Desperately-needed sports equipment and pencil cases filled with stationery are winging their way to under-funded schools in Nigurno Karabakh, in central Asia, thanks to Oxford pupils.

Rebecca Nunn, a teacher at Oxford High School Junior Department in Bardwell Road, will take equipment to five schools in the region, formerly part of Azerbaijan.

Pupils at the school, including Lara Good, seven, and Beth Huckstep, eight, pictured above, held craft fairs and sold cakes during the past seven months to raise £1,150 for tennis racquets, basketballs and other equipment.

Recorders for choirs will also be taken to the schools.

Miss Nunn hopes to set up a link with one of the schools she is visiting.

Miss Nunn said: "The girls have worked very hard to raise the money - making candle sticks and lanterns out of baby food jars.

"I could take more out there but I can't carry it."