine staff members from the Hengrove school will be tackling three of the highest peaks in the UK to raise £2,000 for the British Heart Foundation, as a tribute to John, who suffered a fatal heart attack in February this year.

The group is led by head of community Paul Roberts, who set up the team in March and has been leading regular training sessions to prepare staff for what has been called Britain's Biggest Mountain Challenge.

The rest of the team are Louise Williams, Felix Ellis, Andrea Rae, Jessica Fresle, Caroline Hill with Richard Avery and Jill Rowe supporting and driving the minibus.

The weekend-long event will see the academy team travelling to Fort William in Scotland and trekking to the summit of Ben Nevis.

From there, the team will be taken to a campsite in the Lake District to have a hot supper and stay the night before waking up to an early-morning climb up Scafell Pike.

They will finish tomorrow evening after ascending Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales. For the final stage, the team will be joined by John's eldest son, Noah, 11.

Mr Roberts wanted to tackle the challenge to do something to commemorate the former principal.

He said: "After John's death, I felt the school should do something positive and I thought that supporting the British Heart Foundation in the great work that it does would be a fitting tribute.

"The response from staff has been amazing, bearing in mind the difficulty of the challenge – we almost had enough volunteers for two teams!

"The whole academy has been behind us, the students and staff alike. Without their fund raising efforts, we wouldn't have reached the £2,000 target."

Current headmistress of the academy, Rebecca Clark, said: "It's a massive challenge, but one which I know will benefit a very worthwhile cause. People were inspired by John in his life, and now are continuing to be inspired in his death.

"I would like to wish all the participants a safe and successful weekend, and know their efforts will set a positive example for all the students at Oasis Academy Bristol."