The public schools of rock

Pupils at exclusive private colleges stage YouTube tributes to Nickelback smash hit

Benenden and Harrow are better known for their blazers and boaters than for their budding rock stars. But the boys and girls of those legendary educational institutions are laying down their hockey sticks and cricket bats to pick up camcorders, as a home-made grunge music video craze sweeps Britain's smartest schools.

At least five schools now have videosattributed to them on the file-sharing website YouTube. They show pupils and teachers lip-synching and cavorting to the Canadian band Nickelback's hit single, "Rockstar". The song is a satirical take on the a rock star's freewheeling lifestyle. The schools' efforts are similar in style to the band's own video, which features celebrities Kid Rock, Gene Simmons, Nelly Furtado and Wayne Gretzky mouthing the lyrics to the song.

Sixth formers at Epsom College in Surrey seem to have been the first to film their version of the song, back in March. Since then, sixth formers at King Edward VI School near Birmingham, Downe House in Berkshire, Harrow and Benenden have followed.

Sixth-form girls at the £26,000-a-yearBenenden school, which once counted Princess Anne among its students, were filmed in fur coats and St Trinian's-style school uniforms, washing cars inbikini tops, and pouting as they cram into a bubble bath. One girl sets fire to her credit cards, as she sings along to the song.

Benenden School's take on 'Rockstar'

One of the young performers, Tansy Aspinall, daughter of the casino tycoon Damien Aspinall, said: "It was so much fun. It's the funniest thing to look back on and remember messing around with your friends at school. It's a nice memory to have."

The Epsom College boys are filmed in rugby kits, one sitting in a red Ferrari, while the boys at King Edward VI School opted for cricket whites, using bats as makeshift guitars.

Epsom College's take

The Harrow sixth form filmed at such London landmarks as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Piccadilly Circus. Yesterday none of the schools wanted to comment, beyond saying that they did not know why the pupils had chosen that particular song.

The "Rockstar" anthem was released by Nickelback in the UK in November last year and peaked at No 2 in the charts.

Its lyrics include: " 'Cos we all just wanna be big rock stars, and live in hill-top houses driving 15 cars. The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap. We'll all stay skinny 'cos we just won't eat."