High flying students hit new heights after discovering a newfound spirit of adventure.

The courageous bunch proved they have nerves of steel as they took to the skies in a charity skydive.

Amber Paleschi, Maariyah Azeem and Sharon Saji, all from Thornaby, and all students at SRC Bede Sixth Form, faced their fears as they took turns plummeting 10,000 feet in a tandem jump.

“It was just amazing,” said Sharon, 18, who came up with the idea on an impulse after deciding she wanted to try something different and a bit “crazy”.

Surprisingly it didn’t take too much persuasion to get her pals on board. The girls, along with Harsimran Kaur, who is still waiting for the weather conditions to be right to do her jump, raised an impressive £3250 for Butterwick Hospice where Sharon is a volunteer.

“We set ourselves a target of £350 each,” said Harsimran who is studying A level History, English Language and Psychology at the sixth form college in Billingham. But with the support of family and friends she said: “We soon passed that.”

Jumping with Skydive St George at Durham Tees Valley Airport the girls all agreed once they had taken the plunge and their parachutes opened the views over Teesside were spectacular.

“There aren’t words to describe it,” said Chemistry, History and Health and Social Care student, Maariyah, 17.

Amber, also 17, added: “You do feel the nerves when you see someone else go, but when the door is open and you are dangling out of the plane you have to stay calm, close your eyes and just do it.”

Now bitten by the bug the girls, who all went to school together at St Patrick’s Catholic College, are keen to take on another adventure.

Sharon said: “We are going to concentrate on our exams first and then we’ll start to plan what to do next.”