Portsmouth children’s 2020 Sports Relief challenge

All 470 pupils from Victory Primary School ran laps of the school’s playing field to a combined total of 2020 circuits.

Pupil, Jack Stiller, age 8, said: ‘I really enjoyed the run today. Each time I play football I’ve challenged myself to run up and down the pitch 20 times.’

Classmate, Nathan Aarons, age 8, added: ‘I dyed my hair red for Sport Relief as it represents their colour. It’s good to raise money for people who need help.’

Federated school, Beacon View Academy, were also taking part in the fitness fund raiser with more than 400 children participating in a 20 minute Joe Wicks Workout. The session was led by the school’s Sports Captains, Anya Roach, age 11, and Jayden Johnsey, also 11.

Jayden said: ‘We’ve been helping the younger children with the session. Sport Relief is a really good cause to support.’

The events signified the launch of the school’s 2020 Olympic initiative with many of the children having also taken on their own individual challenges to raise money. Activities include 20 yoga sessions in a week, 20 GoNoodle fitness workouts in a term and running around the yard 20 times each day.

Executive headteacher of both schools, Jim Hartley, has also set himself the challenge of riding his bicycle 20 miles for 20 days.

Mr Hartley said: ‘We have a strong ethos of sport at the schools and really wanted to do something to recognise Sport Relief. People in the local community are passionate about sport and love to support charities.’

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One of the key aims of the initiatives is to raise participation in physical activity.

Mr Hartley said: ‘Children’s health is such a big thing and that’s why I employed two specialist physical education teachers (PE) to work across both schools.’

PE lead, Mathew Lyttle, said: ‘Ensuring children are fit and healthy is massively important. Hopefully the end product of this initiative is to get more children playing sport.’

Sports co-ordinator at Beacon View Academy, Kath Unitt, added: ‘Sport is fundamentally at the heart of everything we do. We specifically target sessions at children and families who have fitness concerns.’

It’s a sentiment shared by pupils.

Year 6 pupil, Anya Roach, said: ‘It’s really important to be fit and healthy as it helps you with everything you do, including learning in the classroom.’

The schools hope to raise £800 from the day’s events.