A HIGH-kicking group of ‘karate kids’ have skipped their way through to the second round of a reality TV competition.

Jump Nation, which will screen on children’s channel CBBC in January, is aiming to find Britain’s best skipper.

Teams of dancers, hip-hop groups and circus acts have been putting their personal touch to the art of jump rope using their special talents.

And a team from the Oxford Martial Arts Group are amongst those confident their brand of karate style skipping will help them through to the final.

Team Taurus, made up of Dan Casey, from North Oxford, Lewis Dark, from Wolvercote, Nisha Hare, from Botley and Yasmina O’Sullivan, from Marston, are hopeful they will be filming the X Factor-style show in London until the end of August.

Thirteen-year-old Dan, a Cherwell School pupil, said: “It’s so exciting.

“We have been on camera quite a lot before so we’re sort of getting used to it now, but it’s still quite nerve-wracking.

“We have met some really nice people.”

His mum Katharine added: “Dan is so excited about it.

“He has even said he will sacrifice our family holiday if the team reach the final.

“It’s similar to the X-Factor, in that teams get eliminated along the way, but it’s not done on a public vote.

“I think the show has been produced to promote skipping as a form of exercise.”

Lewis, 14, who also attends The Cherwell School, said his friends had thought it was “a bit weird” at first.

He added: “I think it’s because they didn’t see skipping as cool, but a few of them have seen our routine now and changed their minds.”

In the first round, the group performed their first combination of skips, kicks, holds and rolls to the Prodigy song, Omen.

This weekend, after a two-day workshop where they will be taught new moves and skills, the team will compete with nine other groups for a place in the next round.

Mary Stevens, a teacher at the Oxford School of Martial Arts, is confident the group will do well.

She added: “It’s a really good idea and a good way of getting kids into fitness.

“The team are really getting into it.”