THOUSANDS of Hampshire youngsters are to take to stage to battle it out in Rock Challenge Southern Final.

After months of rehearsal they are now getting ready for one of the biggest dates in the performing arts diary.

The Hampshire schools that last February qualified through to the final will now go head to head at Portsmouth Guildhall until April 29 in a bid to be crowned queens and kings of the dancefloor.

Students will be asked to show their skills in a five to eight-minutes performance to wow judges.

Schools will be involved in junior, open and premier finals.

From tonight, the Southern Finalists will compete for the 2017 title, including Romsey-based Halterworth Community Primary School, Wellow Primary School, Calmore Junior School and the Southampton-based Foundry Lane Primary School, Regents Park Community College, Richard Taunton Sixth Form College, St Anne’s Catholic High School, Itchen Sixth Form College and Redbridge Community School.

Students from these schools will be hoping to progress to the premier division, an honour given to the winning team of each open final.

Sophia Campbell, supervising event manager for Rock Challenge, said: “The standard of performances this year have been incredible and we are set to have four extremely strong finals! It’s so rewarding to see how the hard work and dedication of all the students, staff, parents and local communities creates such great memories for the young people.

“Qualifying through to the final is such a great accomplishment in itself, every single school that has got here should be so proud, I can’t wait to see all the performances again!”

The teams have spent the last few weeks finalising their performances since their regional heat and will spend the day at the venue rehearsing, watching and supporting all the other schools before competing in the evening show.

All the events will begin at 6.30pm. To book tickets for the final call Portsmouth Guildhall box office on 0844 847 2362.