Students were teamed up with a member of staff and they had to quiz each other once they had both read their allocated book, which was chosen by the student.

The final score was 36-34 and notable successes of the three-week challenge included Christina Mangin who scored 20 out of 20 and Emily Carroll who beat PSO Donna Lapsley, known to be one of the most competitive members of staff in Battle of the Books.

Elizabeth Smith scored 19 out of 20 and Alex Lawless trounced Maths Teacher William Gourlay 14-6, despite Mr Gourlay reading the book three times.

Alex (pictured second left) said: "I'm happy because he kept telling me I'd better not win."

Librarian Amy McKay said: "The students had been beaten twice in a row so they were determined to win this time.

"There were lots of emails flying around, with students and staff telling each other that they were going down. It's quite funny seeing how much the staff worry about it.

"The staff and students choose their own questions and the staff's questions were a bit nicer than students' - some questions from the students were really tough."