At the end of March, Norton Hill School student, Zac Hudd, in Year 9, represented England as part of the team 'Orienteering England'.

He travelled with the team for an annual weekend contest, which this year was held in Bruay La Buissiere, France. He competed in a six-way 'Interland' orienteering competition running as a team of three in his age group (under-fourteen). The 'Interland' is an international orienteering long-distance competition that opposes each year the best orienteers from England, Wallonia and Flanders regions of Belgium, from the Netherlands, Germany's Westphalia Land and Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.

The event spanned both Saturday and Sunday. The Saturday focused primarily on the 'warm-up', followed by an evening 'forest sprint' race. The main international race took part on the Sunday. The race incorporated different types of demanding terrain formed by the Artois Hills, as well as combining the spoils made by old charcoal mines. This particular location was also chosen due to its significance during the First World War, where it was exposed to relentless bombardment. The scarred landscape of bomb craters and trenches are still visible to this day. After a fantastic effort, Zac passed the finish line in second place just a few seconds behind his English teammate. The overall result meant that the English team secured their twentieth successive win in the competition, with the juniors winning the Junior Trophy. Zac was said to have been 'immensely proud of his involvement in this win', as was his family, who have supported Zac and his passion for orienteering since he was in primary school.

A spokesman for the school stated, "We are always pleased and proud to hear about the many exciting extra-curricular events our students are participating in, whether this is in or out of school. Norton Hill School can boast an array of students who dedicate their time to events offered outside of school, many of whom are doing exceptionally well. Zac's passion for orienteering is a prime example of this. The school and his year group are extremely proud of him and his international sporting achievements."