51 matches over four weeks of competition, but just one winner. One team will take glory in France this summer but one local school will also be crowned champions in the Echo’s predictions competitions. Six schools will take on each other and the Echo sports desk over the next four weeks, with each school assigned a group to predict and all predicting the knock-out matches.

But who will be the winner?

Having been joint winners when the Echo took on local schools in the 2014 World Cup finals, the current crop at Rayleigh Primary have a lot to live up to, and they fancy Germany to win Group C and maybe even the tournament.

Here is what Ella, Alex W, Connor, Alex S, Zoe, Liam, Leo and Sam had to say.

Echo reporter Luke: So what will happen in Group C?

Group: We think Germany are going to win the group.

Sam: I think they will win every game, they have so many good players.

Ella: Germany have got a good enough team to win the tournament. There is no weak link.

Leo: Germany are strong but I don’t think they are as good as France. They have the home support so they will be confident.

Connor: The other teams have good players as well. Look at Poland. (Robert) Lewandowski scored so many goals in qualifying (13). There will definitely be a surprise package somewhere.

Alex S: Ukraine have some good players too, but I think Poland and Northern Ireland will fight it out for second place.

Zoe: I still think Germany.

Liam: I think if Poland can get out of the group than they can go further than the first knock-out round. Anything can happen.

Luke: Who do you think might be the surprise package of the tournament?

Ella: I think Spain might push Germany. Both have won the tournament three times so they know how to win.

Alex W: Wales are a good team. Look at how influential (Gareth) Bale is, he is one of the best in the world. And they have James Collins.

Luke: Ok, so we have a few West Ham fans here then!

Sam: It is unpredictable. There will be a surprise but it is so hard to say who that will be.

It has been 20 years since Gareth Southgate’s agonising penalty miss in Euro 96, so can England finally show the rest of the world what they are capable of in a major championship?

Connor: I can’t see England winning but I think they can go far. They have the momentum from qualifying.

Ella: We won all our matches in qualifying and that is pretty impressive.

Alex S: I think they should have given Mark Noble a go. He is under-rated. He is like the English (N’Golo) Kante (of Leicester City).

Luke: Who would you start up front?

Most of the group: (Jamie) Vardy.

Liam: Maybe Vardy and (Harry) Kane.

Ella: I think Vardy has the potential to do well for England even though he hasn’t had much game time.

The scoring: We have asked Great Berry Primary School, Whitmore Primary School, Hadleigh Junior School and William Read Primary School to join 2014 World Cup prediction winners Holt Farm Junior School and Rayleigh Primary School in this year’s Euro 2016 competition.

Schools will be given three points for predicting the correct score line and one for the correct result. So who will come out on top this time?

GROUP C ECHO V RAYLEIGH

SUNDAY: Poland v Northern Ireland - Rayleigh 1-0, Echo 2-0

SUNDAY: Germany v Ukraine – Rayleigh 3-0, Echo 2-1

16/6: Ukraine v Northern Ireland – Rayleigh 1-1, Echo 2-0

16/6: Germany v Poland – Rayleigh 2-1, Echo 1-0

21/6: Northern Ireland v Germany – Rayleigh 0-2, Echo 0-4

21/6: Ukraine v Poland – Rayleigh 1-3, Echo 1-1